OMAHA — Nebraska Democratic Party-backed U.S. Senate candidate Cindy Burbank appears to have won the Democratic nomination for Senate, which, with help from the likely Legal Marijuana NOW Party nominee, could give registered nonpartisan Dan Osborn a one-on-one race with Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts in November, who easily won his GOP primary. 

Burbank, a self-employed pharmacy financial counselor, significantly led anti-abortion pastor William Forbes as of 8:54 p.m., showing 80% of the vote, according to the latest election results.  

The Democratic Senate primary has grabbed national attention over how it might affect the general election for the incumbent and Osborn, who is petitioning his way onto the November ballot. 

Both the Democratic primary and the Legal Marijuana NOW Party primary have seen allegations fly of candidates being a “plant” to help Osborn or Ricketts, which the accused candidates and both competing top-line campaigns deny. 

Nebraska Democrats openly accused Forbes of being a Ricketts supporter, and supporters of his sent texts in the final days of the campaign seeking to confuse the issue, describing Burbank as “helping Ricketts and Trump.”

The Democrats did not recruit a Senate candidate this year in Nebraska, and state party Chair Jane Kleeb has endorsed Osborn. 

The Nebraska Legal Marijuana NOW Party

Another part of the race that Politico called the “weirdest race in America” is a smaller party’s primary for Senate, in the Legal Marijuana NOW Party. Mike Marvin is currently leading by 36 percentage points, according to the latest election results.

Marvin has been accused by Starkey of being an Osborn “plant” who would also drop out of the general election if elected – which Marvin has denied. 

In 2024, some longer-tenured members of the marijuana party argued that the group’s 2024 Senate nominee, Kerry Eddy, and a group of Osborn supporters took over their party to clear the ballot of competing names to give Osborn a better chance in his run against GOP U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer.

Marvin, on his website, said he would “work with other candidates to make sure” to have a “united front against Pete Ricketts.” He also saw some support from a political action committee called Common Defense Action. The PAC spent roughly $65,734 on printing mailers and digital ads, according to the latest federal fundraising reports. 

The same PAC spent money supporting Burbank. Burbank also paid the filing fee for Marvin, which was first reported by the Examiner. 

Dan Osborn v Pete Ricketts 

Marvin has not yet said whether he would drop out as the nominee. But even if he doesn’t. Osborn would have a cleaner shot against Ricketts with the state’s largest minority party clearing the field for him. 

Ricketts and national and state Republicans have relentlessly attacked Osborn for being supported by Democrats, and they have questioned his paying himself and his family from campaign funds. They have said they plan to make sure he doesn’t fly under the radar as he did in 2024.

Osborn, who has built a brand around working-class populism, is trying to do better in 2026 than his six percentage point loss in 2024 to Fischer. 

Ricketts said about his primary, “Tonight’s victory is a clear message: Nebraskans want leaders who deliver. … The job isn’t done. I’ve delivered for Nebraska, and I’ll keep fighting to deliver safe communities, bigger paychecks, and a stronger America.”

The Osborn-Ricketts race has already been heated. Osborn has until Aug. 3 to gather enough signatures to get on the November ballot. The general election is Nov. 3.

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/05/12/burbank-wins-nebraska-dem-u-s-senate-primary-likely-giving-osborn-a-clearer-shot-against-ricketts/