Nebraska Senate
$51.0M in outside money, split close to evenly, as independent Dan Osborn, a mechanic and union leader, takes on Sen. Pete Ricketts.1
Follow the MoneySix groups paid for most of the money in the biggest Senate races.The Matchup
Voters or Donors
Dan OsbornIND
Navy veteran and mechanic who led the 2021 strike at the Kellogg's plant in Omaha. Lost to Sen. Deb Fischer by under 7 points in 2024.
Pete RickettsREP
U.S. senator since 2023 and a two-term Nebraska governor before that. Son of billionaire TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts.
- Takes no corporate PAC money; most of his PAC gifts come from unions
- Says he took no defense contractor, AIPAC, railroad, AI or crypto money
- Wants Citizens United overturned and calls money in politics his top issue
- Half his money, $7.3M, came from his own pocket
- 13% of his money came from PACs, including Walmart's, Google's and Microsoft's
- $187K from crypto and AI companies and their people; $253K came through AIPAC's PAC
Outside Money
$51.0M in Outside Money
Each side counts money spent for its candidate plus money spent against the other one, through Oct 23.1
- For Osborn$9.4M
- Against Ricketts$17M
- For Ricketts$0.7M
- Against Osborn$24M
Biggest groups for Osborn
- Nebraska Values PAC, $11.0M; Government That Works PAC is its biggest donor
- Working Class Majority PAC, $8.6M; United Futures is its biggest donor
- The Edge Action Fund, $2.5M
Biggest groups for Ricketts
- Defend American Jobs, $10.8M, the crypto industry's super PAC, funded by Fairshake
- Cornhusker Majority, $7.1M, funded by the Senate Leadership Fund
- Senate Leadership Fund, $3.9M; Elon Musk is its biggest donor
Our Pick
Dan Osborn
Why Osborn
Osborn got 96% of his money from individual donors and 2% from PACs, mostly unions, and wants Citizens United overturned. Half of Ricketts' money is his own, 13% came from PACs, and he grades F.
The Catch
Osborn's side has a bit more outside money, $27M to $24M, from super PACs that fund each other, so the first donors are hard to trace. He took $10K from Lobo PAC, a leadership PAC that has taken corporate PAC money.
No candidate is perfect. We back the best one, then keep holding them accountable.
Before You Vote
Check Your Registration and Polling Place
Official lookups for every state, from the Secretaries of State and USA.gov. Your election office posts the results.
Sources
Every Number, Sourced
- 1Votelog, Nebraska Senate outside money
- 2FEC, Dan Osborn
- 3FEC, Pete Ricketts
- 4Integrity Index, Dan Osborn
- 5Integrity Index, Pete Ricketts
- 6The Fulcrum, Osborn on corporate PAC money and money in politics
- 7WOWT, business PACs back Ricketts and unions back Osborn
- 8KLIN, Osborn calls for overturning Citizens United in the State Fair debate
- 9Citation Needed, crypto and AI money in Nebraska
- 10CBS News, Osborn's background and Ricketts' family
- 11Roll Call, former Gov. Ricketts appointed to the Senate
- 12Ballotpedia News, the Nebraska Senate ballot and the 2024 results
- 13FEC, Lobo PAC, a leadership PAC
- 14ProPublica, corporate PAC gifts to Lobo PAC