Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts faces 2026 challenge as Democrat-backed independent Dan Osborn launches run for seat

Nebraska  Democrat Party-backed Dan Osborn plans to run for Senate as an Independent in 2026 in an effort to unseat GOP incumbent Pete Ricketts (R-NE). Osborn ran as an Independent for Senate in 2024.

Osborn spoke to reporters at the New York Times in an interview, saying that the competition between him and Ricketts is "the CEO from Omaha versus the guy from the shop floor from Omaha." Osborn said that would be the "fundamental difference" between him and Ricketts.

Last election cycle, Osborn lost to incumbent Republican Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE), but told Politico that he will be at a disadvantage to form the level of support he had last time. “There is no element of surprise [this time],” Osborn said, then added that Ricketts as well as other GOP allies will “come out with a lot of money and go very negative right from the beginning.”

The "donate" button on his website sends supporters to ActBlue, the Democrat party donation platform that has been mired in controversy over alleged fraud. The Democratic Party of Nebraska has said that it will back Osborn and that they will not run their own candidate.

Nebraska Democrat Party Chair Jane Kleeb said, “Breaking up the one-party stranglehold on our state is going to take an unlikely alliance of Democrats, Republicans and Independents coming together to fix a very broken Washington, DC."

Osborn has been critical of President Donald Trump's victory in the passing of the Big Beautiful Bill that was signed into law on July 4, claiming that the bill creating no tax on tips and overtime policies will be "funneling money toward the top by taking from social services, and health care from hard-working people."

The Independent said that he would not be open to joining Elon Musk's "America Party," but that he is open to getting financial support from him.