Nebraska Democrats nominated a U.S. Senate candidate whose campaign pitch was that she would not actually run the general-election race to the end.

Cindy Burbank, a retired pharmacy technician, won the Nebraska Democratic primary Tuesday night by a staggering margin, collecting 100,940 votes to opponent William Forbes’ 12,185. Every single precinct in the state has reported. And now, Burbank has pledged to do exactly what she said she would do all along: drop out of the general election.

The goal was never to beat Republican Senator Pete Ricketts herself. It was to keep Forbes off the November ballot and clear a one-on-one lane for independent Dan Osborn, the candidate the Nebraska Democratic Party actually wants to win.

The strategy is unusual, but the math behind it is not complicated. Osborn came within seven points of defeating Senator Deb Fischer in 2024 as an independent. Democrats believe that without a Democratic name on the ballot splitting anti-Ricketts votes, Osborn has a real shot at flipping the seat. The state party endorsed Burbank for the primary and Osborn for the general election, making the arrangement about as explicit as party politics gets.

That is where Forbes comes in. Burbank and the Nebraska Democratic Party accused Forbes of being a plant designed to stay on the general-election ballot and siphon votes away from Osborn, effectively protecting Ricketts. Forbes denied the allegation, and the Ricketts campaign also denied any involvement. State records showed Forbes was a registered Democrat, though reporting from The Guardian noted he had voted for President Trump and opposed abortion access.

Democrats saw independent Dan Osborn as their best hope to peel Nebraska’s U.S. Senate seat away from Republicans, even though Osborn was not running in the Democratic primary. Burbank, a retired pharmacy technician, faced William Forbes, a pastor who had voted for Trump and opposed abortion access. Burbank had said she would drop out if she won the primary to clear the way for a head-to-head matchup between Osborn and Ricketts.

The same reporting described the allegation driving the race: Forbes faced accusations of being a Ricketts plant designed to peel votes away from Osborn if he reached the general election. Burbank’s campaign argued Osborn deserved a fair shot, while the Ricketts campaign denied the claims. The state Democratic Party endorsed Burbank for the primary and Osborn for the general election, making clear that the party’s preferred November candidate was not the Democrat running in its own primary.

The unofficial results from the Nebraska Secretary of State tell the full story of a low-turnout primary that still delivered a decisive outcome.

With 1,322 of 1,322 precincts fully reported, Cindy Burbank received 100,940 votes in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, while William J. Forbes received 12,185 votes. That made Burbank’s margin enormous in a contest that produced 113,125 Democratic votes for U.S. Senate. The official page also showed no partially reported precincts remaining in the statewide contest.

On the Republican side, incumbent Pete Ricketts won his primary with 155,472 votes out of 190,060 Republican votes cast for U.S. Senate. Statewide turnout was 26.99 percent, with 339,302 ballots cast out of 1,257,063 registered voters. The results remain unofficial, but they show the two key numbers behind the November setup: Burbank won the Democratic line overwhelmingly, and Ricketts emerged from his own primary with a much larger raw vote total.

The primary was not without drama before Election Day. Nebraska’s Republican secretary of state removed Burbank from the ballot before the state Supreme Court ordered her restored.

AP framed the entire contest as one of the year’s strangest matchups, with both Democratic candidates accusing the other of being a fake:

The Nebraska Democratic Senate primary was framed as one of the year’s strangest contests, with two Democratic contenders accusing each other of being fake candidates with no intention of running the general election to win. Republican Senator Pete Ricketts was seeking a full term after his 2023 appointment and 2024 special-election victory, while independent Dan Osborn was already expected to be a major general-election figure after coming within seven points of defeating Senator Deb Fischer in 2024.

The Nebraska Democratic Party supported Burbank in the primary and Osborn in the general election, after originally planning not to field a Democratic candidate so support could coalesce behind Osborn. Forbes denied the allegations that he entered the primary to siphon votes from Osborn and help Ricketts, and state records showed Forbes was a registered Democrat. Burbank’s own ballot status also became part of the fight: Nebraska’s Republican secretary of state had removed her from the ballot before the Nebraska Supreme Court ordered her restored. That history explains why a lopsided primary in a red state became a national election-strategy story.

Ricketts enters the general election with the straightforward advantage of incumbency and a solid 155,000-vote primary showing. The question now is whether the Democratic lane-clearing gambit actually works, or whether Osborn’s independent brand carries the same energy it did in 2024 against a different Republican.

But step back and consider what just happened. The Nebraska Democratic Party chose not to run a conventional general-election campaign under its own banner. Instead, the party apparatus rallied behind a nominee whose role was to win the primary and then get out of Osborn’s way. That is not a sign of a party playing from strength. It is an admission that the Democratic brand in Nebraska is so weak that the best thing the party can do for its preferred candidate is get out of the way.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
 

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