Cindy Burbank Wins Nebraska Democratic Senate Primary, Plans To Back Independent Dan Osborn

Cindy Burbank won the Nebraska Democratic Senate primary, CNN’s Decision Desk projected, and she is expected to back independent Dan Osborn in the general election against Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts.

NBC News projected that Burbank defeated pastor William Forbes for the Democratic nomination while Ricketts easily won his Republican primary.

AP News

The race has been framed as a proxy contest, with Democrats backing Osborn as their best shot to unseat Ricketts and with Republicans accusing the Democratic primary of being used to confuse voters with phony candidates.

Burbank, a Democrat running for Senate in Nebraska who backs a different candidate in the general election, said she plans to drop out of the race as Nebraska Democrats rally around Osborn, and CNN reported that the result caps one of the year’s strangest primary contests.

Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb said in March that "William Forbes is not running to serve Nebraskans. He is running to trick voters," as Democrats argued Forbes was a plant aimed at siphoning votes away from Osborn.

Forbes denied the allegations, telling CNN he’s a lifelong Democrat and saying the party needed to return to the "morality" it represented under President John F. Kennedy.

CNN

USA TODAY described the Democratic primary as an unusual proxy battle due to the general election between GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts and independent populist Dan Osborn, with Republicans and Democrats accusing each other of trying to confuse voters with phony candidates.

In the same dispute, NBC News reported that Burbank said she jumped into the race after she heard chatter that Republicans were trying to place a Democrat on the ballot, while also noting that she denied she entered with the intent to drop out.

NBC News reported that Burbank said she would consider ending her campaign and backing Osborn if she does not have a clear path to victory, quoting her: "I will drop out when and if the time comes that I cannot win in November."

The Nebraska Examiner reported that Osborn has until Aug. 3 to gather enough signatures to get on the November ballot, and it said the general election is Nov. 3.

CNN reported that Burbank told The New York Times she planned to drop out assuming Osborn collects enough signatures to make the ballot as an independent, while also stating that she said, "I will stay in until it is obvious that I cannot win in November, and I will drop out."

Republicans and Ricketts have attacked Osborn as a Democrat in the run-up to the fall, and USA TODAY quoted Mark P. Jones saying the strategy reflects "Democrats simply cannot compete statewide" in a red state like Nebraska.