Fischer fends off Osborn in Nebraska Senate race

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Sen. Deb Fischer survived the fight of her political life on Tuesday, narrowly defeating an upstart independent candidate.

The Republican incumbent had 51.5% of the vote as of 11:20 p.m., compared with 48.5% for Dan Osborn.

Her win guarantees that the GOP will control the Senate, according to the Associated Press.

In her victory speech, Fischer said “out-of-state Democrats” spent almost $30 million trying to defeat her.

“Did not happen, folks,” she said.

The close battle was a stark difference from Fischer’s previous two Senate campaigns, which she won by almost 20 percentage points.

Osborn won the state’s three largest counties — Douglas, Lancaster and Sarpy — and even racked up about 6o% of the vote in two of them.

But that wasn’t enough to overcome Fischer’s huge advantage across the wide swath of rural Nebraska. She carried many of those counties with 75% to 80% of the vote.

Fischer serves on the Agriculture, Appropriations and Commerce committees. She has been focused on foreign policy and infrastructure investments.

Osborn was a political newcomer.

The Navy veteran is an industrial mechanic who led a strike at the Omaha Kellogg’s plant in 2021.

He has not ruled out another run for office.

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