The Trump-voting pastor Democrats think could cost them a chance at a Nebraska Senate seat

[Celerity]

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/30/politics/nebraska-senate-trump-pastor



In Nebraska’s Senate race, a Trump-supporting, anti-abortion pastor is running as a Democrat. The state’s Democratic Party — which is backing an independent candidate — says he’s a Republican plant. And another Democratic primary candidate says she’s running just to stop him.

The unusual dynamic has roiled the Senate contest in deep-red Nebraska, turning into a high-stakes test of Democrats’ unconventional strategy — skipping their own primary to back independent Dan Osborn, in their effort to defeat incumbent Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts. Osborn can run straight to the general election without facing a primary.

William Forbes, a 79-year-old pastor from rural Nebraska, entered the Democratic primary just before the filing deadline in early March, upending a carefully coordinated plan by state Democrats to clear the field for Osborn. To oppose Forbes, another candidate, Cindy Burbank, also filed at the last minute on the Democratic primary ticket but has had her candidacy challenged by the state Republican Party and Nebraska’s Republican secretary of state.

In an interview with CNN, Forbes said he’s voted for President Donald Trump in multiple elections but denied being a Republican plant, insisting that he’s a lifelong Democrat. Asked repeatedly to name a Democrat he voted for, Forbes grew frustrated and said the party needed to return to the “morality” it represented under President John F. Kennedy.

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