Independent Dan Osborn submits petition for the November ballot

Independent Dan Osborn submitted his petition to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office on Tuesday, aiming to get his name on the ballot for United States Senate. Osborn is running against incumbent Deb Fischer.

The union leader and veteran said his campaign sent off about 12,000 unverified signatures to Secretary of State Bob Evnen. Osborn said that total includes at least 2,000 in each of Nebraska’s congressional districts.

“We received three times the required amount of petitions to get on the ballot,” Osborn said at a press conference in Lincoln on Tuesday.

State statute requires independent candidates running for statewide partisan offices, like the U.S. Senate seats, to submit 4,000 valid signatures total and 750 from each of the three congressional districts to get on the ballot.

A recent poll from Osborn’s campaign said he’s trailing Fischer by 2% with a 5% margin of error. In that poll of 500 registered voters, 16% were undecided.

A July poll from Fischer’s campaign said she held a 26% advantage and a nearly 4% margin of error. Her campaign polled 698 “likely” voters.

The final state election ballot will be finalized by Sept. 13.

Osborn’s campaign has raised a total of $1.6 million while Fischer has taken in nearly $6.3 million, according to the Federal Election Commission.

In response to Osborn’s announcement, Fischer’s campaign manager Derek Oden released a statement highlighting the senator’s strong finish in the primary election.

"Coming off a very successful May primary, where Deb Fischer earned the most votes out of anyone on the ballot, Deb is in a historically strong position heading into the General Election,” the statement said. “We will continue building on her broad base of bipartisan support and, as she has always done each and every year, travel our state and connect directly with thousands of hardworking Nebraskans.”