LINCOLN, Neb. – Nebraska’s U.S. Senate race heats up as nonpartisan candidate Dan Osborn outraised incumbent Republican Senator Pete Ricketts by roughly $200,000 in the first quarter of 2026, according to the latest federal fundraising reports.
Osborn’s campaign reported raising $1.2 million between January and March, outpacing Ricketts’ roughly $1 million haul during the same period. Despite this, Ricketts maintains the financial edge overall, having raised a total of $4.2 million this cycle compared to Osborn’s $2.3 million.
Cash on hand tells a similar story, with Ricketts holding about $1.6 million—including funds from his influential Ricketts Victory Committee—versus Osborn’s $939,146. The Victory Committee alone raised nearly $895,856 this quarter, funneling resources to Ricketts’ campaign and aligned Republican efforts, including the American Excellence PAC.
The funding landscape exposes a fierce contest shaping up ahead of Nebraska’s primary election on May 12 and the general election scheduled for November 3. Osborn, a former labor leader from Omaha, has built his campaign on a working-class populist message, aiming to improve on his close 2024 Senate race where he lost by six points.
“We continue to see a groundswell of grassroots support for Dan,” said Osborn’s campaign manager John Dolan.
“Nebraskans are sick and tired of do-nothing politicians like Pete Ricketts and believe that the only way to fix Washington is to elect a mechanic.”
Osborn’s fundraising shows broad geographic support, with many smaller donations coming from activists in California and New York, although his largest individual donors hail from Nebraska itself. Conversely, Ricketts’ biggest financial backing also comes locally but includes significant contributions from California and New York donors, alongside numerous business PACs like Walmart Inc.’s PAC for Responsible Government and technology giants Google and Microsoft.
Political action committees play a clear role on both sides: union-backed PACs support Osborn, including a notable $5,000 from the American Postal Workers Union Committee, while business-aligned PACs bolster Ricketts.
Campaign spending details reveal Osborn’s team invested $10,000 in fundraising consultants and $17,500 in digital advertising during Q1. Ricketts’ campaign paid $39,000 to Axiom Strategies for political consulting and $13,750 for direct mail campaigns.
The Q1 filings also intensified scrutiny over Osborn’s campaign payments to himself and family members. Since launching his Senate bid, Osborn’s campaign has paid salaries to him personally and to his wife Megan, who recently left a third-party consulting firm to join his full-time campaign staff.
This practice has drawn criticism from Ricketts-aligned groups and triggered Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaints alleging questionable payments. Osborn’s campaign denies any wrongdoing, deeming the allegations “baseless.”
“The latest report raises continued questions about Osborn’s fundraising and whether it skirts the law,” said Will Coup, a Ricketts campaign spokesperson, emphasizing the political risks of paying family members from campaign funds. Legally allowed, such payments often come under heavy political fire.
Ricketts himself pushed back against Osborn’s populist attack, expressing pride in his Nebraska-based support.
“Nebraskans know I will always put our state first … This is a campaign powered by Nebraskans, for Nebraskans,”
Ricketts said in a statement.
With the Republican primary less than two weeks away and early voting already underway, this fundraising battle reflects a tight and dynamic contest for one of Nebraska’s most high-profile Senate seats. The performance of Nebraska’s less-funded Democratic primary contenders could determine whether Osborn faces Ricketts in a head-to-head general election showdown.
California voters and observers watching this race can expect continued shifts as grassroots enthusiasm challenges established political power in the heartland, underscoring national themes of populism and establishment backlash heading into 2026.
