U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn鈥檚 campaign issued a letter to incumbent U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer鈥檚 campaign and a political action committee demanding they cease-and-desist running campaign ads he says make "defamatory statements."
Osborn, an independent challenging the two-term Republican incumbent, said Monday that the ads include false claims.聽
In response, Fischer鈥檚 campaign pointed to a variety of news articles supporting the claims made in the ads.
The back-and-forth comes as show Osborn and Fischer in a surprisingly tight race.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think this is an accident for how these negative ads have come out,鈥 Osborn said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 politics as usual, I suppose. But I think we live in a day and age where you shouldn鈥檛 just be able to completely lie about somebody.鈥
The claims to which Osborn objected include that he was previously a registered Democrat, that he supports abortion up to the moment of birth and that he supports giving Social Security benefits to undocumented immigrants.
In a news conference at his Omaha campaign headquarters, Osborn said he has always been a registered independent. He also called the abortion claim 鈥渄isgusting鈥 and said he never voiced support for giving undocumented immigrants Social Security benefits.
But Fischer's campaign noted that in a question-and-answer session with national news website , Osborn advocated for immigration reform and said it鈥檚 time for undocumented immigrants who have been in the United States for decades to 鈥済et into Social Security already.鈥
Osborn claimed the Fischer campaign took his quote out of context. He told reporters that undocumented immigrants should have a path to legal status, so that they then would get Social Security cards.
The Fischer campaign also pointed to articles in 听补苍诲 that reported Osborn saying he was a registered Democrat until 2016.
Osborn and his campaign said the former labor union leader has always been a registered independent and The New York Times mischaracterized his political affiliation. He said the mix-up came from speaking with the Times reporter about how labor union members have traditionally been Democrats.
Osborn also told reporters he supports abortion measures as they were before the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturned Roe v. Wade.聽
鈥淪ince Roe v. Wade has been overturned, abortions are on the rise. And women are dying, plain and simple,鈥 Osborn said. 鈥淭hat portion of health care needs to be available.鈥
Fischer鈥檚 campaign also highlighted an Osborn quote in which he compared Fischer鈥檚 staff members to "Hitler Youth" members.
鈥淎s far as Sen. Fischer鈥檚 campaign has gone, she鈥檚 never had any competition so her staffers and her campaign team are a bunch of Hitler Youth frat boys, to be quite honest with you,鈥 Osborn said during a fundraising call, according to The Post.
鈥淯nder fire for disgracefully comparing Senator Fischer鈥檚 staff to Nazis, Democrat Dan Osborn is desperately trying to change the subject,鈥澛燜ischer campaign spokesperson Derek Oden said.
Osborn apologized for the remarks and pointed to his U.S. Navy background for making the remark.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 mean-spirited. I was in the Navy for a long time and sometimes I still talk like I鈥檓 in the Navy,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 certainly apologize to those people. It was unintentional.鈥
Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of September 2024