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Candidates › Nebraska U.S. Senate race › 2025–2026
Dan Osborn
I Independent nominee for U.S. Senate, Nebraska
Has not served in Congress
- On the ballot
- On the general election ballotNov 3, 2026 · Nebraska US Senate
- Where to vote
- Find your polling place (opens in a new tab) · More ways to vote
- Top priorities
- DAN’S PLAN
- DRAIN THE SWAMP
- PROTECT OUR PAYCHECKS, SOCIAL SECURITY, AND HEALTHCARE
- CUT WASTE AND BALANCE THE BUDGET
- PROTECT THE GOOD LIFE
- Money
- $11M raised, $9.1M spent, $2M cash on hand (through Oct 14, 2026). Where it comes from
- Who gives
- 38% of individual money from donors at $200 or less · largest committee giver INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SHEET METAL, AIR, RAIL AND TRANSPORTATION WORKERS POLITICAL ACTION LEAGUE, $10K
- Outside groups
- $7.8M supporting, $15.4M opposing Osborn
- Polling
- 46% in the latest poll (Echelon Insights) · even with Pete Ricketts. The polls
7 priorities from osbornforsenate.com, in the order they are listed there. Every heading and the text under it is copied exactly, as one passage for each page it is from, and links to that place on the page; hover a source to see which passage it opens.
I believe we all have more in common with each other than we do with the partisans who run Washington. I will bring Nebraskans together around a common-sense platform to protect small businesses, family farms and ranches, and middle-class jobs — before they become a thing of the past.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com
Heading as listed on osbornforsenate.com ↗ (opens osbornforsenate.com at this heading)
We deserve a government that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people. But for decades, career politicians in both parties have been bought and paid for by the corporate cronies and lobbyists pouring money into our political process to bend the system to their will. When I’m in the Senate, I will champion the strongest anti-corruption platform Washington has ever seen.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/plans
In 2010, the Supreme Court made what I believe is the worst Supreme Court ruling of all time. In Citizens United v. FEC (2010), the court ruled that corporations and other outside groups can raise and spend an unlimited amount of money in our elections – nearly $4.5 billion in the 2024 election alone. This has allowed money to flood our elections and politics, giving wealthy donors, corporations, and other special interest groups infinitely more power over everyday people like you and me.
I won’t sugarcoat it – overturning Citizens United is a monumental task that will require either an amendment to our Constitution or a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling, but I believe this is a fight worth taking on. I will be a leading voice in the movement to pass a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-draintheswamp
Our representatives are privy to insider information that the people are not – they attend nonpublic hearings and learn privileged information about the direction of government long before we the public do. With this insider information they are able to make incredibly profitable trades. Politicians like Nancy Pelosi and Markwayne Mullin have made MILLIONS in a single day trading on our dime.
To truly restore public trust we need an outright ban on individual stock trading by Members of Congress and the executive branch, and if you break the law, you go to jail.
My opponent, Pete Ricketts – who made $10 million in the stock market in just one month last year – has introduced legislation to ban stock trading with extremely weak penalties. It allows members of Congress to keep the stocks they already have and still sell their stocks as long as they “give some notice.” Penalties are only assessed on the profits of the trade rather than the entire value of the stock. There are plenty of stronger proposals in Congress than what Ricketts is proposing, including the HONEST Act (S.1498), which would ban both buying AND selling of stocks, require members to fully divest all individual stock holdings by the start of their next term, and cover a broader range of assets. I’ll support it and push for even stronger legislation.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-draintheswamp
Under current law, 501(c)(4) non-profit groups do not have to disclose their donors to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). This has allowed massive corporations and billionaires to flood our elections with billions of dollars that we do not know the origin of. In 2024, nearly $2 billion of dark money was pumped into our elections.
The DISCLOSE Act (S.512) would make it so that 501(c)(4) groups must disclose expenditures over $10,000 to the FEC. I’ll support it. Additionally, I am committed to closing dark money loopholes that allow powerful people to anonymously spend unlimited money in our elections.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-draintheswamp
Too many of our politicians from both parties are bought and paid for by the corporations that bankroll their campaigns. How can our elected officials be trusted to lower prescription drug costs if they are funded by Big Pharma? How can we trust them to do what’s best for our country and our troops if they are taking money from defense contractors? The list goes on and on. My opponent has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from the very corporations that are screwing us over every day.
If I can’t relate the money I receive back to working people, I don’t want it. That’s why I have pledged not to accept any corporate PAC money to fund this campaign. Mine is a campaign powered by small-dollar donations from real people and I want to keep it that way so that you know when I am in the U.S. Senate, I’ll work for you.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-draintheswamp
After a member of Congress leaves their elected position, they often become lobbyists and use their remaining political influence and political connections to benefit their employers, which are often corporations. This process in our politics is called the “revolving door.” This creates a system where a group of elites not only makes up our government, but runs our government as well.
There are currently mandatory “cool-off” periods which bar former members of Congress from becoming lobbyists for a certain period of time after leaving elected office. For the House it's a year. For the Senate, it’s two years. I’ll support closing the revolving door entirely, but at the very least I support doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling the cool-off periods.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-draintheswamp
I do have concerns about term limits being done in a way that empowers lobbyists to take advantage of more newly elected lawmakers, but ultimately I think this is the best way to rid our political system of career politicians.
I support term limits for both houses of government: two terms in the Senate and six terms in the House.
I also support calls for enacting 18-year term limits for the U.S. Supreme Court.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-draintheswamp
Gerrymandering is a stain on our elections, and both parties are guilty of it.
Here's how it works: after every census, state lawmakers redraw the lines of legislative and congressional districts. Though it may seem preposterous, legislators essentially draw their own districts. If a politician knows a certain neighborhood is overwhelmingly Republican or overwhelmingly Democratic, they can draw the line to include or exclude those voters to ensure their own reelection. The result is districts that look like broken puzzle pieces, designed to guarantee outcomes before a single vote is cast. Politicians pick their voters instead of voters picking their politicians.
Voters don't like cheating. Regardless if it’s a traditionally red or blue states, when voters have been given the chance to fix this at the ballot box, they have taken it.
I support requiring every state to establish truly independent redistricting commissions made up of ordinary citizens, not politicians or lobbyists. Maps should require approval from Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike so no single party can railroad the process. The entire process should be open to the public, with hearings, public comment, and full transparency on the data being used to draw the lines.
Politicians should never be allowed to draw their own maps. Period.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-draintheswamp
The same monopoly repair scam John Deere runs on farmers is happening inside our military, except the bill goes to taxpayers. Defense contractors lock our service members out of repairing their own equipment, then charge a fortune to do it themselves. The Trump administration and bipartisan majorities in both chambers of Congress supported ending this. Defense contractor lobbyists killed it in a backroom deal anyway. I will fight to pass bipartisan legislation requiring contractors to give our troops the tools and information they need to fix their own equipment, and stop the contractor stranglehold on our military.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-draintheswamp
Americans are tired of watching leaders who have clearly lost their mental faculties hold on to power for decades. Very often these politicians show concerning signs of failing health for years before anything changes. Freezing on camera. Rambling incoherently in interviews. Being managed and propped up by staff who are effectively running the show while an elected official holds the title. Both Republicans and Democrats have been guilty of this, and voters in both parties have had enough.
This is not about any one person. Not all individuals age the same and plenty of people serve effectively well into their later years. But when the stakes are this high, we cannot rely on politicians to police themselves or their colleagues. They won't do it.
The numbers are clear: more than 8 in 10 Americans support age limits for Congress, including majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. This is one of the least controversial ideas in American politics. The only people who seem to oppose it are the ones it would affect.
I support a serious national conversation about setting reasonable maximum age limits for members of Congress, the Executive Branch, and the Supreme Court. I acknowledge this would require a constitutional amendment, which is a high bar. But the Constitution already sets minimum age requirements for these offices. The Founders understood that age matters. They just couldn't have imagined people serving into their 80s and 90s in the modern era. It is time to finish what they started.
Politicians should not be allowed to cling to power long after they are capable of wielding it responsibly. The people they serve deserve better.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-draintheswamp
Rich and powerful elites have manipulated society with impunity for far too long. There is no greater example of this than the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Administrations from both major parties failed to fully investigate Epstein and the monsters in his orbit. The victims were let down. The powerful were protected. That has to end.
My opponent voted AGAINST releasing the Epstein files. When asked what he thought about them, he replied that investigating one of the most notorious sex traffickers in history was a low priority.
Nebraska deserves a Senator who fights for victims, not one who protects the rich and powerful people who hurt them. Exposing child predators should never be a low priority, and a real leader wouldn't need a pressure campaign to do the right thing.
We need a full release of the Epstein files. Redact the names of victims. Protect the survivors. If someone hurt and traumatized children, that is one of the worst crimes a human being can commit. The predators and enablers of those crimes must be held accountable and be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-draintheswamp
Heading as listed on osbornforsenate.com/plans ↗ (opens osbornforsenate.com/plans at this heading)
Nebraskans are hurting from a thousand little cuts to their paychecks. I will take on the corporations and their chosen political lapdogs to restore economic liberty and fairness for the working Americans who make this country run. Elders should be able to age gracefully. No one should go bankrupt from medical debt.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/plans
Working Americans deserve to keep more of what they earn. I support a real middle class tax cut that lowers rates on wage income, expands credits that put money back in people's pockets, and makes the tax code work for people who punch a clock rather than people who punch a number into a brokerage account.
The reason this has not happened is simple. The people who benefit most from the current system spend more on lobbying than any other industry in America. Billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have paid $0 in federal income taxes in certain years while you pay your rate on every dollar you earn.
Close the loopholes at the top. Cut taxes at the bottom and middle. Reward work, not just wealth.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
Working people put in the hours day in and day out to keep this country running. We deserve to keep more of what we earn. I’ve been talking about no tax on tips and overtime before it was in any bill.
But let's be honest about the Big Beautiful Bill. “No Tax on Tips” and “No Tax on Overtime” is a marketing trick.
- First, it's a tax deduction, not an elimination. Second, these deductions can only be applied to federal income tax. Local, state, and other federal taxes still apply.
- For overtime, you can only deduct the "half" portion of your time-and-a-half pay on your federal income tax. This is capped at $12,500 a year. For tips, the lowest-paid workers, the ones already below the standard deduction, get nothing at all because they don't owe federal income tax to begin with.
- Worst of all: no tax on tips and overtime is temporary – it expires in 2028 while the tax cuts that went to corporations and the wealthy are permanent. The relief for working people came with an expiration date.
- And there's one more thing we have to get right. This benefit needs to go to the waitress and the bartender and the hotel housekeeper. Not to hedge fund managers and lawyers who restructure their compensation to look like tips on paper. Any real no-tax-on-tips bill needs ironclad guardrails to make sure the people gaming the system aren't the same ones who always game the system.
I support making no federal income tax on overtime permanent and applicable to all overtime hours. I support making no tax on tips permanent.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
Canceling a subscription shouldn't require sitting on hold for hours or navigating a deliberately confusing website. That's not a business model. That's a trap. I support the bipartisan Unsubscribe Act of 2025 (S.2253), to require that canceling any subscription be as simple as signing up for it – one click.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
Every time you swipe your card, Visa and Mastercard skim 2 to 3% off the top. It's a private sales tax that costs the average Nebraska family $1,200 a year and is most small businesses' highest operating cost after labor and rent. I support the bipartisan and Trump endorsed Credit Card Competition Act (S.3623) to break up the Visa-Mastercard duopoly and force real competition into the market to bring down prices for small businesses and consumers.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
The idea of right to repair is simple: if you own something, you should have the right to repair it yourself or bring it to a technician of your choice who can. Instead, consumers and independent repair shops face manufacturer restrictions on diagnostic software, tools, and repair information in nearly every industry – consumer electronics, home appliances, smartphones, cars, tractors, the list goes on.
We need to hold corporations accountable who engage in planned obsolescence, use software locks to shut out independent repair shops, and design products to fail so you have to buy new ones. This isn't just a consumer issue. It's a property rights issue. If you bought it, you own it and you should be able to fix it.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
Shrinkflation occurs when corporations quietly put less product in the same size package and charge you the same price. When I worked at Kellogg's, I did this. I retrofitted packing machines to make them make smaller bags put into smaller boxes. They knew customers would notice a price increase, but they bet you wouldn't notice getting less.
We deserve full transparency in the marketplace. I support the Shrinkflation Prevention Act of 2024 (S.3819), which would direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to issue regulations to establish shrinkflation as an unfair or deceptive act or practice. If a company reduces the size of a product, they should be required to clearly label that change on the package and prominently display the new quantity. You deserve to know exactly what you're buying. If you're selling less, say so.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
Every year, on April 14th at 10:00 p.m., my wife and I sit at the kitchen table and file our taxes. And like 40 million other Americans we pay TurboTax to do so. In fiscal year 2025, Intuit reported $4.9 billion in revenue from TurboTax alone. Estimates vary, but taxpayers spend about $150 billion out-of-pocket to file our taxes every year.
The government knows exactly how much we owe them or (hopefully) how much they owe us. In the early 2000s, through intense lobbying by tax preparation companies like TurboTax, the government – across administrations – has allowed middlemen to step in and make a profit off of us doing something that could be done for free.
For the 2024 tax season, the IRS piloted a free direct file system in 12 states. It had 140,803 users who saved about $5.6 million in tax preparation fees. That’s about $40 a person. For the 2026 season, the program has been canned, allowing massive corporations to yet again squeeze more money out of us.
Imagine paying the restaurant you're eating at a fee to tell you what the bill is! This is the biggest scam that no one knows about. I’ll support restarting the IRS Direct File program with the eventual goal to make this available to every American who wants to use it.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
Surveillance pricing is when companies collect your personal data and use algorithms to charge you more based on what they know about you. Your location. Your browsing history. Your income level.
Imagine you just had a death in the family and need to fly home for a funeral. An airline knows this because they have access to your search history, your emails, your social media. So they charge you more. Because they know you are stuck and have no choice.Test prep companies have already been caught charging more based on the demographics of your zip code. Ridesharing apps have been found charging different prices for the same exact ride based on personal data.
This is immoral and wrong. Our personal data should not be weaponized against us to extract every last dollar corporations think they can get. I support strong consumer privacy protections to prevent companies from using our personal data to charge us more.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
Tariffs, when used strategically, can be a great tool for protecting American jobs and workers. Targeted tariffs are the reason that most of the trucks you see on American streets are American trucks. Those trucks are assembled here, supporting American jobs.
Blanket tariffs raise everyday costs for small businesses and families like mine. The current tariff strategy has been unfocused and guided by politics, not economics. The average American family is paying nearly $1,800 a year because of it. That is a tax on the people.
I work in the steamfitting and plumbing industry. Did you know a domestic water heater for your home is now $600 more than it was before our blanket tariff policy?
I support a smart, America-first tariff policy. Targeted. Strategic. Designed to bring jobs home and lower costs for consumers. Not a blanket approach that punishes Nebraska's farmers, small businesses, and working families while corporate middlemen pass every cost straight to you. On tariffs, one size does not fit all.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
Non-compete agreements are predatory contracts that corporations force onto workers to prevent them from leaving for a better job. We are not talking about executives with access to genuine trade secrets. We are talking about hairstylists, warehouse workers, nurses, and fast food employees – ordinary working people being told by a company that they cannot pursue a new job, start a new business, or bring a new idea to market.
About 30 million American workers are currently bound by these agreements. They suppress wages, kill economic mobility, and stifle new business formation. The freedom to change jobs is core to economic liberty. When a corporation can trap a worker in a job simply because it can, that is not a free market. That is a rigged one.
I support taking the FTC’s proposed November 2024 rule and making it a legislative ban on non-compete agreements for working people.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
AI data centers need a boatload of power to operate and all of us are picking up the tab. Residential electricity prices jumped more than 7% in 2025 while Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg made billions. Big tech is cutting secret deals with utilities to get discounted power while the infrastructure costs get quietly spread to every other ratepayer. We keep hearing about companies cutting jobs because of AI. We never hear about them cutting prices because of it. If these corporations want to consume the power of entire cities to train their models, they should pay for it themselves, not stick it to your electric bill.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
Being in a union taught me that it’s important to take care of our retirees because we all want to be one some day. We pay into Social Security and Medicare our entire working lives. It’s not charity. It’s a promise this country made to working people, and I intend to keep it.
I will never vote to cut Social Security or Medicare benefits. I will never vote to raise the retirement age. And I will never let Wall Street get its hands on our retirement. The moment we hand Social Security over to the stock market, the guarantee is gone. Ask anyone who retired in 2008 how that would have felt.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
Right now, millionaires and billionaires stop paying into Social Security after their first $176,100 in income. For some, this happens within just minutes every new year. After that, they don’t pay another penny. The rest of us pay our rate on every dollar we earn. That’s a fairness problem.
Raising or eliminating that cap so the wealthy pay the same rate as everyone else would extend Social Security's solvency for decades without cutting a single benefit for a single retiree. No benefit cuts. No retirement age increase. No privatization. Just making sure the people at the top pay the same rate as the people at the bottom.
This is the fix. It is simple, it is fair, and the only reason it hasn't happened is because the people who would have to pay more are the same people funding the campaigns of the people who would have to vote for it.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
Politicians talk all the time about supporting our troops and veterans, but too often that just means funneling money to incredibly profitable defense contractors. I served in the Navy and the Nebraska Army National Guard. I’m not going to just talk about supporting our troops and veterans. I will support policies that actually move the needle for our nation’s heroes. We must:
- Pass the Major Richard Star Act
Under current law, veterans forced to medically retire due to combat or combat-related injuries do not receive their full retirement pay from the Department of Defense and their full disability compensation from the VA. Their retirement pay is offset dollar-for-dollar by the amount of disability pay they receive. Some end up with no retirement benefits at all. I support the Major Richard Star Act (S.1032) which would end this offset, giving service members the full benefits they deserve.
- Stop the Privatization of the VA
Our veterans deserve the best healthcare we can provide, period, full stop. Not the cheapest. Not the most profitable. The best.Privatization was sold as a solution for rural veterans who live far from VA facilities. The reality is that veterans in private systems face longer wait times, less coordinated care, and providers who are not trained in the unique health needs of those who served. The private sector is not equipped to handle the mental health challenges, burn pit exposure, and service-related conditions that our veterans carry home with them.And while care gets worse, corporate profits get better. Companies like UnitedHealth are lobbying aggressively to steer veterans and their healthcare dollars into private hands. That is not support for our veterans. That is exploitation of them.In 2024, veteran trust in VA healthcare reached a record 92%. The system works when we invest in it. I will fight to protect and strengthen the VA, not dismantle it for the benefit of Wall Street.
- Raise Serviceman Pay
Sometimes it seems the military overpays for everything – except soldiers, sailors and airmen. I handled inventory on the USS Constellation. I saw things like forty dollar hammers that cost ten bucks at the hardware store or $10,000 switches that cost a couple hundred dollars to manufacture. Price gouging is draining our military of the resources to defend this country. How? Defense contractors spend millions of dollars annually lobbying Washington. It’s no surprise that hundreds of billions of dollars are siphoned out of our military on overpays. Meanwhile, military families struggle to put food on the table. We must pay servicemen and women a competitive wage. Military families are on food stamps, and we wonder why there’s a recruitment crisis.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
We spend $15,474 per person on healthcare – significantly more than any other developed nation, but we get worse results. The reason isn't that Americans are sicker or go to the doctor too much. The reason is because our healthcare is dominated by monopolies that have the power to gouge us.
One company now owns your insurance, your doctor's practice, your pharmacy, and the middleman deciding which drugs you can have. For example, UnitedHealth Group owns UnitedHealthcare, 90,000 doctors through Optum Health, and OptumRx, one of the three companies that controls 80% of all prescriptions in America. They negotiate with themselves. They pay themselves. They profit at every single step of our care.
This is called vertical integration, and it is the same racket John D. Rockefeller ran with Standard Oil until Teddy Roosevelt broke it up. An insurance company should not own the doctors providing the care, the pharmacy filling the prescriptions, and the middleman deciding what gets approved. That is not a free market. That is a monopoly dressed up as one.
I support the bipartisan Break Up Big Medicine Act (S.3822) – a Glass-Steagall approach to healthcare. One company, one business. Insurance or providers. Insurance or pharmacies. Not all of the above. Break up the conflicts of interest, restore competition, and watch costs come down.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
There was a time when your doctor owned their practice and your pharmacist knew your name. That Nebraska is disappearing. Independent doctors are being swallowed by corporate hospital systems and insurance conglomerates. Independent pharmacies are closing at a rate of more than one per day, replaced by CVS mail-order and pharmacy chains owned by the same insurance companies deciding what drugs you can have.
This is not an accident. It is the predictable result of a system rigged against small, independent operators. PBMs reimburse independent pharmacies below the cost of the drugs they dispense. Corporate health systems use their market power to starve independent physician practices of patients. The little guy cannot compete when the referee owns the other team.
I support requiring equal reimbursement for independent pharmacies and physicians. I support any willing provider laws that let patients choose their own doctor and pharmacy rather than being steered to whatever corporation owns their insurance. And I support banning the non-compete agreements that trap doctors inside corporate systems long after they want to leave.
The doctor who knows your name and the pharmacist who knows your family are worth fighting for.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
The VA negotiates drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies. That is why a veteran pays a fraction of what a Medicare patient pays for the exact same pill made by the exact same company.
For decades, drug companies spent millions lobbying Congress to make sure Medicare and Medicaid could not do the same thing. They succeeded. The result is that the United States government, the largest purchaser of prescription drugs on Earth, is legally prohibited from using its purchasing power to negotiate lower prices. Every other developed country does this. We do not. And we pay two to five times more than they do because of it.
I support giving Medicaid the full authority to negotiate drug prices directly with manufacturers, the same way the VA does, the same way every other wealthy country does. No middlemen. No PBM taking a cut. No pharmaceutical lobbyist veto. Just the government negotiating on behalf of the people it serves.
This is not complicated. It is just common sense that has been blocked by an industry that spends more on lobbying than any other in America.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
When a rural hospital closes, it does not just affect sick people. It affects everyone. Young families will not move somewhere without a hospital. Businesses will not either. The whole community starts to die.
My opponent voted for a bill that cuts $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade. It’s estimated that $137 billion of that will affect rural hospitals specifically. Pete’s solution? A $50 billion rural health fund split across all 50 states over five years. I’m no math whiz, but you can’t take $3 dollars away from us, give $1 back and tell us to be thankful.
I will fight to restore rural hospital funding and protect the communities that depend on them.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
Through Medicaid, Age and Disabled (AD) Waivers reimburse caregivers so eligible seniors (65+) and people under 65 with disabilities can receive care at home instead of in institutions like nursing homes. It’s more comfortable for patients, cheaper for families, and cheaper for tax payers in the long run. Cuts to Medicaid have threatened this program. I will support it.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
In 2024, 71% of Nebraska voters voted to legalize medical marijuana but Pete Ricketts has sabotaged the will of the people at every turn. He spent $500,000 on ads lying about medical marijuana. He said it would "kill your kids." He lobbied against legislation that would have properly regulated it. I will stand up for patients and caregivers to make sure people can get the medicine that helps them. I will not only stop the obstruction, I will actively work to support the adoption of medical marijuana in our state.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
The relationship between a patient and their doctor is one of the most personal and private relationships that exists. Politicians in Washington should not be inserting themselves into it.
I believe in personal freedom. I do not believe the government should be involved in our private lives. What happens between you and your doctor is your business, not the government's.
I will fight to keep the government out of your most personal healthcare decisions and protect the right of every Nebraskan to make those decisions privately, with their family and their doctor.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-our-paychecks-social-security-and-healthcare
Heading as listed on osbornforsenate.com/plans ↗ (opens osbornforsenate.com/plans at this heading)
Both parties have spent money we don't have for decades, and working Americans are paying the price. The national debt is a ticking time bomb for our kids and grandkids. I'm not beholden to either party, which means I can actually do something about it. I'll cut waste, end corporate welfare, and refuse to vote for spending we can't afford.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/plans
By reviewing our books every year, we can break up the stagnancy in our bureaucracy that rips taxpayers off. No more wasted money.
- Eliminate Waste: There’s so much waste in our government. The companies the government does business with know they can rip off taxpayers with no consequences. We overspend on contractors who get too much money and provide work of little value to Americans, get price-gouged by vendors, and blindly give money to programs we never check back in on. These problems are rampant across the government, and a thorough examination of how we’re spending our money will cut a lot of spending.
- Address Fraud: We can’t stand by any longer as taxpayers are defrauded by dishonest criminals who take advantage of programs meant to benefit hard-working Americans who play by the rules. I will fight to investigate the companies that are illegally jacking up prices, and increase penalties for those who steal from taxpayers, like in Minnesota and California.
- Tackle the National Debt Head-On: Stopping the outflow of cash to megacorporations, consultants, and wasteful contractors will go a long way in clawing back some of the national debt. But we need to stop accumulating new debt, too. I won’t vote for anything that we can’t afford. For every bill I vote on, I’ll need to see the pay-for: where we’re getting the money from.
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No More Bailouts: I will fight for policies that put the working class front-of-mind. We cannot afford more tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy and billion dollar bailouts for the banks and corporations when the people are the ones who get screwed.
Simplify Taxes: Taxes shouldn’t be a mystery. Our bloated, overcomplicated tax code means that the IRS goes after small business owners and other hardworking Americans instead of the large corporations who can hide behind their army of lawyers. Instead of throwing billions at the bureaucracy like Biden, we will make it easier for honest Americans to file, while going after the big fish tax cheats that are swindling us out of millions. Shareholders shouldn’t get bonuses while everyday Americans get investigated.
Stop Handouts to Pharmaceutical Companies: The pharmaceutical industry is a prime example of where the government’s willingness to give corporate handouts has failed working-class people. After taxpayers sent Moderna $10 billion in COVID subsidies, its CEO made $398 million in 2022, while the company jacked up the price of the COVID vaccine. As Senator, I will never support handing huge pharmaceuticals a blank check.
Ban Data Center Giveaways: Our leaders are throwing subsidies and tax incentives at data centers, which jack up energy prices for consumers and make our communities unpleasant to live in without giving anything back. There’s a reason that these data centers are so unpopular everywhere they’re being built.
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America is the greatest country in the world, and Nebraska is the greatest state in the union. Here, we understand what it means to live the Good Life. The Good Life isn’t just a slogan. It’s helping your neighbor when they need it the most. It’s the pride we take in our communities. It’s fighting for our kids’ future so they can live in a better world than we had.
As your senator, I will Protect the Good Life. Nebraskans are tough, and together we can make it through anything. But right now, the government isn’t working for everyday Nebraskans. We need a government that works for the hardest working state in the union.
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The Good Life is about building safe communities and sustainable futures. We need to end the chaos. Working hard and doing things the right way should be enough to live comfortably.
- A Nebraska-First Foreign Policy that begins by ending the wars that drive up prices and costs the lives of American servicemen and women. This means ending the war in Iran and cutting off aid to Israel until they end their aggression against Gaza and their neighbors. Other lawmakers may be okay allowing the violence to continue to justify giving their defense industry donors fat contracts. No weapon that says “Made in America” should ever be used on a school or hospital. I will stand up for Nebraskans.
- Bringing Back Shop Class in high school to teach students the value of working with their hands and introduce them to well-paying careers in the trades. We also need to value trade schools, apprenticeships and associates degrees, and make them more accessible to those who might not be inclined to pursue 4-year degrees. While a traditional bachelor’s degree can be great, there are many other paths to a middle-class life. I will work to ensure these paths remain open, and our young people can pursue them.
- Only 1% of Americans sign on the dotted line to serve their country in our armed forces. The quality of our Veterans Affairs services needs to match the magnitude of their commitment. When our servicemen and women return from their services, we need to have their back. There is no reason someone who served our country should end up homeless. We have to do better for our veterans; I will ensure that our veterans’ benefits are protected.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-protect-the-good-life
- When I ask voters at my townhalls what their #1 issue is, they almost always say the same thing: Healthcare. Our healthcare system is fundamentally broken. Big corporations own every step of the process, from the moment you have a sniffle all the way to the pharmacy. Healthcare providers across Nebraska are closing while business executives profit off sick Americans. I will end the vertical integration of our healthcare system, and stand up to the insurance companies that have run our politics with their money.
- As a steamfitter, I know about water usage. When I see the cooling towers on the Data Centers being built across our state, I worry about the pressure that puts on our water supply. Our Ogallala Aquifer is a precious resource. It should be protected for Nebraskans, not tech billionaires in California who profit off of our resources. We need to put guardrails on data centers, and ensure that the things being built in Nebraska benefit Nebraskans.
- The Good Life relies on having safe communities. We can’t live comfortably and build a life for our families unless we know that when we call for help, our First Responders will always be there to protect us. They have our backs. We need to have theirs. Our police and firefighters need to know that we’ll support them if they get sick or injured when they’re putting their lives on the line for us. Our first responders also need robust pensions worthy of their lives of service they’ve given us. We can’t take the safety they provide for granted.
- Many of our Nebraska communities can tie their history directly to the Railroads that crisscross our state. I believe in a Nebraska where our tracks move not only grain and beef, but Nebraskans themselves. In the senate, I will work with any administration's Department of Transportation to further connect our state to the national AMTRAK system, and ensure our state’s rail network is up to date and safe.
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Family farms and ranches are the lifeblood of Nebraska. As U.S. Senator, I will take on Washington special interests and the corporate monopolies stealing money from producers and making everything unaffordable for all of us. I will fight to restore real markets in our agricultural system and bring back the Nebraska that we all want and deserve.
Small businesses are at the heart of our communities here in rural Nebraska. However, it’s more difficult than ever for our entrepreneurs to keep up with the big businesses. The businesses in your community should be owned by your neighbors, not corporate executives.
Corporate greed and bought-and-paid-for politicians in both parties have abandoned rural Nebraska and pushed out small businesses. In our small towns, people are being punished for raising their families in the communities where they themselves grew up. Nebraska’s rural way of life is on life support and the two-party doom loop in Washington D.C. means no one with the power to change this is paying attention.
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I believe the consolidation of the big agricultural companies and invasion of foreign corporations has allowed a handful of companies to rob farmers and ranchers of their profits only to later raise prices at the grocery store.
- Pass a Damn Farm Bill. Congress hasn’t passed a Farm Bill since 2018. Members of Congress shouldn’t be able to collect a paycheck until they’ve done their jobs for our farmers and ranchers. No Farm Bill? No pay.
- Break Up the Agriculture Monopolies to bring back fair competition and prevent them from shaking down farmers and ranchers. Only 50 companies control the $1.4 trillion agriculture industry.
- Find Alternative Markets for Nebraska Produce like year round E15 and the PRIME Act that allow farmers and ranchers to avoid working in traditional markets dominated by monopolies like the meat-packers
- Rein in the Railroad Monopolies who use their market power to squeeze farmers, crush workers, and hoard their wealth at the top. They continue to choose profits over safety and since 2000, a train has derailed in Nebraska every seven days.
- Enact Right to Repair laws to empower our agricultural workers and small business owners, instead of allowing big businesses to corner them into expensive proprietary parts or service agreements.
- Fix Crop Insurance Subsidies which favor large farms while leaving small farms to struggle. By adjusting the insurance agents commission formula, we can ensure that small farms have the same insurance opportunities as large ones.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-fight-like-hell-for-rural-nebraska
The Epstein class in DC have been bought by foreign interests and sold out American agriculture. In the Senate, Ricketts hast aken pro-China money and allowed them to push out American business and workers.
- Prevent Foreign Corporations from Swallowing Up Nebraska Farmland by banning countries like China and Brazil from purchasing Nebraska agricultural land.
- Evict Foreign Corporations like JBS and Syngenta who take advantage of American agriculture and send their profits out of the country.
- Mandate Country of Origin Labeling (MCOOL) to ensure that American produce stands out among foreign imports that have to meet the same standards.
- Fight for Tariffs that Work for America. While blanket tariffs create confusion and harm American businesses, targeted tariffs can keep American products competitive and save American jobs.
- Avoiding Foreign Wars that cost taxpayers money, put our servicemen and servicewomen in danger, and destabilize the global economy. Lawmakers in DC should be focused on lowering costs for everyday Americans instead of lining the pockets of defense contractors through prolonged conflicts overseas.
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Rural communities are the cornerstone of Nebraska’s way of life yet they’re ignored by Washington powerbrokers in both parties.
- Rebuild Rural Healthcare Services to ensure that both routine and emergency care is within reach of all Nebraskans. No one should have to drive hours for healthcare.
- Promote Rural Broadband to make it more feasible to live and work in Nebraska’s rural communities. Small towns deserve the same digital access as our metro areas.
- Invest in Small Businesses to help keep Main Street thriving in our rural communities.
- Deliver Services to Rural Communities and end the cycle of broken promises by crooked politicians in D.C. When politicians make commitments, they should be expected to follow through.
- Stopping Runaway Inflation to ensure consumer confidence and keep our economy on track. For small businesses to succeed, we need an economy that allows consumers to spend their money at the small businesses that reinvest in their community.
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Running as an Independent, I’m unbeholden to party bosses and can take positions no right or left wing politician could. I will champion ideas that our citizens agree with and will fight for ideas and policies that help turn down the political temperature in this country.
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- The Second Amendment is for Everyone: I am fundamentally in favor of the Second Amendment. While I support reasonable safety measures, including gun safety education in our schools, law-abiding citizens have, and must always have, the right to bear arms. We need to protect the Second Amendment.
- End the Surveillance State: Current U.S. intelligence law gives the executive branch significant authority to surveil American citizens, often without strong judicial oversight. The government should not be spying on us without compelling evidence to justify it. I would not support the reauthorization of FISA Section 702 without strict warrant protections for Americans.
- Get the Government's Hands Off Our Data: Right now, using the internet is a deal with the devil: your personal data is constantly being sold to the highest bidder. The government is on the action, dodging constitutional requirements by buying our data from third parties. I support the bipartisan Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, which will close this loophole and protect our privacy.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-defend-our-freedoms-and-the-constitution
- Legalize Medical Marijuana: In 2024, 71% of Nebraska voters voted to legalize medical marijuana but Pete Ricketts has sabotaged the will of the people at every turn. He spent $500,000 on ads lying about medical marijuana. He said it would "kill your kids." He lobbied against legislation that would have properly regulated it. I will stand up for patients and caregivers to make sure people can get the medicine that helps them. I will not only stop the obstruction, I will actively work to support the adoption of medical marijuana in our state.
- Keep the Government Out of Medical Decisions: I believe in limited government. Politicians shouldn’t be involved in most medical issues – those are between a patient and their doctors. For example, I am personally pro-life, but believe the government should not be making health decisions for people. It is important that people have the right to make their own choices in consultations with their doctors.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · osbornforsenate.com/ngfp-defend-our-freedoms-and-the-constitution
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