‘Fake Independent’ Senate candidate funded by DC Democrats, filings show

Labor Union leader Dan Osborn, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Nebraska, has campaigned on portraying himself as an “Independent,” going as far as saying he has no plans to caucus with either major party if elected, but his recent FEC filings paint a different picture.

Osborn has not only been endorsed by leaders by leaders of the Nebraska Democratic Party and mobilized fundraising on ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s main fundraising platform, but he has also accepted donations from several prominent Washington Democrats and Democrat political action committees. 

Among the donors to his campaign are Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s, D-Mass., campaign and the PACs of former Democrat Senators Bob Kerrey and Jon Tester. Democracy Summer, a leadership PAC founded by Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, also donated $2,000. 

The latest FEC filings, released last week, also show Osborn continues to accept fundraising support from The People United, a left-wing super PAC that has supported Democrat ‘Squad’ members like Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, Summer Lee, and Ilhan Omar.

CIATTARELLI GAINS MOMENTUM IN NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR’S RACE AS POLLS NARROW SHARPLY

“As an independent, I’ll be uniquely positioned to bring together a majority to get it done,” Osborn’s “Where I Stand” webpage on his campaign website states, in reference to securing the border from illegal immigration. “I believe we all have more in common with each other than we do with the partisans who run Washington,” the campaign website’s homepage also states.

But those “partisans” in Washington, at least some, appear to be helping fund his campaign against former Nebraska GOP Governor and current junior Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts. 

“Dan Osborn is bought and paid for by his liberal, out-of-state, coastal donors,” a Ricketts campaign spokesman previously said after Osborn announced he would be fighting to get a seat in the Senate for the second election in a row.

In 2024, Osborn came within single-digits of defeating Sen. Deb Fischer. Similar to the attacks by the Ricketts campaign against Osborn, Fischer’s campaign made similar claims that Osborn was really a Democrat disguising himself as an Independent.

A Fox News Digital review found that during his failed 2024 Senate campaign, Osborn received several $5,000 donations from the leadership PACs of Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, among others. Warren’s Senate campaign also donated another $2,000 to Osborn last year.

FINAL STRETCH: MAMDANI’S LARGE LEAD SHRINKING AS CUOMO GAINS GROUND IN NYC MAYORAL RACE

“Elizabeth Warren is rated as the most far-left politician in Washington,” Ricketts told Fox News Digital. “She supports the Green New Deal, taxpayer benefits for illegals, and abolishing private healthcare. By accepting campaign funds from Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer, and Bob Kerrey – Dan Osborn has shown Nebraska voters exactly who he will side with in the Senate: the same Democrats funding his Fake Independent campaign.”

Fox News Digital reached out to campaign representatives for Osborn, but did not receive a response.

The donations that Osborn received recently from folks like Warren, Kerrey, Tester, Raskin and other Washington Democrats amounted to around $15,000 this quarter; however, just days ahead of his race against Fischer in November 2024, Osborn received a big infusion from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) amounting to close to $60,000. Senate Majority PAC, the main super PAC of Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats, spent $3.85 million supporting Dan Osborn’s 2024 campaign as well, records show. 

Meanwhile, the agency helping create and run advertisements for Osborn’s campaign is called Fight Agency. Fight Agency was founded by a group of Democratic Party strategists, including consultants for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign and the winning Senate bid for Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman and Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego.

The agency has worked with left-wing Democrats like New York City socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders, and progressive Democrat Rep. Greg Casar.