And The Winner Is
Incumbent Republican Pete Ricketts has won the Nebraska U.S. Senate general election, defeating independent Dan Osborn, to serve his first full six-year Senate term.
Ricketts led Osborn by 47,088 votes, 370,411 to 321,218, out of 735,260 total votes counted. Official results have not yet been certified.
The Nebraska Secretary of State results page labeled its figures "Unofficial Results" as of Nov. 4, with 1,309 of 1,322 precincts fully reporting.
Money and Outside Spending
Ricketts raised $14,546,959 in total campaign receipts to Osborn's $11,029,845, a gap of roughly $3.5 million, but Osborn reported more cash on hand as of Oct. 14, $1,953,183 to Ricketts' $1,218,139.
Reported independent expenditure disbursements across the race totaled $3,584,283, with an additional $68,355,993 in pending notices, for a combined total with pending of $71,940,277, as of Nov. 4, according to the race record on Legis1.
Broken down by candidate:
- Outside groups reported $784,636 in disbursements supporting or opposing Ricketts (Republican), with $25,022,720 in additional pending notices, for a total with pending of $25,807,356. Of the reported disbursements, $783,915 was in support and $721 in opposition.
- Outside groups reported $2,240,431 in disbursements directed at Osborn (independent), with $42,750,152 in pending notices, for a total with pending of $44,990,582. Of the reported disbursements, $2,169,628 was in opposition and $70,803 in support.
Among the top outside spenders by pending notice volume: Nebraska Values PAC ($16,860,619 pending), Defend American Jobs ($13,476,278 pending), and Working Class Majority PAC, Inc. ($12,249,017 pending). Win It Back PAC reported $2,059,628 in opposition spending, the largest total among the top spenders listed for the race.
The Incumbent: Service and Legislative Record
Ricketts took the oath of office on Jan. 23, 2023. According to the U.S. Senate's committee assignments page, Ricketts serves on four full committees: Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Environment and Public Works; Foreign Relations; and Budget.
In the 119th Congress, Ricketts sponsored several bills, including:
- He sponsored S.5459, the Agricultural Data Privacy Act of 2026.
- He sponsored S.881, the Renewable Fuel for Ocean-Going Vessels Act.
- He cosponsored the Primacy Certainty Act of 2025 (S.2505), the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (S.1404), the SAVE America Act (S.3752), and the Protect College Sports Act of 2026 (S.4668).
Race Context
Cindy Burbank won the Democratic primary on May 12, with 110,171 votes (89.5 percent), but she subsequently withdrew from the general election and did not appear on the general ballot.
Ricketts won the Republican primary on May 12 with 160,520 votes out of 197,047 cast, a margin of 144,594 votes over the second-place finisher, Todd Knobel.
Across the full race, 30 endorsements were recorded among three candidates: Osborn received 19, Ricketts nine, and Burbank two.
Campaign Attacks
The closing weeks of the race featured sharp exchanges, according to KETV's Oct. 29 report:
- Osborn's campaign ads accused Ricketts of granting "pardons for rapists," referring to his vote as governor to pardon John Arias, who had been convicted of rape. A separate Osborn ad accused Ricketts of defending Jeffrey Epstein by citing his vote to table a request to release the Epstein files, and KETV reports that Ricketts later voted to release the documents.
- Ricketts' campaign used audio attributed to Osborn, including a profane remark about a woman, to portray him as speaking disrespectfully about women, according to KETV, which said the clip came from a recording described in a Politico item and was attributed to two people, including a former Osborn campaign volunteer.
- Ricketts repeatedly called Osborn "Democrat Dan" and linked him to democratic socialists, framing him as a Democrat despite his independent candidacy, according to NBC News' account of a Sept. 1 debate and its Nov. 4 race report.
Pre-Election Indicators
The Cook Political Report rated the race "Likely Republican" as of Oct. 30, according to Cook's race page. Kalshi's prediction market displayed an implied probability of 92.6 percent for a Ricketts win.
What's Next
The general election stage lists certification status as "counting." No certified result or final vote total has yet been released by the Nebraska Secretary of State.
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