Nebraska independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn has made rail policy a key topic in his fight to unseat Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts in a state whose economy largely depends on railroads and their customers.

Osborn and allies have criticized Ricketts over his support for a mega-merger involving Omaha-based Union Pacific Corp., campaign donations tied to industry, and related issues on the campaign trail and in s. That approach fits into a larger anti-corporate message that Osborn, a union steamfitter and son of a retired Union Pacific worker, is using to score a historic upset against Ricketts, a former executive at the railroad who ranks among the wealthiest members of Congress.

“The system’s working. Actually, well, it is working. It’s working the way it’s designed to work for people like Pete Ricketts,” Osborn said. “I’m doing this to challenge the narrative of the way politics are running this country.”Ricketts’ campaign and the Nebraska Republican Party didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Rail unions in Nebraska recruited Osborn to run for the Senate as part of backlash to President Donald Trump’s deregulatory efforts. Polls show a close race that could determine control of the Senate even though Osborn, who lost a 2024 race by single digits, insists that he won’t align with either party if elected.

Ricketts’ support for right-to-work legislation (S. 533) is a top concern for organized labor alongside his votes in favor of restricting access to Medicaid and other social services in the 2025 Republican tax-and-spending bill. “Everything you look at, he’s voting is directly voting against working people,” said Jeff Cooley, president of SMART-TD Local 200 that represents Union Pacific workers.

The contest comes as Congress considers a surface transportation reauthorization that could include language requiring major railroads have two-person crews, a top priority for rail unions as autonomous technology expands in the industry. The House included the provision at Trump’s urging, but it remains unclear whether Ricketts — who isn’t among the Republicans co-sponsoring related legislation — supports the proposal.

Republicans haven’t lost a Senate race in Nebraska since 2006 when Ricketts lost to Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson. Ricketts won a 2024 election for the seat after being appointed in 2023 following the resignation of Ben Sasse. All four major US-based rail carriers, the Association of American Railroads, and Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena have contributed to him.

Organized labor wants Osborn in office to exercise oversight powers to press railroads on matters such as their use of Precision Scheduled Railroading, which sets regular trains schedules to increase labor and equipment efficiencies.

The proposed merger, which Trump has praised, is one way that Osborn is tying rail to affordability in the final days of the campaign, including in rail-dependent communities such as North Platte where Union Pacific operates the largest classification yard, where railroads sorts cars, in the world.

A combined railroad would cost farmers money and union jobs while empowering Big Business, according to Osborn.

“Nebraska is third in corn, fifth in soybeans, and a lot of them rely on the rail to ship,” Osborn said. “If this rail merger goes through, that just adds to their costs.”

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Martha Mueller Neff at mmuellerneff@bloomberglaw.com; Jeffrey Horst at jhorst@bloombergindustry.com