GOP Lawmakers Call on Osborn to 'Come Clean' Over Platner Connections
by John Gage
(Photo credit Matt Johnson)
LINCOLN — A group of current and former female Republican state senators is calling on Independent U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn to “come clean” regarding his connections to Graham Platner, a former U.S. Senate nominee in Maine. The letter, which was sent on Thursday, comes as Platner announced he was suspending his campaign following a rape accusation from a former girlfriend.
“Mr. Osborn, we are calling on you to do two things: 1) Fire your campaign consultants Morris Katz and Daniel Moraff immediately,” the letter states. “2) Come clean about how you personally profited from Graham Platner’s campaign via your wife’s company Dark Forest LLC.”
The letter was signed by 13 current and former female Nebraska state senators, including: current State Senators Christy Armendariz, Jana Hughes, Carolyn Bosn, Kathleen Kauth, Tanya Storer, Teresa Ibach, Rita Sanders as well as former State Senators Julie Slama, Theresa Thibodeau, Lydia Brasch, Joni Albrecht, Suzanne Geist, and Lou Ann Linehan.
The Plains Sentinel has reached out to the Osborn campaign for comment on the letter.
“We have spent our public service careers working to strengthen protections for survivors, to ensure women are protected and heard, and to hold accountable those who would silence them. We cannot reconcile that work with staying silent now,” the group added in the letter.
Osborn’s campaign has come under scrutiny this week over its ties to Platner’s campaign. A video released on Tuesday by conservative media site, Townhall, shows a former Osborn campaign staffer saying that Osborn himself recruited Platner to run for Senate in Maine.
“This is not really out there publicly, but he recruited Graham Platner,” a woman says in the video. “Dan, after the last election, he started a program to recruit working class candidates to run.”
Osborn admitted in a statement that the woman in the video was indeed a former staffer, but denied what she said was true.
“What she said is false, and she was not speaking on behalf of me or our campaign,” Osborn said Tuesday. “I have never recruited or supported Graham Platner, full stop. Our politics have nothing in common, and clearly neither do our values.”
Osborn’s campaign, though, has several other connections to Platner’s run. In video obtained by The Plains Sentinel from an August Platner town hall, the candidate told the audience that he and Osborn were part of a “larger network.”
Both candidates were recruited by Daniel Moraff and Leanne Fan, both of whom had previously worked for U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders during his re-election campaign. They have also shared other consultants including Morris Katz, the brains behind Osborn’s media ads during his 2024 run against U.S. Senator Deb Fischer, and Joe Calvello, who now works as press secretary for Mamdani.
Platner announced Wednesday he was dropping his bid for U.S. Senate.
— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.