Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts has prevailed against four Republican challengers in the primary race for his Senate seat in the Nov. 3 general election. He is set to face the Democratic nominee Cindy Burbank, who won her Democratic primary on May 12.

Ricketts won the GOP nomination by a wide margin, besting the next highest vote getter, Todd Knobel, by over 70 percent of primary votes.

The Democratic Party leadership was not going to put up a general election candidate in order to build support around Independent candidate Dan Osborn.

But pro-life Pastor William Forbes filed last-minute for the Democratic primary ticket. He was then accused of entering the Democratic primary to draw support away from Osborn to boost Ricketts, with Democrats citing his past political positions, including voting for President Donald Trump in recent elections.

Forbes denies this. He insists he is a lifelong Democrat who has grown frustrated with the party’s drift away from traditional values, insisting on a need for the party to return to the “morality” it stood for under President John F. Kennedy.

Burbank, a pharmacy technician, then decided to enter the Democrat primary, saying that the major priority for her campaign was to keep Forbes off the November ballot. On her website, she says Osborn “deserves a fair shot against Ricketts.”

Burbank won her race against Forbes by over 80 percent.

In 2023, Ricketts was appointed by Gov. Jim Pillen to complete the remainder of then-Sen. Ben Sasse’s term after the Republican resigned to become the president of the University of Florida. Ricketts is seeking his first full six-year term.

The former two-term governor of Nebraska, from 2015 to 2023, Ricketts has been endorsed by President Donald Trump. He has vowed to continue supporting Trump’s low-tax, secure border, and small government agenda.

The Democratic Party has thrown its support behind the Independent candidate.

“We are supporting Dan Osborn. We believe a coalition of Dems, Indys, and Republicans can beat Ricketts and break up the one-party rule. We like the odds of a mechanic vs a billionaire,” Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb wrote on X.

Osborn is a mechanic and former union organizer living in Omaha. He is a veteran of the Navy and National Guard and a union official, according to his website. He says his blue-collar background will help him stand up for Nebraskans in D.C.

“I'll bring Nebraskan values to Washington, with a work ethic honed by my years as a Navy man, a Nebraska National Guardsman, an industrial mechanic, a union leader, a husband, and a father,” his website reads.

Ricketts, a University of Chicago-educated businessman and former TD Ameritrade executive, has a personal net worth estimated at around $200 million. He is the son of billionaire Joe Ricketts, founder of TD Ameritrade and patriarch of the family that owns the Chicago Cubs.

Burbank, meanwhile, has suggested that she could drop out of the race before November if she sees no clear path to victory.

The Associated Press and Melanie Sun contributed to this report.