By Erin Bamer | Reporter
Independent candidate Dan Osborn collected enough signatures to qualify for the general election ballot, where he will compete in a heated race for U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Pete Ricketts.
Independent U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn speaks during a press conference in Omaha on Thursday, July 16, 2026. After obtaining enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot, he faces a heated race against incumbent Republican Pete Ricketts. (Photo by Juan Salinas II/Nebraska Examiner)
ELECTION 2026
By Juan Salinas II
OMAHA — After months of campaigning, it’s official: Independent candidate Dan Osborn will be on the November ballot in a heated race for U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Pete Ricketts.
The Sugar Maple Square poll in Bowling Green, Kentucky, on primary Election Day, May 21, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)
ELECTION 2026
By Juan Salinas II
LINCOLN — Nebraska’s May primary election saw greater voter turnout among Democratic voters than Republicans for the first time in more than 30 years, according to an analysis by the Nebraska Examiner.
Former State Sen. and U.S. Rep. Brad Ashford loved to jog and bicycle. This is from a 2010 ride through Switzerland. (Courtesy of Bob Houston)
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
By Paul Hammel
Ann Ashford remembers the first times she toured the Veterans of Administrative Affairs medical center in Omaha.
The exam rooms were cramped. The place felt old. There wasn’t even a restroom there for female veterans.
Her husband, then U.S. Rep. Brad Ashford, “saw a need and saw a way to solve it,” she said, pulling together a unique public-private partnership with Omaha’s philanthropic community and the federal government.
Keith Sonderling, acting U.S. secretary of Labor, appears at his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Capitol Hill on July 16, 2026 in Washington, D.C. Sonderling has been acting secretary of Labor since April 20, 2026 after Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned. (Photo by Eric Lee/Getty Images)
D.C. BUREAU
By Shauneen Miranda
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Labor Department on Thursday defended the agency’s major role in a broader drive by the administration to dismantle the Education Department.
A potential Republican budget reconciliation package would provide up to $60 billion for the Department of Defense. Shown is an aerial view of the Pentagon. (Photo by Air Force Tech. Sgt. Brittany A. Chase/Department of Defense)
D.C. BUREAU
By Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — Republicans on the U.S. House Budget Committee approved their budget resolution Thursday, marking one small step forward in the complicated process that could allow the party to enact a third party-line bill.
Iowa Democrats flipped two state Senate seats in special elections last year to break the GOP supermajority there. With momentum growing nationally, Democrats are looking to expand seats in Iowa’s upper chamber and break the House supermajority in November. (Photo by Kathie Obradovich/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
By Kevin Hardy
Following a string of special election victories, Democrats have a path to flip several Republican-held legislative chambers and break GOP supermajorities in states across the country this November.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Efforts to create 2 new Nebraska political parties submit signatures | Juan Salinas II
Walz talks priorities ahead of Nov. 3 gubernatorial election | Zach Wendling
COMMENTARY
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Will Democrat Cindy Burbank drop out of U.S. Senate race? | Juan Salinas II
Lindstrom launches independent bid for Nebraska governor | Zach Wendling
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