Washington-US
Independent politician and union leader Dan Osborn has formally announced he will challenge Republican incumbent Senator Pete Ricketts for his U.S. Senate seat in Nebraska. The campaign, which will take place in the 2026 election cycle, pits a populist independent against a well-known Republican in what is shaping up to be a closely watched race.
Osborn, a Navy veteran and former industrial mechanic who gained national attention during a 2021 Kellogg’s strike, previously ran an unexpectedly competitive race against Republican Senator Deb Fischer in 2024. While he ultimately lost, Osborn’s performance was the best ever for an independent candidate in a Nebraska Senate race. He won four counties and came within a single-digit margin of defeating Fischer, a result that surprised political observers in the deeply Republican state.
In announcing his new bid, Osborn has framed the race as a struggle between the “working class and the wealthy,” drawing a direct contrast with Ricketts, a former governor whose family founded the brokerage firm TD Ameritrade. Osborn, who continues to work as a boiler maintenance and repair mechanic, told The Guardian that he believes “there’s an appetite for this brand of politics.”
The Ricketts campaign has already responded, with a spokesperson stating that Osborn is a “fake independent” who is “bought and paid for by his liberal, out-of-state, coastal donors.” The campaign argues that Osborn’s positions align with Democrats and that he would side with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Ricketts, who was appointed to the Senate in 2023 to fill a vacant seat, won a special election in 2024 to serve out the remainder of the term. He will be running for his first full six-year term. While he is considered a very popular figure in Nebraska, Osborn’s strong showing in the previous election has prompted political forecasters, such as the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, to change their rating of the race from “Safe Republican” to “Likely Republican.”
