LINCOLN — Former Omaha labor leader Dan Osborn is running against Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts in the 2026 midterms. 

After launching an exploratory committee in April, Osborn made it official Tuesday, choosing the Senate race over potential bids for governor and the U.S. House, because, he said, “there are not enough seats at the table” for working people.

“I’m unapologetically for the workers and their issues,” Osborn told Nebraska Examiner. 

Osborn boiled down his race to “the billionaire versus the mechanic,” citing the wealth of the Ricketts family.

Ricketts himself appears more likely to be a millionaire, based on his Senate financial disclosure forms. But he is part of a family that built the company that became TD Amertrade and owns Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs. 

Osborn said he would approach legislation “based on principles” and not “on any kind of monetary [gain].” He pointed to Trump’s “big beautiful bill” as a piece of legislation with tax breaks that would make Ricketts richer “off the backs of people” who are at risk of losing benefits from Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. 

“If I had been elected in 2024, that ‘big beautiful bill’ would not have gotten passed,” Osborn said. 

The GOP mega-bill made the tax cuts from the first Trump administration permanent, cementing most of its benefits for higher earners while also introducing some new temporary tax breaks for workers earning less. It was a central piece of President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda. 

To offset the costs of the bill, the law reduces spending on the social safety net by adding work requirements for Medicaid and food stamps. It also lowers provider taxes that nearly every state uses to help fund Medicaid health insurance programs for low-income residents. 

Ricketts and the rest of Nebraska’s federal delegation voted in lockstep for the legislation. Ricketts called the bill a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver for Nebraska.” 

“This legislation will result in increased security, strength and prosperity for the American people,” Ricketts said in a statement. “The bill restores critical pro-growth business provisions and makes them permanent, benefiting Nebraska farming, ranching and small business.” 

The delegation and pro-business and anti-tax lobbying groups, including Americans for Prosperity, are touting the benefits of the bill to Nebraskans, as multiple polls indicate that Trump’s signature piece of legislation is unpopular among Americans who are aware of it. 

Ricketts, who served two terms as Nebraska governor before being appointed to the Senate by his successor, faced some pushback from constituents in April about the bill and other issues. He won a special election to hold the Senate seat in November.

This is Osborn’s second Senate bid. His populist run against U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., in 2024 made national headlines for turning an expected safe race for Republicans into a potential upset. He attracted an extraordinary fundraising haul of $14 million for a federal candidate in Nebraska without direct ties to a major party, including some late money from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee once they saw his momentum.

He lost by about six percentage points. Fischer, during and after the race, described him as a “Democrat in sheep’s clothing” and said the campaign finance reports confirmed her belief. State voting records show Osborn as a registered nonpartisan since at least 2004, as the Nebraska Examiner reported.

Osborn said he is at a “stronger” starting point now than in 2024 because more people in the state know him. 

“We were learning how to build the plane as we were learning how to fly it last time,” Osborn told the Examiner. “Now it’s built. We know how to fly it.”

Republicans have almost completely dominated America’s heartland, a region once known for its prairie progressivism. If Osborn were able to unseat Ricketts, it would be the first time a non-Republican had represented Nebraska in Congress since Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Ashford upset Republican U.S. Rep. Lee Terry in the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District in 2014. 

Osborn could benefit from a bump in Democratic turnout in the Omaha area after the announced retirement of five-term Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon led the nonpartisan Center for Politics, the home of Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball to shift the 2nd District U.S. House race to leaning Democrat from toss-up. 

Ricketts has a significant political war chest and has used his own money to influence Nebraska politics. But populism, whether Osborn’s approach or Trump’s, is the driving force in modern politics, as voters lose faith in institutions and seek alternatives. Some political observers believe the same working-class-focused rhetoric that drove President Donald Trump’s victory could give someone like Osborn an opening. 

Ricketts faced similar populism in 2022, when a leadership team loyal to him leading the Nebraska Republican Party was ousted in favor of a team more loyal to Trump. But the former governor retains the dominant political operation in the state. Some Republicans who crossed him in the Legislature lost seats, and his endorsement holds weight. 

His endorsed candidate for governor, Pillen, defeated a Trump-endorsed candidate in 2022, Charles Herbster. Ricketts already has received the endorsement of Trump. The nod came after an internal poll showed Osborn statistically tied with Ricketts, although people familiar with the endorsement process said it had been in the works for weeks and that Trump decided the timing.

Will Coup, a Ricketts campaign spokesperson, said, “Senator Ricketts has consistently worked for and voted to secure the border and cut taxes for Nebraska workers, families and seniors. Dan Osborn is bought and paid for by his liberal, out-of-state, coastal donors.”

Osborn did not say during the last race whom he would caucus with if elected. Osborn said in a statement on Tuesday that he has maintained independence from the Democratic Party and that he would not caucus with either party.

“I’ve been a registered independent from the time I could vote,” Osborn said. “Second of all, I didn’t ask for that money. This time around, I’m not going to ask for it again.”

Osborn had been eyeing multiple potential races before narrowing it down to Ricketts’ seat in April. One of the races he considered, for the state’s 2nd Congressional District, has garnered significant interest from Democratic candidates. Osborn has said he didn’t want to play “spoiler” for that seat.

It’s unclear whether Democrats will run a candidate in the Senate race, but Osborn said it doesn’t matter to him. He said both parties are “going to do what they do.” 

Osborn and his supporters drew criticism in 2024 for trying to minimize the number of names on his Senate race’s general election ballot other than his and Fischer’s. Some Democrats grumbled that he flirted with seeking Democratic support until it was too late for them to run their own candidate, and leaders in the Legal Marijuana Now Party complained that Osborn supporters took over the party’s nominating process to help clear a path for him. 

The Nebraska Democratic Party, in a statement, seemed to hint at support for Osborn’s effort, saying, “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, D.C.” 

Osborn said he feels like he’s set to win. 

“I want to show the country, and I want to show Nebraska that we could do it differently here,” Osborn said.

Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: [email protected]. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.