William Forbes, a 79-year-old pastor from rural Nebraska, entered the Democratic primary just before the filing deadline in early March
Credit: Nathan Howard/Sipa USA via AP
NEED TO KNOW
- Nebraska Democrats have accused William Forbes, a 79-year-old pastor from rural Nebraska, of deceiving voters by acting as a Republican “plant” in Nebraska’s Senate race, which Forbes has denied
- Forbes entered the Democratic primary just before the filing deadline, angering state Democrats who had cleared the field for independent Dan Osborn
- Forbes told CNN that he voted for President Donald Trump in multiple elections, and the last time the Democratic Party reflected his beliefs was in the early 1960s
Nebraska Democrats have accused William Forbes, a pastor from rural Nebraska who voted for President Donald Trump in multiple elections, of deceiving voters by entering the state’s Senate race as a Democrat.
Democrats in the state allege that 79-year-old Forbes, a first-time candidate, is a Republican “plant” meant to help Sen. Pete Ricketts win reelection, according to CNN.
Forbes has denied the state Democratic Party’s allegations against his campaign, telling CNN that he is a lifelong Democrat despite his previous support for Trump. He grew frustrated at repeated questions about his voting history and said the last time a major Democratic figure reflected his personal beliefs was in 1960, when John F. Kennedy was elected president.
Forbes told the Nebraska Examiner in a text message on Monday, March 30, that the CNN story about him, also published Monday, was planted by Dan Osborn, the independent Senate candidate that Nebraska’s Democratic Party is supporting in the election.
“I’m a real Democrat,” Forbes told the outlet. He compared himself to Kennedy and Ben Nelson, a former Democratic Senator from Nebraska who also served as the state’s governor from 1991 to 1999.
Forbes entered the Democratic primary just before the filing deadline in early March, angering state Democrats who had cleared the field for Osborn. Cindy Burbank, another Democrat, filed shortly thereafter. She has said she plans to support Osborn in the general election in November and drop out if she wins the party’s nomination in May.
Nebraska’s Republican Party had sought to remove Burbank from the ballot, arguing in a complaint filed this month that she did not intend to serve in the office for which she's running. Nebraska’s Republican secretary of state agreed, ruling that Burbank is not a “good faith” candidate.
The Nebraska Supreme Court reinstated Burbank after she sued.
Credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty
Asked by CNN why he had chosen to enter the race as a Democrat, Forbes said, “I saw that there wasn’t any Democrat on the ticket.” He said he attended a leadership summit sponsored by the Nebraska Republican Party in January because, “I’m trying to get information from everybody.”
"The Nebraska Republican Party does not know Mr. Forbes, has no relationship with him, and has no knowledge of his motivations for entering the Democratic primary," Nebraska Republican Party Chair MJ Truemper said in a statement to PEOPLE.
Nebraska’s Democratic Party, Forbes said, wants “clones.”
“I’m not a clone,” he told CNN. “I think for myself. I’m a free thinker.”
In a lengthy statement issued after Forbes filed the paperwork to run as a Democrat, the Nebraska Democratic Party called the 79-year-old’s campaign “a political maneuver engineered by Pete Ricketts to split the opposition vote and protect his Senate seat.”
“William Forbes is not running to serve Nebraskans. He is running to trick voters,” said state Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb. “Forbes is using the Democratic ballot line to deceive voters who deserve better.”
A spokesperson for Ricketts, a former Republican governor of Nebraska, did not immediately return a request for comment. His campaign told CNN that it played “no role in the Democratic primary.”
Kleeb, in the party's statement on Forbes, said state Democrats “made a deliberate, principled decision not to field a candidate in the U.S. Senate race.” Nebraska’s Democratic Party has endorsed Osborn, whom Kleeb said “represents the best opportunity” to defeat Ricketts in November.
Credit: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty
Osborn, a Nebraska mechanic and Navy veteran, has faced similar charges of “planting” another candidate to help clear a path to victory. In a social media post this month, Nebraska’s Legal Marijuana NOW Party accused marijuana candidate Mike Marvin of being “a Dan Osborn Plant.”
“He doesn't support Marijuana, he supports Dan Osborn and only plans to drop out if he wins our primary,” Legal Marijuana NOW Party Chair Mark Elworth Jr. wrote on the party’s Facebook page. Earl Starkey, the marijuana candidate the party is backing, wrote on Facebook that a vote for Marvin is a vote “for Dan Osborn.”
In his own Facebook post, Marvin called the accusations levied against him by Nebraska’s Legal Marijuana NOW Party “slanderous” and said he has never “met or spoken with” Osborn. “No one has hired me to do this,” Marvin wrote.
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Osborn has also denied involvement with Marvin, though the third-party candidate does have a connection to Burbank. According to state records obtained by the Nebraska Examiner, Burbank paid Marvin’s $1,740 filing fee on March 2, the last day for Nebraska Senate candidates to file.
Marvin told the outlet he does not know Burbank and had been waiting for his own check to clear. “I have no idea what is happening,” he said.
Burbank confirmed to the Nebraska Examiner that she paid Marvin’s filing fee, saying she did so unprompted when she learned that the Secretary of State’s Office would not accept Marvin’s check because he made it out for the incorrect amount.
“It pissed me off, and I paid for it,” Burbank said. “If Ricketts can throw his money around then so can I!”
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