Legal Marijuana NOW candidate will stay on fall ballot for Nebraska US Senate

LINCOLN — Legal Marijuana NOW Party’s U.S. Senate nominee Mike Marvin will stay on the ballot after all. 

Marvin, one of the candidates accused of being a “plant” for nonpartisan U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn, didn’t submit the paperwork to drop out of the Senate race, the Secretary of State’s office confirmed Tuesday. The deadline for a candidate to drop out was Monday. 

Marvin has denied being a plant for Osborn. On his website, Marvin said he would “work with other candidates to make sure” to have a “united front against Pete Ricketts.”

Former Democratic nominee Cindy Burbank paid Marvin’s $1,740 candidate filing fee earlier this year. Burbank dropped out of the race one day after Osborn’s signatures to be on the fall ballot were verified by the Secretary of State. 

While the race technically has three candidates, Osborn and incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts are considered the leading candidates. 

There could also be two new state political parties that could get candidates on the U.S. Senate ballot, depending on whether their signatures are verified. 

The race between incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts and Osborn, which has turned Nebraska politics upside down with allegations that candidates are “plants” for other candidates, multiple lawsuits and new political parties emerging.  

The race has drawn national attention for its nontraditional political dynamics. The election is Nov. 3.