The winner of Nebraska’s Democratic Party U.S. Senate primary race on Tuesday came away with a landslide victory, despite her plans to drop out of the race before the November general election in a scheme to clear a path for a yet another candidate to take on Republican incumbent Sen. Pete Ricketts in the deep-red state.
Cindy Burbank defeated Democrat opponent William Forbes, receiving 89% of the vote, after accusing Forbes of being a plant for Ricketts.
'I have no expectations of being able to win in November.'
“Pete Ricketts, who is running for reelection, is putting in a candidate loyal to him in the DEMOCRATIC primary — to split the vote against him, so he wins easily. He’s running an anti-abortion activist named Bill Forbes, who has posted in support of Pete Ricketts!” Burbank’s campaign website states.
Independent Dan Osborn is also challenging Ricketts in November and appears to be Burbank's preferred candidate.
Burbank claimed that Ricketts “knows he’s losing to Dan Osborn and this is his plan to cheat his way to victory.” She argued that Osborn “deserves a fair shot against Ricketts” in the upcoming general election.
The Nebraska Democratic Party, which originally planned not to field a nominee, similarly claimed that Forbes was a Ricketts “spoiler and fake Democratic candidate.” The party stated that its strategy was to secure Burbank’s victory and then have her withdraw from the race to allow Osborn to compete against Ricketts “one-on-one.”
After Burbank won Tuesday’s primary, she reconfirmed to the New York Times that she plans to drop out.
“I don’t want to split the ballot,” Burbank wrote. “I have no expectations of being able to win in November.”
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Forbes, who denied being a spoiler candidate, argued that he has been “a Democrat my entire life.” He referred to Burbank as a “self-admitted placeholder and a disloyal hack being used as a tool to sabotage the Democratic primary and clear the path for another insider.”
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Ricketts won Tuesday’s Republican primary, securing roughly 82% of the vote.
A Democrat-aligned Tavern Research poll indicated that Osborn has the highest chance of beating Ricketts in a one-on-one election. Among those surveyed, 47% stated they would vote for Osborn, while 42% selected Ricketts. However, in a race against Burbank, Ricketts led, receiving 48% of the vote compared to Burbank’s 39%.
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Nebraska voters heading to the polls on Tuesday are facing a convoluted Senate primary in which both parties are trading accusations of spoiler candidates intended to manipulate the November general election.
Incumbent U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) is up for re-election and defending his seat in the Tuesday primary against several Republican challengers.
'We must vote for Cindy to knock fake Forbes out of the Primary Election to allow Osborn to take on Ricketts.'
Meanwhile, the Democrat primary election has sparked controversy, with candidate Cindy Burbank accusing her competitor, William Forbes, of being a Ricketts plant.
“Pete Ricketts, who is running for reelection, is putting in a candidate loyal to him in the DEMOCRATIC primary — to split the vote against him, so he wins easily. He’s running an anti-abortion activist named Bill Forbes, who has posted in support of Pete Ricketts!” Burbank’s campaign website states.
Burbank claimed that Ricketts planted Forbes because he is concerned that he will lose his re-election bid in the November general election to independent candidate Dan Osborn.
“He knows he’s losing to Dan Osborn and this is his plan to cheat his way to victory. We can’t let that happen,” Burbank’s website reads.
Burbank accused Forbes, a pastor who previously voted for President Donald Trump, of being “a ‘fake’ Democrat,” stating that Osborn “is a good man, a working man, a strike leader, and someone we can trust.”
“He deserves a fair shot against Ricketts.”
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Osborn previously ran a strong 2024 race against Sen. Deb Fischer (R), losing by less than seven percentage points. Although he did not win, he garnered 66,000 more votes than former Vice President Kamala Harris (D) received in Nebraska in the presidential election against Trump.
The Nebraska Democratic Party echoed the accusation that Ricketts “planted his spoiler and fake Democratic candidate.” The party expressed concern that a Forbes win over Burbank would split votes between Forbes and Osborn in the general election, giving Ricketts a greater chance of victory.
The NDP, which originally planned not to field a nominee, stated that the strategy was to ensure that Burbank won the primary. Burbank would then presumably withdraw before the general election to allow Osborn to compete against Ricketts.
“We must vote for Cindy to knock fake Forbes out of the Primary Election to allow Osborn to take on Ricketts one-on-one in the General Election. This is the path to send Ricketts and his millions packing. This is the way to break the one-party rule in Nebraska,” the NDP wrote.
NDP chair Jane Kleeb wrote in a post on X in July 2025 that the party planned to support Osborn, believing he was the best chance to beat Ricketts in the deep-red state.
The New York Times reported that Burbank “confirmed that she planned to exit the race after the primary, assuming that Mr. Osborn submits enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot.”
“I will stay in until it is obvious that I cannot win in November, and I will drop out,” Burbank told the Times.
Osborn accused Ricketts of reverting to “classic dirty tricks” to win re-election.
“Unfortunately for Ricketts, Bill Forbes’ Trojan-horse campaign is doomed,” an Osborn campaign manager told KETV.
Forbes denied being a plant, telling the outlet that he is a “real Democrat in the mold of JFK and Ben Nelson — tough, practical, and focused on working families instead of coastal lunacy.”
“What flies in radical California dies in Nebraska. Voters here want a strong Democrat who reaches across the aisle and actually unites people — not another phony independent puppet like Dan Osborn,” Forbes said.
Ricketts’ campaign has denied having any role in the Democrat primary.
The Nebraska Republican Party responded to the Democrat plot by filing a complaint to have Burbank removed from the ballot, arguing that she was not a “good-faith” candidate because she had no intention of serving in office. Burbank challenged that removal attempt, and the Nebraska Supreme Court ultimately ruled to reinstate Burbank, stating that the deadline to consider such complaints had passed.
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Legal Marijuana NOW Party candidate Mike Marvin was also accused of being a spoiler in the race after Burbank paid his $1,740 filing fee on the last day for candidates to file, according to the Nebraska Examiner.
She confirmed to the outlet that she paid his filing fee after witnessing “the secretary’s people refusing to take Mike’s check because it was for 10 dollars too much.”
“It pissed me off, and I paid for it. … I’ve never met Mike,” Burbank told the Nebraska Examiner. “If Ricketts can throw his money around, then so can I!”
When asked why Burbank paid his filing fee, Marvin told the outlet that he had “no idea what is happening.”
“I keep waiting for the check I wrote to clear,” Marvin stated. “I don’t even know Cindy Burbank.”
Marvin denied being a plant, writing in a Facebook post, “No one has hired me to do this; that is slanderous.”
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'This is not politics. This is a con. We fully expect Burbank to follow through on her own stated plan and disappear the moment the primary is called.'
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