The Nebraska prairie populist who might win a Senate seat

Dan Osborn is an independent running for a Deb Fischer‘s Nebraska U.S. Senate seat. And he really has a chance. According to 538, he trails Fischer by less than one percentage point.

Here is a taste of Justin Vassallo’s profile of Osborn at Commonweal:

Osborn is betting he can revive that older tradition of blue-collar populism predicated on basic economic justice. As left-leaning pundits and policy wonks cast about for rhetoric that appeals to disaffected working-class voters, Osborn speaks the direct language of reclaiming economic power for the little guy. A father of three who trained as a steamfitter after being fired by Kellogg’s, Osborn is authentic in ways figures from both major parties struggle to imitate. 

In interviews and sharp ads, he’s underscored his independence while ridiculing Fischer’s corporate backing. In one ad, he portrays her with a NASCAR-style jacket that displays all her sponsors. But Osborn doesn’t cut the Democrats any slack either. In his view, the “corporate agenda” controls the two-party system, leaving the task of reform to those genuinely willing to defy it.

This militancy is tempered by a soft-spoken manner, pledges to “compromise,” and down-to-earth appeals to economic freedom. Osborn stresses solidarity between wage-earners and small businesses in the fight against corporate domination, as well as the need for greater investment in social goods like public schools. But he is generally focused on ensuring workers can simply provide for themselves and their families as they see fit. 

Osborn’s economic populism combines the communitarian sentiment of the labor movement with a Jacksonian ethos of self-determination; his message is attuned to Nebraskans who recoil at the idea of being dominated, whether by large multinationals or an unaccountable federal bureaucracy partly captured by lobbyists. His lack of firm ideological mooring should not be taken to reflect a weak grasp of how monopoly power radiates through the economy. Echoing the “neo-Brandeisian” movement led by Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Osborn has denounced “price-gouging” by grocery chains like Kroger—a stance that could play well with rural communities, which suffered disproportionately from Covid-era supply-chain shocks. 

Read the entire piece here.