Independent U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn leaned into his blue-collar roots and railed against the "country club" congressional chamber he is hoping to infiltrate as he tried to appeal to working class voters in his first town hall event in Lincoln on Tuesday.
Osborn, a U.S. Navy veteran and former union president , recounted his nearly unintentional rise to union leadership and drew stark contrasts between himself and Sen. Deb Fischer, the Republican incumbent he is aiming to unseat, in front of a crowd of around 50 attendees crowded into a cozy union hall Tuesday evening north Lincoln.
"There is no one like me in the U.S. Senate," Osborn said at Tuesday's town hall, which featured refreshments that included free beer and potato chips and a Senate candidate who was both plainspoken and polite, dismissing falsehoods peddled by attendees and, at one point, thanking a man who got up to leave the event 20 minutes early.
For close to an hour, as he fielded questions on topics ranging from the state of abortion access in Nebraska to the state of Russia's war in Ukraine, Osborn often sought middle ground as he cast his candidacy as one meant to disrupt the status quo that, he said, has bogged down the process in Washington.
"We are not near as divided as the media wants us," Osborn said, as cheers and applause filled the Lincoln Labor Temple. "I would say 95% of the stuff, we all agree on, whether I'm at a bar in Pickrell, Nebraska, or we're here in Lincoln.
"People understand we need a change. And I think people are ready for a change."
'Polarizing topics' abroad
In one of his first exchanges of the night, Osborn, facing a question over the country's continued bankrolling of the war in Ukraine and what it means for America's coffers, called the issue among "a lot of polarizing topics that we have in our times right now."
The issue , where more for Ukraine than voted for it last month, embracing the isolationism of former President Donald Trump's “America First†movement. Fischer .
At Tuesday's town hall, Osborn said supporting Ukraine is putting America first.
"I think we owe it to keep supporting them and stop that Russian aggression," he said. "And nobody's got a crystal ball, but if that war ever were to spill into Europe — I got an 18-year-old son. I can't imagine him going over there. We've got to do everything we can to try to stop that."
Then, without further prompting, Osborn addressed Israel's ongoing war against Hamas that has followed the deadly Oct. 7 terrorist attack and, in the months since, .
"I think Israel had a right to defend itself," Osborn said. "They're a sovereign nation and they are our ally and I think we should be supporting them, right now, with just defensive arms — not offensive arms.
"Because what we're seeing now is ... . Innocent people are dying. Hamas is not Palestine and Palestine is not Hamas. We need to be using every diplomatic tool in our diplomatic tool chest to bring peace and lasting peace in that region."
Osborn's comments marked a clear contrast with Fischer, who said earlier this month that President Joe Biden's , casting Israel's campaign in Gaza as self-defense.
Moderate on domestic issues
Osborn, who riled Nebraska's Democratic Party this month when he announced he would not accept endorsements from any political party or politician, brought a moderate tone in his answers to questions Tuesday on domestic issues.
Facing a question over his stance on abortion, Osborn immediately mentioned Fischer, who he said "wants a complete abortion ban" with few exceptions and who for her votes on abortion funding and other related measures.
Osborn, meanwhile, called it "a freedom issue" and a "dangerous, slippery slope when you have a government that wants to dictate morality to the people."
"I think they should stay out of women's doctor's office," said Osborn, who did not offer a specific description of an abortion policy he would support in the Senate, instead suggesting abortion access is not an issue the federal government is equipped to regulate.
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, turning the issue over to states, voters in more than a half-dozen states — including traditionally conservative strongholds — have either affirmed abortion access or turned back attempts to further restrict abortion access.
In response to another question that seemed to double as a litmus test for the independent's political leanings, Osborn said he had "yo-yoed back and forth" on student loan forgiveness as Biden's Education Department works to implement a new debt relief plan after the Supreme Court .
"Ultimately, it's your choice to go to college and your choice to go to FAFSA and get loans," he said. "It's what we've always done: we work hard and we pay off our debt. I don't think the government should be bailing those folks out."
Attendees leave impressed
If his goal walking into the union hall Tuesday night was to seek common ground — a likely aspiration for a candidate whose campaign is seeking to build "the most diverse coalition of voters in the history of the state," a spokesman said — Osborn seemed to find success in Lincoln.
Andira Losh, 40, said she has felt "historically relegated to vote for Democrats" though her politics are defined more, she said, by her support for the working class.
She walked away from the union hall with a mental list of things she liked about Osborn, including his views on labor, the ultrawealthy, political accountability and "affording the right to liberty and happiness to all people."
"Really my only concerns are the feasibility of him being elected," she said. "But I think if working people in this state appreciated his actual points on policy and just general political ethics ... these are basic, reasonable policies that I think most people could get behind."
Paul Anderson, a scientist who described himself as a lifelong Republican, said he was glad to hear Osborn emphasize an economic message while largely staking out the middle ground on divisive cultural issues.
"He probably doesn't have all the answers to the questions that no one else does — like abortion and LGBT rights and things like that — that's for somebody else to have an opinion about," said Anderson, who left the event with an Osborn campaign yard sign in hand.
"That's not his focus," he said. "And that's because the focus should be on labor."