Soros-linked dark money group nominates independent Nebraska candidate in key Senate race

The Nebraska Senate race has emerged as one to watch with the election just weeks away, as an independent candidate with opposing views to unseat Sen. Debbie Fischer, R-Neb.

Dan Osborn, a mechanic and union leader, is running as an independent against Fischer, and has prompted two political handicappers to change their race ratings, indicating the height of the competition.

Both the Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics recently changed the race from “Solid” or “Safe” Republican to “Almost Republican.” The race now coincides with that of Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., in each rating system. Sabato’s Crystal Ball also ranks Nebraska’s Senate race in the same category as Rep. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, but Cook has moved the Texas game into a more competitive field.

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Osborn is supported by two outside PACs called Retired Career Politicians and Nebraska Railroaders for Public Safety. The former has spent $3,004,274 on Osborn’s behalf and the latter has spent more than $400,000 to support his candidacy so far, as well as more than $20,000 apparently against Fischer, according to OpenSecrets.

Both PACs have recently come under scrutiny from their controversial financial backers. Democratic megadonor and Vice President Kamala Harris supporter Reid Hoffman, who founded LinkedIn, gave $50,000 to Nebraska Railroaders for Public Safety last year.

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Jack Reed, RI, and Debbie Fischer, R-Neb. (Reuters)

Retired Politicians received $800,000 from controversial black money group Sixteen Thirty Fund over a period of months. The group is managed by the Washington, DC, political firm, Arabella Advisers.

Although the Sixteen Thirty Fund does not disclose the identities of its donors, billionaire George Soros’ group, the Open Society Foundations, has given the fund more than $75 million between 2016 and 2022, according to the Open Society Foundations website.

The Sixteen Thirty Fund also awarded $50,000 to Nebraska Railroaders for Public Safety.

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Democrat donor George Soros has long used his organization to give money to Democratic groups and candidates. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

Mike Helmink, founder and treasurer of Nebraska Railroaders for Public Safety told Fox News Digital that “they’ve reached out to everybody, everybody and everybody to come in on railroad safety issues and independent politics. And what we’ve found is a lot of people are on the progressive side and the Democratic side. The Alliance wants to be involved. And what we’ve found is that the Republicans are circling the Deb wagons and all the money and all the jobs have gone to Deb.”

He pointed out that without a Democratic candidate in the race, “many consultants and firms have no business if they are a Democrat-leaning company.”

“We really tried to get everybody and find a different division and really build the organization going forward. You know, we’d like to build this for the future, not just one time and it’s done. You know, we’d like to build this for the future so you can get this and be successful and win, pick Dan and then he continues to move forward in the private sector and in railway safety,” he explained.

Fischer told Fox News Digital, “I think Nebraskans are going to be really interested in learning more about dark money spending millions of dollars his way.”

“Democratic dark money groups are spending millions of dollars supporting Bernie Sanders acolyte Dan Osborn because he is a real tough guy. Osborn supports amnesty for illegal immigrants, he has asked illegal immigrants to fill open jobs in Nebraska instead of Americans, and he wants to give. Social Security benefits to illegals that It’s not the principles of Nebraska,” National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Communications Director Mike Berg said in a statement.

One of Osborn’s ads features Fischer soliciting campaign donations from advertisers and special interest groups, comparing him to a race car driver with patches on his jacket. “The thing on the back of my jacket is Nebraska,” he said then.

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An independent candidate has made his non-affiliation with a political party a theme of his campaign. However, this has been debunked by reports from two outlets suggesting that Osborn was once a Democrat and did not consider himself an independent until 2016.

“I became an independent in 2016, really, after the Trump-Hillary debates. I was just harassed by these two parties, and everything seemed fake to me,” he previously told Semafor.

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But his campaign denied this and said he was misquoted. Osborn told a local outlet, “We were talking about the fact that the people who work traditionally are Democrats.”

Retired Politicians and Osborn’s campaign did not provide comment to Fox News Digital at the time of publication.