He led a strike at Kellogg’s. Now he’s aiming for a Nebraska Senate seat

Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada – these are the swing states most pundits expect will decide the 2024 election. No one has deep red Nebraska on that list. But a 48-year-old pipefitter and union organizer from Omaha is hoping to change that.

Three years ago, Dan Osborn led the Nebraska leg of a US-wide strike against cereal giant Kellogg’s as the company pushed for concessions in a new union contract despite posting record profits during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now he’s taking on Deb Fischer, a Republican senator, who is running for her third US Senate term in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate in 18 years. Osborn is running as an independent and says he hasn’t yet decided who will get his vote come November but his pro-labor, pro-choice views are unlikely to sit well with conservative Republicans.

“This from the beginning was considered a long shot,” said Osborn. “I’ve enjoyed proving people wrong from the very beginning of this and I look forward to continue proving people wrong, that this isn’t impossible. I want to show that Nebraska has an independent spirit.”

Nebraska is historically a stronghold for Republicans. A Democrat has not won a US Senate seat to represent the state since Ben Nelson in 2001. An independent hasn’t won since George Norris in 1936.

Despite the odds, Osborn’s campaign is off to an impressive start. A November 2023 poll, the only one conducted so far for the race, put Osborn at 40% to 38% for Fischer, with 18% undecided. Osborn has also fundraised over $600,000 so far, a record for an independent candidate in the state, primarily from small donors.

Osborn said he was approached to run by railroad workers in Nebraska who have been disgruntled with Fischer over her