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Dan Osborn’s campaign for Senate submitted 12,700 petition signatures Thursday to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s office. Once approved, the collected signatures will allow his name to appear on the general election ballot as a third-party candidate.
Osborn celebrated the successful petition drive with supporters on Thursday morning.
“When we set out in 2024, we set out with the idea that we wanted to create a coalition that the state of Nebraska has never seen before,” Osborn said. “Of Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, Legal Marijuana NOW, under one umbrella with the idea and the truth that working class people deserve a seat at the table in the United States Senate. We're making it happen.”
A statement from Osborn’s campaign said the number of signatures collected shows support for that goal.
“The number, over three times the required 4,000, reflects the hard work of supporters and campaign staff across Nebraska who are joining Osborn to stand up for working-class Nebraskans and against corporate-backed politician Pete Ricketts,” the campaign said.
Ricketts is running again for his current U.S. Senate seat.
Osborn has long criticized Ricketts on the campaign trail for doing “whatever’s best for Pete” and focusing on the desires of wealthy donors and corporations. In a statement to Nebraska Public Media, the Ricketts campaign fired back with their own accusations.
"After months of backroom deals and ballot games Nebraska Democrats finally got their candidate Dan Osborn,” said campaign spokesman Max Oberg. “Dan Osborn keeps trying to hide his far-left donors and policies from Nebraskans. Senator Ricketts will keep delivering commonsense results for Nebraska families.”
The Ricketts campaign said Osborn was funded by “out-of-state liberal donors,” was recruited by the Democratic Socialists of America and endorsed by the Nebraska Democratic Party.
Democratic nominee Cindy Burbank is expected to drop out of the race to direct votes to Osborn.