Cost of living looms over Nebraska Senate race

LINCOLN — Nebraska U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts and his top opponent, registered independent Dan Osborn, agree the cost of living is top of mind for voters. 

As in nearly all midterm races across the country, Osborn and Ricketts have been trying to convince voters that they also feel the economy’s pain. Republicans capitalized on voters’ economic anxiety during the 2024 presidential election, but now the GOP could be punished for the same thing. 

Polling shows the cost of living is one of voters’ top concerns. Trump’s Iran war is about to enter its eighth month and has driven up gas prices and skyrocketed farmers’ fertilizer costs. 

Osborn hopes to capitalize on it to pull off a prairie upset. Ricketts has highlighted relief provided by the tax cuts and increased child tax credit in President Donald Trump’s tax and spending law. Ricketts has also touted his vote for a landmark housing law, saying it “will help reduce housing costs.” 

Osborn has criticized the tax and spending law, saying it overwhelmingly benefits the wealthy “off the backs of people” losing benefits. Osborn rolled out his Nebraska “growth and fairness” plan that includes goals such as ensuring the “right to repair” to stopping “shrinkflation.”

The tax and spending law made most tax cuts from the first Trump administration permanent, cementing most of its benefits for higher earners. Its new work requirements for Medicaid and other social safety net programs are meant to offset the costs of the tax cuts and other funding for Trump’s domestic agenda.

During the Senate Sept. 1 debate, Ricketts mentioned noticing the higher price of ground beef when he bought some for his mother and blamed the Biden administration. 

Ricketts has also acknowledged that Trump’s current actions have increased prices. 

“One of the biggest issues for everybody is cost of living,” Ricketts said after his August campaign event in Lincoln. “People were unhappy when grocery prices went up under Biden and gas prices came down. … now they’re back up again because of conflict in Iran.”

Other Republican candidates across the country have shifted their tone on Trump’s actions that directly or indirectly affected the cost of living, such as tariffs and the Iran war. 

Mike Rogers, the Republican running in the Michigan Senate race, recently ran a campaign ad saying the trade war with Canada needs to end. In Iowa, Republican Senate candidate and U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson has called for an end to the war, citing high prices, though she voted last month against a Democrat-backed resolution that would have limited President Donald Trump’s powers in Iran. 

Those Republicans are in close races. Ricketts has consistently acknowledged the economic squeeze the voters are feeling but remained firm in defending the war, pointing to the importance of ensuring that Iran can’t get a nuclear weapon. During the Senate debate, Ricketts said Osborn would side with Democrats on ideas he argued would undermine Trump’s authority.

Osborn, a Navy veteran, has criticized the war and called for an end to the conflict, saying it has contributed to high gas, diesel and grocery prices. 

“We’ve been told time and time again that we are winning this war. … The people I talked to, their lives are exponentially harder because of this war,” Osborn said while receiving an endorsement in Papillion. 

Ricketts said in a statement about Trump’s recent executive order about red-dyed diesel that he “appreciate(s) the Administration’s willingness to find new ways to bring down costs for our farmers and ranchers during harvest.” 

Osborn also supported the order. But some Nebraska farmers and trucking organizations were cautious about how much impact the order would have. 

Tariffs have been a key tool for the Trump administration, which has used them as a bargaining chip with other countries. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a major blow to Trump’s trade agenda, ruling that the tariffs he had issued under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act are illegal. But Trump still has some tariffs in place. 

Ricketts has generally supported most of Trump’s tariffs, saying the president is leveling the playing field for the U.S. In the Senate debate, he said he wants to keep using tariffs to protect Nebraska agriculture. In the same debate, Osborn said tariffs can help but argued that Trump’s “blanket” tariffs raise prices for Americans and that Congress should have tariff authority. 

The former governor — like most of the federal delegation — has spoken out against Trump’s plan to allow foreign beef to enter the U.S. without high tariffs. Ricketts recently released a “rebuilding the American cattle herd” plan.

Osborn has made a campaign ad trying to capitalize on Trump’s unpopular beef import plan, with ranchers and farmers saying that it is “selling out American farmers and ranchers.”

Three other candidates are on the ballot for the Senate race: Chuck Conboy, America First Party; Robin Richards, Working People Party; and Mike Marvin, Legal Marijuana NOW, who has suspended his campaign. Their answers are in the Examiner’s voter guide.

The general election is Nov. 3. Early voting has already begun.