Independent Dan Osborn gaining traction, and negative ads, in long-shot effort to unseat U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer

Hard to imagine, but in our deep-red state we now have a competitive race for the U.S. Senate.

It's been a while since a Republican had to break a sweat to get re-elected to the Senate in Nebraska.

Even former governor and U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey – a widely known Democrat nationally – couldn't crack the GOP's grip on the state's two Senate seats.

But here comes a regular guy and nonpartisan from Omaha, Dan Osborn. His long-shot run against two-term incumbent Sen. Deb Fischer has caught fire, inspiring millions in campaign donations to unseat the Republican incumbent and former state senator.

Osborn's pitch is simple: if you're tired of the way things get done in Washington, where there are more than 20 lobbyists for every senator/representative, vote for me. And, oh, by the way, Sen. Fischer pledged to serve only two terms in Congress and she's breaking that pledge to run again in 2024.

No one gave Osborn much of a chance back when he first announced months ago. But yard signs are popping up across the state, polls show him getting surprising support, and now ads are flooding the airwaves touting his independence and a willingness to not play partisan games.

That it's gotten the attention of the Fischer campaign and the folks that support her is an understatement. 

You can't watch TV in Lincoln and Omaha without getting back-to-back ads that both promote the candidacy of the independent mechanic/Navy veteran, and then slam him as a "Democrat Dan" who hasn't been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

All told, GOP groups have poured nearly $700,000 into recent ads slamming Osborn to combat spending by the challenger that had out-paced Fischer's ad buys by about a 3-1 margin, according to an analysis by the Nebraska Examiner.

Fur flew recently when the Osborn campaign accused a pro-Fischer group running attack ads of knowingly making "false and defamatory" statements about him. A "cease and desist" letter was sent, which is the forerunner for a lawsuit.

The Fischer camp responded that the ads were true and that Osborn is trying to change the subject after he, in a phone call with a New York Post reporter, compared Fischer's campaign staff to "a bunch of Hitler Youth frat boys." Osborn later apologized for the statement.

Osborn, in his ads, is hammering at Fischer's lack of local town hall meetings with constituents and her broken pledge to seek only two terms. Fischer has said that she is bypassing her pledge because she's now realized that seniority is so important in Congress.

That a race for U.S. Senate in Nebraska is getting national attention is unusual, as unusual as a competitive race against a Republican incumbent. 

You have to go way back to 1942 to find a time when Nebraska had a U.S. Senator who wasn't a Democrat or Republican (it was George Norris - perhaps Nebraka's greatest politician - who lost that year as an independent after leaving the GOP four years earlier). And it's been 11 years since a Democrat held one of the state's seats in the Senate (that was Ben Nelson, who opted against a re-election bid after serving 12 years).

This state isn't known for political upsets and Osborn is still viewed as a distinct underdog. 

But if Osborn can tap into the widespread grumbling about gridlock in Washington, D.C., and enough people think it's time for a change – and think he has a chance to win – it could happen.

Paul Hammel has covered the Nebraska state government and the state for decades. He retired in April as senior contributor with the Nebraska Examiner. He was previously with the Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha Sun. A native of Ralston, he loves traveling and writing about the state.