Tipsheet

This 'Independent' in Nebraska May Be Trying Again to Unseat a Republican Senator

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  April 23, 2025 5:45 PM

Last November, Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) won reelection in her race, which was regarded as a last-minute battleground, after Dan Osborn ran as an Independent candidate, though he received plenty of support from Democrats. Now, Osborn looks to potentially run again, and this time he may try to unseat Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE). 

On April 3, Osborn put out a thread over X to share that he was launching an exploratory committee to run against Rickkets. Many of his posts in the thread went after billionaires and also called for involving "more working class people."

That thread and Osborn's own bio over X both try to promote Osborn as an "Independent," with Osborn also describing himself as as a "union steamfitter." The campaign website also invites visitors to "Help send a steamfitter to Washington to take on corruption and the big-money machine," after claiming that "There's nobody like us in the Senate," with buttons to volunteer or donate. 

The Working Class Heroes Fund not only makes clear on its homepage that the group was founded by Osborn, but also brings up this idea of the "working class." As the homepage mentions:

Special interests and billionaires own our politicians. That’s why both parties have lost touch with regular people. 

In 2024, Dan Osborn, a steamfitter and mechanic, ran a historic independent campaign to change that. Dan united working class people and delivered the strongest performance of any U.S. Senate campaign in the country. 

Founded by Dan Osborn, the Working Class Heroes Fund is a continuation of Dan’s work to unite and mobilize working people. Dan is fighting to give the working class a seat at the table. 

However, such characteristics come into question when it comes to what the Federal Election Commission (FEC) reveals in terms of the donations Osborn received and his disbursements. 

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Regardless of how the Working Class Heroes Fund criticizes "both parties," Osborn's campaign took in plenty of donations from Democrats, Democratic groups, and Democratic donors.

On November 4, the day before the 2024 election, Impact, which is a leadership PAC affiliated with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), donated $5,000 to Osborn's campaign. Similarly, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) donated $57,800 to the Osborn campaign the day before the election. The same goes for Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-MA) campaign, which donated $2,000 on November 4. 

Family members of George Soros also donated, including Jonathan Soros, son of George Soros, who donated $3,300. His wife, Jennifer Allan Soros, donated $3,300 as well. Those donations came the day of the election. 

Then there's how much money Osborn made, including money he paid himself. Between April 2024 and December 2024, Osborn paid himself a $51,100 salary from his campaign account. That included 2,000 on April 15 of last year, $6,500 on June 11, and then $7,100 per month from July to December. 

Earlier this month, NOTUS had a "scoop" on "Dan Osborn’s FEC Warning" when exploring the 2026 map. Reese Gorman shared the details in a post over X, with Osborn having been warned by the FEC that he committed a potential campaign violation for paying himself after the election. One of those $7,100 payments came on December 11, 2024, with his election against Fischer taking place on November 5, 2024. 

"Osborn talked often during last year’s campaign about drawing a salary from campaign funds, saying a bona fide member of the working class needed the cash to support his family if he was going to run a campaign instead of work on a job," the NOTUS report mentioned. "In total, he paid himself more than $50,000 (including the payment in December his campaign now says was made in error.)"

That's not all, though. Osborn paid himself $64,747.39 total in salary as well as travel and food reimbursements, also according to FEC reports. Then there's Osborn's financial disclosures, including from September 19, 2024, which shows he was paid a salary of $48,044.15 from B & K Mechanical Contractors LLC. A $48,000 salary from Kellogg is also listed. 

Osborn was fired from Kellogg for watching Netflix on the job, as The New York Times covered in February of last year when profiling him as a candidate. 

"Kellogg’s management fired him a year ago, accusing him of watching Netflix while on the job, a charge he and his friends called trumped up. He is now an apprentice with the steamfitters’ union, still working on heating and air conditioning systems as he gets his campaign in gear. He’s also a father of three children between the ages of 16 and 21. His wife is the general manager of a bar and grill in Omaha," the report mentioned. 

Osborn wasn't the only one taking a salary from the campaign though. His wife and daughter did as well. That same September 19, 2024 financial disclosures report showed that Megan Osborn was paid ">$1,000" in wages from Ref's Sports bar and Grill. 

FEC disbursements also show that his wife, Megan, took in an $18,000 in salary from June 4, 2024-December 4, 2024 for "scheduling services." In total, she received $22,446.48 total from June 4, 2024-December 31, 2024 for salary and other reimbursements. 

Georgia Osborn, the candidate's daughter, was also paid $4,200 in December 2024 for "Assistant Services."

The 2026 election is still a little more than 18 months away, with Ricketts running for his first full term after he was appointed by Gov. Jim Pillen on January 12, 2023. Forecasters consider the race to be "Safe" or "Solid Republican."