Osborn On Kellogg's Closing, Roe, and Presidential Politics
by John Gage
(Picture credit Matt Johnson)
Independent Dan Osborn, in a recent interview, discussed his thoughts on Kellogg's closing their Omaha plant, how he would approach abortion if elected to the Senate, and who he supports to be the next president of the United States. Osborn’s comments came during an interview with The New Yorker Radio Hour, released Friday.
Kellogg’s Closing
Osborn was asked about whether Kellogg’s shutting down production in 2026 at its Omaha plant would hurt the labor movement. In 2021, he had led an 11-week strike against the plant.
“I’m not 100% convinced they are going to close,” Osborn said. Kellogg’s sent a letter last month to the Nebraska Department of Labor stating that they were laying off the remaining 450 employees of the plant this summer.
Osborn said Kellogg’s statements “could be a ploy for negotiations.”
If the plant does close, Osborn says a slump in cereal sales might be the main reason for the closure. “Cereal sales are down. There are so many other breakfast options, too, and healthier breakfast options,” he said.
In their letter to the Department of Labor, Kellogg’s said they would be “providing severance payments to affected employees” but that the layoffs “will be permanent.”
‘Codifying Roe’
During the interview, Osborn said, in response to a question about Nebraska’s 12-week abortion ban that got codified in 2024 into the Nebraska State Constitution by voters, that he believed government should not be involved in creating abortion restrictions, despite personal opposition to abortion.
“I tend to take a bit of a libertarian stance, you know, stay out of our bedrooms and our doctors’ offices. That’s not the role that Congress should have,” Osborn said. “I would support codifying Roe at a federal level.”
“I’m an Irish Catholic, in my own personal life. I would never advocate for anybody to have an abortion. But, I support the right for women to choose,” he added.
Osborn’s comments come as he has generally talked about abortion less during his 2026 run than during his 2024 run against Senator Deb Fischer. On Monday, The Washington Free Beacon reported that Osborn had stripped all references to abortion from his policy platform on his website.
When asked about the change, Osborn said his position had not changed.
“My position on abortion has been consistent,” he said. “I don't support extreme national bans on abortion like Pete Ricketts does. I support codifying the Roe v. Wade standard—legal access to abortion until viability, with exceptions after that when a woman's health is at risk. That's the standard we had for 50 years, and it worked.”
Presidential Elections: Past and Present
When asked why the Democratic Party was slipping in union support across the country, Osborn said the Democrats had lost the messaging war against the Republican Party.
“They [Republicans] were better at boiling it down and putting it on bumper stickers,” he said. “You have two competing messages. You have one that was going from Republicans that was saying, ‘Hey, I’m for you. They are for They/Them, I’m for the worker.’ And then the other side is seemingly talking down to people, saying, ‘You need to respect people’s pronouns.’ Who is that guy [average voter] going to listen to at the end of the day?”
Osborn said in 2016 that he voted for Hillary Clinton over Trump. “I was the undecided until I walked into that booth,” he said. “In 2016, no, I did not vote for him [Trump].” When pressed whether that meant he voted “for the Democrat,” Osborn said, “yeah, I did on that one.”
“I just don’t think the billionaires are going to come save us,” he added. “That’s why I like the Jon Testers of the world, the guys who are the salt of the earth, who just have lived their lives honestly and purely, and I just didn’t see him as that.”
Osborn said that there are currently no names being thrown out of the Republican or Democratic party that he would like to see as president in 2028. “'I’m just skeptical. And I was raised, and I raised my kids to question everything,” he said. “That’s another reason I’m Independent is I believe in principles over party. I’m not just going to vote a letter.”
— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.