A Democratic candidate for Nebraska’s Senate seat who reportedly holds traditional conservative views and has voted for President Donald Trump in the past is facing accusations of being a Republican plant.
Democrats in Nebraska put their weight behind Independent candidate Dan Osborn in his bid to unseat Republican Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts in the 2026 midterms, only for pastor William Forbes to launch a campaign as a Democrat right before the filing deadline, according to a CNN report from Andrew Kaczynski published Monday.
Through the investigation, CNN found old video sermons of Forbes sharing conservative talking points on abortion, Black Lives Matter, “cultural Marxism,” and referring to then-President Joe Biden as “Dementia Joe.” (RELATED: ‘It’s Exactly What Jefferson Warned Us About’: ‘America First’ Democrat Calls Out Own Party On Gun Control)
The Nebraska Democratic Party (NDP) accused Forbes of running with the intention to “trick voters” and said that his candidacy is “a political maneuver engineered by [Republican Nebraska Sen.] Pete Ricketts to split the opposition vote and protect his Senate seat,” according to an early March NDP statement.
The NDP said that it had made a “deliberate, principled decision” not to run a Democratic candidate for the Senate race, as it believes that the Independent candidate, Dan Osborn, “represents the best opportunity to defeat Pete Ricketts and deliver real results for working families.”
The NDP told CNN that it is running and funding a different candidate, Cindy Burbank, to block Forbes, and that Burbank had pledged to drop out and endorse Osborn if she wins the primary.
WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 22: U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) participates in a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan on March 22, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The NDP said that Nebraska, like other states, should now require a candidate’s application to receive a state party’s certification before they can appear on the ballot.
“Non-serious candidates running to trick voters, like William Forbes, should never be able to exploit the democratic process this way,” the NDP said.
Forbes insisted that he is a lifelong Democrat and told CNN that he had voted for Trump in multiple elections. CNN learned that Forbes had also attended leadership training sponsored by the Nebraska Republican Party only months before deciding to run for the Democratic ticket.
Nebraska Republican Party Chair Mary Jane Truemper told the Nebraska Examiner that the party “does not know Mr. Forbes, has no relationship with him and has no knowledge of his motivations for entering the Democratic primary,” adding that such leadership seminars are “broadly available and not exclusive to Republicans.”
Ricketts’ campaign denied involvement, telling CNN that it had “no role in the Democratic primary.”
His campaign has returned fire, calling Osborn a “fake independent.”
Ricketts spent a decade “destroying our safety net, wrecking our rural communities, and pushing his extreme agenda, Nebraska Democrats can’t afford to fall for this nonsense,” Forbes told the Nebraska Examiner.