Sen. Pete Ricketts gears up for fair and festival season, pitches experience to voters

U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts isn't taking the challenge of keeping his Senate seat lightly as independent challenger Dan Osborn strides across Nebraska's 93 counties.

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Sen. Ricketts gears up for fair and festival season, pitches experience to voters

OMAHA, Neb. —

U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts isn’t taking the challenge of keeping his Senate seat lightly as independent challenger Dan Osborn strides across Nebraska’s 93 counties.

“We’re expecting to run a very hard race, and that’s what we’ve been doing from the get-go,” Ricketts said. “And so we’re out there talking about my message about how I’ve been delivering for Nebraskans for a dozen years, and my opponent really hasn’t done anything.”

The race shifted this week after the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office agreed to remove Democratic candidate Cindy Burbank’s name from the November ballot following her decision to suspend her campaign.

Ricketts criticized the move.

“This is just another example of how the Democrats have been trying to rig this election,” he said.

Osborn, when asked on Thursday about the decision, rejected accusations he had any involvement.

“As far as rigging goes, thank you for the compliment,” he said. “But that’s got nothing to do with me. We’re focused in our campaign.”

Burbank’s departure leaves the race closer to a head-to-head contest between Ricketts and Osborn, who came within seven percentage points of defeating U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer in Nebraska’s 2024 Senate race.

Both candidates say helping Nebraska farmers will be a top priority as producers continue to face economic challenges.

“We are in the middle of a farm crisis,” Osborn said.

“It’s a tough time right now in agriculture. There’s no doubt,” Ricketts said.

Ricketts pointed to trade policies and renewable fuel incentives as part of the solution.

“We were able to double the amount of money for trade promotion, and we renewed the renewable fuel tax credits so that we could continue to promote things like ethanol and biodiesel here in the state,” he said.

Osborn has also criticized Ricketts for not holding recent in-person town halls, arguing voters deserve more direct access to their elected officials. Ricketts has defended his use of telephone town halls, saying they allow him to remain accessible to constituents across the state.

The candidates are scheduled to meet in a televised debate hosted by News Channel Nebraska at the Nebraska State Fair on Sept. 1.

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