In Nebraska U.S. Senate race, Dan Osborn and Deb Fischer argue over attack ads
U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn's campaign issued a letter to incumbent U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer's campaign and a political action committee demanding they cease-and-desist running campaign ads he says make "defamatory statements."
Osborn, an independent challenging the two-term Republican incumbent, said Monday that the ads include false claims.
In response, Fischer's campaign pointed to a variety of news s supporting the claims made in the ads.
The back-and-forth comes as some publicly released polls show Osborn and Fischer in a surprisingly tight race.
"I don't think this is an accident for how these negative ads have come out," Osborn said. "It's politics as usual, I suppose. But I think we live in a day and age where you shouldn't just be able to completely lie about somebody."
The claims to which Osborn objected include that he was previously a registered Democrat, that he supports abortion up to the moment of birth and that he supports giving Social Security benefits to undocumented immigrants.
In a press conference at his Omaha campaign headquarters, Osborn said he has always been a registered independent. He also called the abortion claim "disgusting" and said he never voiced support for giving undocumented immigrants Social Security benefits.
But Fischer's campaign noted that in a question-and-answer session with national news website Semafor , Osborn advocated for immigration reform and said it's time for undocumented immigrants who have been in the United States for decades to "get into Social Security already."
Osborn claimed the Fischer campaign took his quote out of context. He told reporters that undocumented immigrants should have a path to legal status, so that they then would get Social Security cards.
The Fischer campaign also pointed to s in The New York Times and Fremont Tribune that reported Osborn saying he was a registered Democrat until 2016.
Osborn and his campaign said the former labor union leader has always been a registered independent and The New York Times mischaracterized his political affiliation. He said the mix-up came from speaking with the Times reporter about how labor union members have traditionally been Democrats.
Osborn also told reporters he supports abortion measures as they were before the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturned Roe v. Wade.
"Since Roe v. Wade has been overturned, abortions are on the rise. And women are dying, plain and simple," Osborn said. "That portion of health care needs to be available."
Fischer's campaign also highlighted an Osborn quote reported by the New York Post in which he compared Fischer's staff members to "Hitler Youth" members.
"As far as Sen. Fischer's campaign has gone, she's never had any competition so her staffers and her campaign team are a bunch of Hitler Youth frat boys, to be quite honest with you," Osborn said during a fundraising call, according to The Post.
"Under fire for disgracefully comparing Senator Fischer's staff to Nazis, Democrat Dan Osborn is desperately trying to change the subject," Fischer campaign spokesperson Derek Oden said.
Osborn apologized for the remarks and pointed to his U.S. Navy background for making the remark.
"I wasn't mean-spirited. I was in the Navy for a long time and sometimes I still talk like I'm in the Navy," he said. "I certainly apologize to those people. It was unintentional."
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