Nebraska U.S. Senate Primaries May 12: Pete Ricketts Faces Cindy Burbank, Bill Forbes

Nebraska’s U.S. Senate primaries are set for May 12, with Republican incumbent Pete Ricketts seeking a full term after being appointed in 2023 and winning a 2024 special election to replace Ben Sasse.

“AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Nebraska’s primaries WASHINGTON (AP) — Will the real Democratic candidate for U”

AP News

The Democratic contest pits Cindy Burbank against pastor Bill Forbes, with the AP describing the matchup as two contenders who accuse each other of being “fake” candidates with no intention of competing to win the general election.

AP News

Dan Osborn, an independent veteran and former union leader, is the expected general-election challenger to Ricketts, and The New York Times says Osborn is considered the most serious challenger to Ricketts.

The New York Times also notes that Osborn ran for Nebraska’s other Senate seat in 2024 and lost to Deb Fischer by less than seven percentage points in a state President Trump carried by more than 20 points.

In the background of the primary, the AP says the Nebraska Democratic Party supports Burbank for the primary and Osborn for the general election, while Forbes’ last-minute candidacy has prompted allegations that he entered to siphon votes away from Osborn and help Ricketts.

The USA TODAY account frames the Democratic primary as a proxy battle in the general election between Ricketts and Osborn, saying Republicans and Democrats accuse each other of trying to confuse voters with phony candidates.

USA TODAY quotes Mark P. Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, saying the independent strategy is “a recognition in a red state that Democrats simply cannot compete statewide.”

CNN

The AP says Nebraska’s Republican Secretary of State, Bob Evnen, had Burbank tossed from the ballot in March after a complaint filed by the Republican Party of Nebraska alleged she was not running in good faith.

The AP adds that the Nebraska Supreme Court ordered Burbank back on the ballot, and it reports that Burbank received about $4,300 for her campaign as of April 22 while Forbes reported zero monetary contributions to his.

In the same race, The Downballot describes Burbank’s argument that Democrats should nominate her so she can help independent Dan Osborn defeat Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts, while also portraying Forbes as a “Ricketts puppet” and saying Forbes has denied he’s anything other than a “real Democrat.”

The AP says the outcome of Nebraska’s Senate primary could impact whether Nebraska has a competitive general election for the seat, noting that Republicans have held both of Nebraska’s U.S. Senate seats since the 2012 election.

The AP also says an upset over Ricketts or even a competitive race could give Democrats more breathing room as they look to flip Republican seats in Alaska, Maine, North Carolina and Ohio.

In its polling-focused coverage, The New York Times describes the 2026 cycle and says it conducts its own national and state polls in partnership with Siena University, while also laying out how it labels “select pollsters” and partisan polling.

The Downballot adds that much of the attention on Tuesday’s Nebraska’s U.S. Senate race centers on a trio of candidates and on the idea that some may have no intention of actually serving in the upper chamber.

Taken together, the sources portray a Senate contest where the Democratic nominee—either Cindy Burbank or Bill Forbes—faces an expected general election against Dan Osborn, with the AP emphasizing that Nebraska’s Democratic Party originally had planned not to field a general election candidate to coalesce support behind Osborn.