U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Cindy Burbank won’t appear on November ballot

Secretary of State Bob Evnen said Tuesday that he will accept U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Cindy Burbank’s move to withdraw her name from the November ballot.

“In my view, Burbank’s action is a cynical manipulation of the ballot process,” Evnen said in a news release. “Earlier this year, when Burbank first filed to run under a separate Nebraska law, the Nebraska Republican Party filed an objection. They were right, and I acted to stop this abuse then. The Supreme Court reversed my decision because the objection was filed too late. Now Burbank has done exactly what I predicted in May. She has declined the nomination.”

Evnen said he consulted with the Attorney General’s office before making the decision. He said under state law, the Secretary of State has no discretion to refuse a candidate’s declination of nomination.

This follows a string of back-and-forth claims of “plants” in big Nebraska midterm races. Burbank had publicly said earlier this year that she was running to support independent candidate Dan Osborn’s chance at beating incumbent Republican Pete Ricketts. Another candidate in the race, Bill Forbes, was up for the Democratic nomination but lost to Burbank in the May primary. There was speculation that the Trump-voting pastor from Paxton was a plant in the race to put up a Democratic candidate.

Evnen previously tried to keep Burbank off the ballot, arguing she wasn’t a “good-faith candidate.” Burbank sued over the removal, and a Lancaster County judge initially dismissed her case before the Nebraska Supreme Court later reinstated her to the ballot.

The Nebraska Democratic Party will now have to decide how to handle filling the vacant spot – if it even chooses to do so.

The Secretary of State’s Office recently announced Osborn garnered enough valid signatures to put him on the November ballot against Ricketts. It’s expected to be a costly campaign race that’s already seen negative ads targeting the candidates by their opposing campaigns.