LINCOLN — Former nonpartisan Omaha labor leader Dan Osborn is closing the fundraising gap against Nebraska Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts in Osborn’s second bid for a Senate seat.

Osborn raised $1.09 million in his latest campaign funding haul, while Ricketts raised $884,011 for his campaign and brought in an additional $486,128 through a separate joint fundraising committee — the Pete Ricketts Victory Fund, according to federal fundraising reports. That brings the former two-term governor’s combined war chest to $1.37 million in the third quarter, which runs from July through September.

Ricketts still has more cash on hand than Osborn, with $1.19 million compared to Osborn’s $502,000. But Osborn’s latest fundraising numbers indicate he is again raising enough to mount a serious challenge to a sitting senator. He outraised Republican U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer in the 2024 race, in which he raised $14 million and lost by about six percentage points.

The Ricketts campaign criticized Osborn’s latest fundraising numbers, saying he received a donation from a campaign committee associated with Massachusetts Democra›tic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and from a political action committee affiliated with former Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester as examples of Osborn’s Democratic Party “connections.”

Warren for Senate, Inc. gave Osborn $2,000, the max a campaign committee can give to another candidate per primary race and per general election. Tester’s Treasure State PAC gave him $5,000.

The Osborn campaign says more than 17,000 donors gave to the former Omaha labor leader in the third quarter, with an average contribution of $43.46. Osborn has said that he wouldn’t caucus with either party.

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