OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Republican Sen. Deb Fischer faces her strongest re-election challenge Tuesday as she faces a former union boss who has shunned both major political parties to run as an independent while running as a champion of the working class.

Recent polls suggest that challenger Dan Osborn’s message that the Senate is run by the wealthy elite has resonated with Nebraska voters.

A close race is uncharted territory for Fischer, a two-term Republican representing a very conservative state.

Fischer had to fend off criticism not only from her challenger but also from within her own party. The state GOP, whose leadership has been taken over by loyalists of former President Donald Trump, has endorsed the primary challengers of all five Republicans who represent Nebraska in Congress, including Fischer.

John Hibbing, a retired political science professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said there are several factors besides Osborn’s working-class roots that help him fare better than other opponents of Republican incumbents. – acquaintances. Among them are Fischer’s relatively limited legislative record because she served 12 years and her decision to seek a third term, although she supported a bill early in her term that would have limited senators to two terms , he said.

“Osborn is not running as a Democrat, and that’s important and makes him more palatable across much of the state,” Hibbing said.

Much of Osborn’s appeal comes from his blue-collar background as a 20-year industrial mechanic and veteran of the Navy, Army, and Nebraska National Guard. He successfully led a 2021 strike at the Kellogg’s cereal plant in Omaha to win higher wages for about 1,400 workers after a year in which the company posted rising revenue.

Osborn leaned into this backdrop, focusing his platform on what he says is a need for fair economic policies. In his political ads, he contrasted his own story with Fischer’s, accusing her of getting rich while in office as ordinary families struggle financially.

Osborn often refers to the late U.S. Sen. George Norris as “Nebraska’s last independent senator” and vows to follow his example, saying that if elected he will not ally with either Republicans or Democrats. Norris served in the Senate from 1913 to 1943, switching from Republican to Independent for his last term.

“That’s one of the main reasons I’m doing this: to just be beholden to the people who elect me,” Osborn said during a recent campaign stop.

Although Fischer declined to debate Osborn, she countered his growing popularity with television attack ads calling him a liberal and arguing that an Osborn victory could cost Republicans control of the Senate.

Fischer held a recent news conference to tout the support of several state Republicans, including popular former Gov. Dave Heineman. She also leaned into her support for former President Donald Trump, despite asking him to drop out of the 2016 race after audio of Trump’s boast has surfaced about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women who weren’t his wife. Trump endorsed Fischer for re-election, which she promoted in her campaign ads.

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