OMAHA — Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts launched his reelection bid last weekend at R&R Realty Group and kicked off a three-day tour of the state.

Ricketts looks to win his first full six-year term after winning a special election in 2024 to finish the final two years of former Nebraska U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., who resigned. Ricketts faces a populist challenger in a race already garnering national attention.

“Conservative leadership matters,” Ricketts said. “Conservative leadership delivers.”

As expected, President Donald Trump joined prominent Republicans in endorsing Ricketts, a former two-term governor and political force in the state. In his campaign kickoff, Ricketts highlighted working with the Legislature as governor to deliver $12.7 billion in tax relief.

Ricketts also touted his Senate votes for Trump’s budget and tax bill this summer, saying “it delivers the largest tax cut in American history.” He highlighted its new temporary tax breaks for workers earning less and how it boosted funding for immigration enforcement.

The law makes tax cuts from the first Trump administration permanent, cementing most of its benefits for high earners, starts funding Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense program and accomplishes other goals from Trump’s domestic agenda.

Ricketts said he is fighting to keep the same conservative leadership in Washington, D.C., that he said has delivered results for Nebraska and for America.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen appointed Ricketts to the Senate in 2023, when he replaced Sasse after Sasse resigned to become president of the University of Florida. Ricketts easily defeated Preston Love Jr. in 2024. But Ricketts has acknowledged his race against former Omaha labor leader Dan Osborn will be “tough.”

Osborn, like Ricketts, has been holding listening sessions around the state, and he ran a closer-than-expected race in 2024 against U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, who defeated him by six percentage points.

“I need your help because I’m kicking off my reelection here, and it’s going to be a tough one,” Ricketts told the Omaha crowd. “He says he’s an independent, but he voted against Trump. He says He’s independent, but … 95% of his money came from outside the state of Nebraska.”

Ricketts called Osborn a “fake” independent. Osborn quickly responded by telling Omaha NBC affiliate WOWT, “If you want to talk about fake, how about buying your way into the Senate with your dad’s money … so I would say he’s a fake senator.”

The latest spat is a hint of how much different the race will be compared to Osborn’s bid against Fischer, who largely ignored him until the last few months.

Ricketts and his political team have said they won’t let Osborn fly under the radar. Some regional and national Republican strategists have said the GOP will work to “expose” him.

Omaha was the first stop for Ricketts’ statewide tour. He also planned stops at Kearney, North Platte, Scottsbluff, Norfolk and Beatrice.

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/09/22/nebraska-u-s-sen-pete-ricketts-l...