Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts has defeated independent challenger Dan Osborn in Nebraska’s Senate race. The result ends a contest that proved far closer than the state’s Republican lean would suggest.
Osborn, a pipe fitter, was one of several independent Senate candidates running this year in traditionally Republican states. He had a clear advantage: a one-on-one race. The Democratic nominee ended her campaign in July to clear his path. Osborn said he would caucus with neither party. But he had the backing of the Nebraska Democratic Party, and Republicans seized on it.
A Race Tighter Than Expected
Donald Trump won Nebraska by 20 points in 2024. That year Ricketts won a special election for the final two years of Ben Sasse’s term by 25 points. Osborn, meanwhile, lost to Sen. Deb Fischer by just 7 points in his first Senate bid two years ago.
This time, Trump’s sinking approval ratings made the race competitive. Voters were frustrated by high costs and the war with Iran. Farmers were hit by high diesel prices and sweeping tariffs. At an early October rally in Nebraska, Trump signed an executive order widening access to tax-exempt “red dye” diesel used in farming. He promised prices would “plummet” once the war ends. Osborn, a Navy veteran and former union organizer, backed the move but called it a “Band-Aid.”
The Attacks and the Pitch
Ricketts went hard on Osborn’s ties. “Democrat Dan is too extreme,” he said at a September debate. He warned that Osborn could hand the Senate to Democrats, which he called “a disaster for Nebraska.”
Osborn focused on costs and corruption. “Times are getting harder,” he said. “Healthcare is getting too expensive. Groceries are too expensive, and families are falling behind.” One TV ad cast Ricketts, whom he nicknamed “Pocket Pete,” as at home with big donors in a smoke-filled room. Osborn rarely criticised Trump by name in a state with many of his supporters.
Ricketts reminded voters he had won statewide three times. An ad on his years as governor said he had been there “through fires and flooding” and “a global pandemic.”
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