Gas and diesel prices in Forest Glen, Maryland, on Oct. 5, 2026. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom) LINCOLN – Nebraska U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts and his top opponent, registered independent Dan Osborn, agree the cost of living is top of mind for voters. As in nearly all midterm races across the country, Osborn and Ricketts have been trying to convince voters that they also feel the economy’s pain.
Republicans capitalized on voters’ economic anxiety during the 2024 presidential election, but now the GOP could be punished for the same thing. Polling shows the cost of living is one of voters’ top concerns. Trump’s Iran war is about to enter its eighth month and has driven up gas prices and skyrocketed farmers’ fertilizer costs.
U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., greets thousands of Nebraskans gathered for a midterms rally featuring President Donald Trump on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, at the Nebraska State Fairgrounds in Grand Island, Nebraska. (Photo by Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner) Osborn hopes to capitalize on it to pull off a prairie upset. Ricketts has highlighted relief provided by the tax cuts and increased child tax credit in President Donald Trump’s tax and spending law. Ricketts has also touted his vote for a landmark housing law, saying it “will help reduce housing costs.”
Osborn has criticized the tax and spending law, saying it overwhelmingly benefits the wealthy “off the backs of people” losing benefits. Osborn rolled out his Nebraska “growth and fairness” plan that includes goals such as ensuring the “right to repair” to stopping “shrinkflation.”
The tax and spending law made most tax cuts from the first Trump administration permanent, cementing most of its benefits for higher earners. Its new work requirements for Medicaid and other social safety net programs are meant to offset the costs of the tax cuts and other funding for Trump’s domestic agenda.
During the Senate Sept. 1 debate, Ricketts mentioned noticing the higher price of ground beef when he bought some for his mother and blamed the Biden administration. Ricketts has also acknowledged that Trump’s current actions have increased prices. “One of the biggest issues for everybody is cost of living,” Ricketts said after his August campaign event in Lincoln. “People were unhappy when grocery prices went up under Biden and gas prices came down. … now they’re back up again because of conflict in Iran.”
[Voter Guide: 2026 General Election Voter Guide: The candidates, the ballot measures, and the tools you need to cast your vote.] Other Republican candidates across the country have shifted their tone on Trump’s actions that directly or indirectly affected the cost of living, such as tariffs and the Iran war. Mike Rogers, the Republican running in the Michigan Senate race, recently ran a campaign ad saying the trade war with Canada needs to end. In Iowa, Republican Senate candidate and U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson has called for an end to the war, citing high prices, though she voted last month against a Democrat-backed resolution that would have limited President Donald Trump’s powers in Iran.
Those Republicans are in close races. Ricketts has consistently acknowledged the economic squeeze the voters are feeling but remained firm in defending the war, pointing to the importance of ensuring that Iran can’t get a nuclear weapon. During the Senate debate, Ricketts said Osborn would side with Democrats on ideas he argued would undermine Trump’s authority. Osborn, a Navy veteran, has criticized the war and called for an end to the conflict, saying it has contributed to high gas, diesel and grocery prices. “We’ve been told time and time again that we are winning this war. … The people I talked to, their lives are exponentially harder because of this war,” Osborn said while receiving an endorsement in Papillion.
