Legal Marijuana NOW candidate drops out of Nebraska Senate race

Mike Marvin stepped down from his candidacy for a U.S. Senate seat on Friday. The race is now between incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts and Independent candidate Dan Osborn.

In a statement announcing his withdrawal, Marvin said his campaign has always been about defeating Ricketts. However, he said he is struggling with a “worsening” health condition and can no longer run. He threw his support behind Osborn.

“I know I cannot put in the effort this race requires,” Marvin wrote in a press release. “Dan Osborn supports protecting medical marijuana here in Nebraska. Pete Ricketts, on the other hand, has gone so far as to say that marijuana will kill your kids.”

Marvin joined the race with legalizing both medical and recreational marijuana as his top priority, according to his campaign website. Voters approved medical marijuana in 2024.

Marvin was a bus driver in Omaha for 26 years and a labor leader for Nebraska unions. In addition to legalizing marijuana, his platform included repealing the PATRIOT act, fighting against political action committee and foreign lobbying dollars in politics, and expanding Medicare and Medicaid, among others.

Aug. 3 was the Secretary of State’s deadline for candidates to withdraw their names from the general election ballot. Marvin said since he missed the deadline, his name will still appear on the ballot, but he will not solicit voters for their support.

Marvin’s appearance on the Legal Marijuana NOW ticket garnered criticism, including an accusation from some Republicans that he was a plant for Osborn, which Osborn denies. NOW party chair Ed Williams told the Nebraska Examiner that Marvin never met or spoke with any party executive committee members nor Williams himself.

Candidates have been playing hot potato with the Democratic ticket for the senate seat. Cindy Burbank, the winner of the Democratic primary, stepped down from the race one day after Osborn’s petition signatures were verified for the November ballot. This was after Burbank spent weeks fighting in court for her name to remain on the primary ticket when Secretary of State Bob Evnen removed it. Evnen argued that whoever runs for office in Nebraska should plan on taking that office should they win the election, rather than temporarily filling a nomination and abandoning it to give a candidate from another party a better chance of winning.

“I’m committed to doing whatever it takes to beat Pete Ricketts,” Burbank wrote on her campaign website. “Dan Osborn is a good man…he deserves a fair shot against Ricketts.”

William Forbes, a registered Democrat and anti-abortion pastor, is suing the Nebraska Democratic Party to take Burbank’s slot on the ballot, despite receiving just 10% of the Democrat vote in the primary. However, Jane Kleeb, party chair, wrote in an affidavit that he is a sham candidate.

“If forced to fill the general-election ballot vacancy, I would not consider nominating Mr. Forbes under any circumstance,” Kleeb wrote.

Now, Osborn and Ricketts alone compete for the six-year U.S. Senate term.

Ricketts was appointed by Gov.Jim Pillen in 2023 to fill a vacancy left by U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse and later won a special election for the same seat in 2024 after running as an incumbent. Ricketts has President Donald Trump’s endorsement.

Osborn previously ran for senate in 2024 against Deb Fischer, now serving her third term, coming within 7 percentage points, making it the closest U.S. Senate election in Nebraska since 2000.