McCOOK — The sun was still rising as nearly 60 “mothers and others” boarded an Omaha bus and headed across the state to protest what goes on at the ICE detention facility in rural McCook.

Political action committees are responsible for nearly two-thirds of all federal election funding, with about US$6.3 billion raised and $4.8 billion spent since January 2025. But their outsized political influence does not just come from their wallets. It’s also generated from their names.

Political strategists are adopting PAC names that signal the opposite political goals from what those organizations truly intend. They hope to taint voter perception of the candidates or ballot initiatives to which they donate.

And, as our research shows, the strategy is working.

LINCOLN — The Nebraska State Fair is hosting a debate between registered nonpartisan U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn and incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts next month. 

This is the first debate at the state fair in recent years, with the last one being in 2018 when U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., debated state Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln, a member of the Lincoln City Council at the time, and then-Gov. Ricketts debated state Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha for governor.