Dan Osborne of Nebraska is back at work as a steamroller Tuesday after his failed Senate bid, but his political career isn’t over.
Running as an independent, Osborne creates a political action committee called the Working Class Heroes Fund to support working-class candidates of all parties. And he’s not ruling out another run after losing to GOP Sen. Deb Fischer.
“It’s definitely something we’re considering,” Osborn said in a phone interview Monday when asked if he was considering running for the Senate again in two years. GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts won a special election this month to fill the final two years of former Sen. Ben Sasse’s term and will seek a full term in 2026.
Osborne considered a possible case against Ricketts, a wealthy former governor, as an example of how the rich can influence politics.
“I think the country has an appetite for what we’re building in Nebraska. I want to take advantage of that,” Osborne said, adding later, “Pete Ricketts was able to effectively buy the Nebraska Legislature because they own the Chicago Cubs for crying out loud. They have so much money.
“So we have to have other institutions that are for workers that are fighting with these huge corporate entities, this huge wealth,” Osborne said.
Osborne did better than Vice President Kamala Harris, while former President Donald Trump won Nebraska by nearly 21 points, losing to Fisher by 7 percentage points.
For now, Osborne is focused on building a new PAC. Osborne said his PAC will support candidates of either party, and he said he doesn’t expect to hold many political litmus tests other than supporting campaign financing and rejecting corporate donations.
“I’m starting this PAC because I want to help other veterans and independents. And not just independents, but Republicans, Democrats or Libertarians or the Legalize Marijuana Now Party — I don’t care,” Osborne said. “A nurse, a teacher, a carpenter, a plumber, a bus driver, people like that are running. I want to let you know that there is an avenue where they can try to emulate the same thing we’re doing here in Nebraska.
Osborne said he is interested in mentoring candidates and the PAC will also provide financial support. According to recent campaign finance reports, his Senate campaign had raised $7.9 million through mid-October, and he said he had raised more than $14 million as a result.
The Working Class Heroes Fund will be called a hybrid PAC that can work directly with candidates and run independent ad campaigns to support them through a separate arm. Osborne said he hoped to help the candidates combat the “lies”, claiming false accusations about his position on border policy led to his defeat.
Osborne saw first-hand the financial hurdles that working-class candidates can face. Finally, he took a spring leave from his job as a steamer to concentrate on racing, and he He received a salary of $21,000 from the campaign as permitted under the campaign finance rules.
“I’m very optimistic because I feel like I’ve created a path forward for people who want to do it,” Osborne said, adding, “We already have a framework and a plan for them to do it, so it’s on to the next person.” it won’t be difficult because we’ve been there and done that.”