Fischer defeats Osborn for US Senate seat

Incumbent U.S. Senate Deb Fischer was declared victorious over independent candidate Dan Osborn based on unofficial results Tuesday.

Fischer will serve her third six-year term.

Meanwhile, Osborn, an independent union leader, launched his first campaign for political office.

During her acceptance speech, Fischer thanked her team for the hard work this election season.

“Six hundred thousand, that's the number of phone calls that our volunteers made in the last year,” she said. “One hundred thousand, that's the number of doors that team Fischer walked and knocked this campaign season. Well over 100,000, that's the number of miles they drove, hitting all 93 counties, not once, not twice, but most of them three times. And now for the biggest number, nearly $30 million, that's the amount of money that out-of-state Democrats spent trying to buy a Nebraska Senate seat that did not happen.”

In the Senate, Fischer is a member of six committees, including the United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, where Fischer serves as ranking member.

Fischer received endorsements from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Rifle Association, Nebraska Farmers Union and former President Donald Trump.

During his concession speech, Osborn thanked his supporters for backing an independent candidate.

“We knew this was going to come down to the wire, and I want to thank you all so much,” he said. “This wasn’t the outcome we were hoping for, but man no one says that this campaign didn’t change American politics tonight.”

Osborn gained notoriety for leading a strike for better wages and benefits at Kellogg’s plants across the country in 2021, including in Omaha.

Diego Orellana, a 20-year-old intern at Osborn campaign, said the campaign was built on uniting people who felt their voices were not being heard.

“This is a campaign built by a coalition of Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, progressives, anybody who feels as if their voice isn't heard in D.C. and who are all unified under the state of Nebraska, so we're all just sort of harmonizing under the community that we already share outside of politics, and just bring that into this room,” he said.

Nebraska Democrats declined to run a candidate in the primary and had expected to endorse Osborn in the general election. However, Osborn eschewed endorsements from any political party.

Fischer won both of her previous Senate elections by wide margins, defeating Democrat Bob Kerrey in 2012 and Democrat Jane Raybould in 2018 by more than 15 points each.