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Could Dan Osborn shake up Nebraska’s Senate race?
Dan Osborn's independent bid is turning Nebraska into an unexpectedly competitive Senate battleground. Join The Hill's senior vice president of editorial
Updated Oct 16, 2026, 2:28 PM ET
Dan Osborn, a Navy veteran and former union local president from Omaha, is running as an independent against Republican Senator Pete Ricketts in Nebraska's 2026 Senate election.
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Live TruthIndex™ and prediction market consensus for races contested by Dan Osborn.
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Recent media coverage for Dan Osborn.
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Just over half of candidates in key US Senate races say they will accept results, others hedge
Nebraska independent Dan Osborn, who is running against Republican Senator Pete Ricketts, would "yes, absolutely" accept the outcome of the election, according to a campaign spokesperson.
Reuters
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Cornhusker Majority Targets Osborn in Nebraska Senate Race
Cornhusker Majority, a Scottsbluff, Nebraska-based super PAC, has reported approximately $7.08 million in independent expenditures in Nebraska's U.S.
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Ricketts Calls Him a Democrat. Osborn Says That's the Problem with Politics
In Nebraska's Senate race, Republican Pete Ricketts is betting voters will see independent Dan Osborn as a Democrat, while Osborn argues he answers to neither party.
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House Republicans retreat from front-line midterm races
The group has also increased its investment in Ohio’s Senate race, bringing its total spending there to $45 million in support of Republican Sen. Jon Husted, who is up against Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown.
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Ricketts urges supporters to boost voter turnout at Norfolk campaign event
LONDON (AP): Iran is trying to hit military sites in Britain and the suspected plot to attack a U.S.-run military air base in September is “not unique," the head of the MI5 spy agency said Tuesday, as he warned that…
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US midterms 2026: US midterms 2026: Why campaign groups are moving money between House and Senate races
The changing strategy extends beyond the House. Senate Republicans are putting more money into Nebraska to protect Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts against independent Dan Osborn, who has Democratic backing.
No story this week names this candidate.
- Born
- March 29, 1975
- Education
- Roncalli Catholic High School
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Dan Osborn, born March 29, 1975, is the son of a seamstress and a Union Pacific Railroad cargo loader who, after retiring, became a Republican county commissioner in Dodge County.
The family relocated to Omaha when Osborn was seven; when his father was later transferred out of state, Osborn remained in Omaha, supporting himself from age 16 with odd jobs, and graduated from Roncalli Catholic High School in 1994.
He then enlisted in the United States Navy and spent four years as a storekeeper on the aircraft carrier USS Constellation; afterward he served in both the Nebraska Army National Guard and the Tennessee National Guard.
Career
Kellogg's employed Osborn from 2004 as an industrial mechanic at its Omaha plant, and he rose to president of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 50G.
In 2021 he led the local through a 77-day strike over a two-tier pay structure; Kellogg's subsequently dismissed him, and he moved to boiler maintenance at Boys Town and joined Steamfitters and Plumbers Local 464.
Registered as a nonpartisan voter since 2004, he announced an independent bid on October 5, 2023, for Nebraska's regular 2024 Senate election against Republican incumbent Deb Fischer, in a race the Democratic Party chose to sit out.
Fischer won 53% to 47%; Osborn's share was the best ever recorded by an independent in a Nebraska Senate race. In 2024 he also set up a political action committee, the Working Class Heroes Fund, to back working-class candidates.
2026 race
After forming an exploratory committee in early 2025, Osborn launched an independent campaign on July 8, 2025, against Republican Pete Ricketts for his Class II seat; Ricketts, who won a 2024 special election, wants a first full term.
Ricketts won the Republican primary on May 12, 2026, with 81.5% of the vote. The Nebraska Democratic Party endorsed Osborn in August 2025, and its primary winner, Cindy Burbank, left the general election ballot in July 2026 to back him.
Osborn filed about 12,500 petition signatures on June 11, 2026, to qualify for the November 3 ballot.