Independent Nebraska Senate candidate Dan Osborn criticized President Donald Trump’s supporters for their motivations for backing the president in a recording acquired by the Omaha World-Herald.
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Osborn, who is challenging incumbent Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Nebraska), has carefully sought to maintain an independent profile to attract crossover voters of both parties in the typically red state, including saying he will not caucus with either major party. There is no Democrat on the general election ballot.
“Billy Bob in f—ing Red Cloud, Nebraska, who lives next door to the f—ing Trump store as you pull into town and is waving the Trump flag, all he knows is he’s on the winning team,” Osborn said, according to the recording. “It’s really that simple. And Trump … that is why he’s been so effective.
“And that’s all they care about, because their lives probably suck so f—ing bad,” Osborn later said.
Osborn, in a statement, didn’t directly respond to the recording and wrote that he is “tired of being taken for granted by career politicians.”
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“People are fed the same partisan BS election after election, but the only thing that’s changed is the gas prices skyrocketing and the data centers popping up all around my house, using our public energy grid,” Osborn wrote.
Ricketts, Nebraska’s former governor, has served in the Senate since 2023. He is the son of Joe Ricketts, the billionaire founder of TD Ameritrade, an online stock broker.
Osborn previously ran for Senate in 2024, losing to Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska) by a closer-than-expected seven percentage points. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates this year’s race as “Likely Republican.”
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