The Senator and the Mechanic: Fischer and Osborn locked in tight race for Senate

Nebraska Senator Deb Fischer is running in a surprisingly tight race for reelection. In 2012, Fischer surprised many in the Nebraska by defeating establishment candidates Jon Bruning and Don Stenberg in a primary upset. She went on to defeat former Senator Bob Kerrey in the general election by over 20 points — even after he received an endorsement from former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel. Then in 2018, Fischer won reelection against state Senator Jane Reybold by similar margins.

Now, however, Fischer is facing a challenge from political newcomer and Independent Dan Osborn. I had the chance to hear from both candidates this week.

Appropriations & Roadblocks

Deb Fischer spoke at the Pachyderm luncheon in Omaha on Monday, one of several public appearances she’s made in the closing days of her campaign. She discussed her two years of work on the Senate appropriations committee, working with fellow members Patty Murray (D-WA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) to make the hearings public.

“They didn’t hold any kind of public hearings, and it would get down to crunch time, and we would have four people in a room who then would decide what they were going to fund with our tax dollars with no transparency, with no accountability,” Fischer said. “That’s how you hold me accountable, is by watching how I vote. And then I have to justify every vote to you.”

Despite developing the “muscle memory” required to get appropriations bills out of committee, Fischer has repeatedly hit the “Schumer roadblock” trying to get them to the floor. This has kept government funding under a “continuing resolution,” but Fischer believes this will change if Republicans retake the Senate this fall, which she thinks is likely. Fischer also stated that she does not vote for omnibus packages.

Fischer’s Campaign

Fischer has made 25-30 public appearances in October, including one at the Kawasaki plant in Lincoln to celebrate their 50th anniversary and another with over 4,000 people in attendance at the CHI Health Center Arena in Omaha to discuss the Department of Defense and intelligence information systems. On Saturday, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas will join Fischer at a get-out-the-vote event in Papillion. She will then travel the state with the rest of the Nebraska federal delegation, stopping in Omaha with them on Sunday.

Fischer has had over a thousand individual endorsements, a first for any Nebraska politician, as well as endorsements from 37 groups and associations, including railroaders, electrical contractors, cattlemen, the Farm Bureau, Farmers Union, firefighters, law enforcement, state patrol, and most recently the Latino Peace Officers Association.

In the meantime, both sides are spending a record amount of money on the race between Fischer and Osborn, including a “dark money” group with ties to billionaire George Soros.

“This will be the most expensive race in the history of the state of Nebraska. We have had $19 million spent in attack ads against us,” Fischer said. “It is a close race, [but] our polling is good, I feel good, and I’m not going to let George Soros buy a Nebraska US Senate seat.”

Dan Osborn & the Kellogg’s Strike

On Saturday afternoon, Dan Osborn spoke at The Rusty Nail in Omaha, one of several stops he’s made across the state. An Omaha native, Osborn joined the Navy right out of high school and then served in the Nebraska Army National Guard after returning to Omaha to attend UN-O. He then worked as an industrial mechanic at the Omaha Kellogg’s plant, where he made headlines during the 2021 strike.

“We all felt we were on the right side of history, and I knew out on the picket line Democrats were going to come out in support,” Osborn said.

During the 2021 Kellogg’s strike, Osborn reached out to Don Bacon for support. “He did the right thing and came out and shook hands with our members in favor of what we were doing,” Osborn said. Osborn also went to then-Gov. Pete Ricketts. “He drafted a letter and sent it to the CEO, Steve Cahillane, imploring him to get our people back to work.”

Osborn may have personal reasons for running against Fischer — when he reached out to her as he had with Bacon and Ricketts, he says that he was met with “crickets.” Kellogg’s later fired Osborn and has since announced that the Omaha plant would be closing in 2026.

“I think it’s complete BS. I don’t think it’s going to happen,” Osborn said.

Osborn has other criticism of Fischer, including her vote against the Railway Safety Act of 2023, which was drafted in the wake of the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Fischer has stated that the bill was hastily drawn-up and would not have achieved the end results the cosponsors had intended.

A PAC called “Nebraska Railroaders for Public Safety” was formed to promote the Osborn campaign and highlight this issue. Fischer responded to this on Monday while mentioning her endorsement from the transportation division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART). “My opponent has this group. They’re called the railroaders,” Fischer said. “No, I’ve got the endorsement from the railroaders.”

The Osborn Platform

At Osborn’s event, an audience member asked what his priorities would be in the US Senate. Osborn replied that he would be getting his “feet wet” by introducing a “Right to Repair” bill, which he anticipates would have bipartisan support. He also said that he would “wander the halls of power, trying to make alliances and talk to people and figure out where my office is.”

While a political Independent, Osborn’s other stances seemed to be clearly on the left. He supports a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, and while he says he wants a secure border, he did not offer specifics other than to criticize Fischer for voting against a “bipartisan” border security bill. Two of the bill’s original sponsors joined Fischer in this vote, James Lankford (R-OK) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), the latter of whom did so because she felt that Democrats were using it to “point the finger back at the other party.”

Osborn also supports the “PRO Act,” which Kamala Harris said that she would sign. This law would would allow labor unions to override right-to-work laws and collect dues from non-union employees.

One guest asked Osborn what he would do to fix social security. His solution was to increase the contributions cap. “Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg have reached the Social Security cap of $168,600 in the first three seconds of the year,” Osborn said. “And for somebody who’s making $48,000 a year, they pay in the same amount. So I think we need to tweak that number.”

A Democrat Base

My impression of the crowd at the Osborn event was that it was not a group of “woke” college graduates with degrees in gender studies, but largely blue-collar types, union workers, and veterans. One notable attendee was the Democrat Douglas County Commissioner Jim Cavanaugh, who told me that was volunteering with the Osborn campaign.

Comments from other guests seemed to place them decidedly on the Democrat side of the aisle.

“My first election was McGovern; I knew Nixon was a crook,” said one guest, a former Navy Corpsman. He also condemned “that orange fellow” for calling World War 2 veterans “suckers” and “losers,” a four-year old allegation attributed to anonymous sources that has been widely refuted.

Osborn said, “I don’t believe Republicans are evil. … I think the system is broken, and it’s because it’s controlled by corporations. They’re the ones pulling the strings.” Osborn had also previously referred to Fischer’s campaign team as “a bunch of Hitler Youth frat boys” on a campaign call, a statement he now says that he regrets.

Fischer & Osborn Q&A

I asked Fischer how she would appeal to voters like the Osborn’s. She cited the Veteran Improvement Commercial Driver License Act, a bill she sponsored to help veterans use GI Bill money to get their CDL licenses, which President Biden signed into law in September. Fischer also cited her ability to work across the aisle in the US Senate, as well as her stance on issues like illegal immigration, regardless of her audience.

“When I interviewed for the endorsement from the Latino peace officers, I was very blunt on things. I was blunt on DACA,” Fischer said. “My opponent has said things like he wants to give Social Security benefits to illegals. He supports amnesty. I made it clear to that board that my decision hasn’t changed.”

Likewise, I asked Osborn how he would appeal to Republicans who were skeptical about Fischer, but unsure if Osborn would be any more “Independent” than US Senator Bernie Sanders, who is also an Independent.

“Give me a chance, because what’s going on with our two-party system right now isn’t working for us,” Osborn said. “We saw two border bills get shot down. We saw a farm bill expire on Sept. 30. It’s on extension for 2018. Now our bushel prices, our bean prices, our crop insurance is outdated. Our farmers are losing, because they want to play party politics with each other. I’m not switching to [Independent]. I’ve always been one. I would say give me a chance and help me secure the border, and issues that are important to people, like taking on corruption in DC. Because by not taking their money, I don’t have to do their bidding.”

---

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article mistakenly confused John Cavanaugh as one of the attendees. It was Jim Cavanaugh.