OMAHA — Allegations flew Monday in Nebraska’s most competitive U.S. Senate race, with one campaign threatening legal action over campaign advertising and a report about talk of “Hitler Youth.”

Nebraska nonpartisan candidate Dan Osborn’s campaign sent a cease and desist letter to an outside group advertising in support of U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb.

The Osborn campaign called for three ads to be corrected or pulled in letters sent to Fischer’s campaign and to Heartland Resurgence, a dark money group that has previously been tied to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The letters alleged that the ads made “false and defamatory statements about Mr. Osborn” and that at least one of them falsely attributed an inaccurate quote to him from political website Semafor.

“These advertisements are categorically false and have been distributed with actual malice and are intended to mislead the public and damage Mr. Osborn’s reputation,”  writes Evan Schmeits, Osborn’s campaign manager.

New York Post Report

Also on Monday, the New York Post reported that Osborn said on a recorded donor call that Fischer has “never had any competition so her staffers and her campaign team are a bunch of Hitler Youth frat boys.”

Osborn followed up with the Post and said he had been “a little harsh” and that he wished he could “have that one back.” On Monday, he told Nebraska reporters that he owed Fischer’s staff an apology.

Schmeits alleges the three ads were placed with “actual malice,” which is part of a higher standard that public figures must prove when alleging libel.

Fischer’s campaign spokesman, Derek Oden, criticized Osborn for trying to “change the subject” Monday from the Post story by sending the cease and desist letter.

“Unfortunately for Dan, he can’t change his record,” Oden said.

Ad Fight Detailed

The letter complained about three different ads.

One of the ads, from Fischer talks about an Osborn interview with news website Semafor, in which Osborn said Congress’ immigration solution should include granting legal status to people who have been in the country for decades.

He told Semafor that “it’s time they get into Social Security.”

The Fischer ad describes those workers as “illegal immigrants” and insinuates that Osborn said they should get Social Security, which the ad argues is an affront to elderly Nebraskans.

Fischer’s campaign said the immigrant ad is true. Osborn’s campaign has said he meant that such immigrants should be able to benefit from the money taken out of their paychecks already.

Party Ties

Another ad supporting Fischer, this one from Heartland Resurgence describes Osborn as “just another liberal Democrat.” Osborn has been a registered nonpartisan in Douglas County since at least 2004, state voting records show.

Fischer’s campaign points to previous interviews Osborn had with the New York Times and others that have reported that he or people in his camp told them he was a Democrat previously.

Osborn has previously said he personally aligned more with Democrats before 2016, but like many in organized labor, he has welcomed the Republican Party becoming more open to people in unions.

A third ad, which is from the Fischer campaign, argues that Osborn supports “abortion up until the moment of birth.” Osborn has not publicly articulated what restrictions he would support.

Osborn’s campaign said Monday he supports having Congress pass a law codifying Roe v. Wade’s former right to an abortion nationally and leaving any specific restrictions to the states.

That type of criticism from Republicans has become more common in federal and state races when Democratic candidates have not been specific about the abortion restrictions they would support.

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/2024/09/30/war-of-words-in-fischer-osborn-u...