Dems Quietly Boosted Nebraska’s Independent Senate Candidate In The Final Days Of The Election

Democrats kept insisting that an independent Senate candidate wasn’t one of their own. It turns out they backed him anyway.

In the final stretch of independent Dan Osborn’s attempt to unseat Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Senate Democrats’ main super PAC dropped more than $3.8 million into another outside group that was a top player supporting Osborn, according to a campaign finance report filed on Thursday.

Democrats had been adamant that they were not supporting Osborn, who refused to accept political endorsements and said he would not caucus with either party. Senate Majority PAC, the Democratic outside group, is officially independent but blessed by party leadership. SMP had not donated to Retire Career Politicians, the super PAC boosting Osborn, prior to October.

Fischer ultimately defeated Osborn by about 7 points last month — after weeks of competition that had her and fellow Republicans sweating. She also significantly underperformed President-elect Donald Trump, who won the state by more than 20 points.

On paper, Osborn shouldn’t have been much of a threat to a two-term Republican incumbent in a deep-red state: Fischer cruised to victory during her first reelection bid with a 20-point win in 2018, and a Democrat hasn’t won a Senate race in the state in almost two decades.

But Osborn, unlike most independent candidates, wasn’t just a nominal challenger to both a Democrat and Republican. He was the only other candidate on the ticket besides the incumbent — meaning there was the threat of coalescing the anti-Fischer vote. A handful of polls suggested Osborn was within striking distance of Fischer, and Republicans poured more than $15 million on advertisements in the race, according to ad tracker AdImpact.

Republicans repeatedly hammered Osborn for being a “Democrat in disguise,” a reference to donations from Democrats to Retire Career Politicians. Previous campaign finance reports showed that the group had also received contributions from the liberal dark money group Sixteen Thirty Fund.

Senate Majority PAC didn’t make its donations until Oct. 17 — after the campaign finance reporting deadlines ahead of Election Day. That allowed its donations to stay hidden until Thursday’s report was filed, long after the election was decided.

The report, filed with the Federal Election Commission, showed that Retire Career Politicians also received funding from a handful of other Democratic-aligned donors, including the League of Conservation Voters’ political arm and the legendary movie director Steven Spielberg.

Osborn, who vehemently pushed back on those associations to Democrats, isn’t stepping away from the political spotlight after his loss. He recently launched a PAC to support working-class candidates, and hasn’t ruled out another bid for office in the future.