(Picture credit Matt Johnson)
OMAHA — Sen. Pete Ricketts held an election night watch party in Sarpy County, where guests gathered to watch election results as Democrats made huge gains across the country, retaking both the House and the Senate in a midterm blue wave.
As the hour drew close to midnight, none of the VIP guests—which included Attorney General Mike Hilgers, Congressman Mike Flood, and Nebraska State Treasurer Joey Spellerberg—had taken to the stage to speak.
It was after eleven o’clock when Ricketts finally called for a press gaggle in the middle of the main ballroom. Many guests had left earlier, but Ricketts remained upbeat.
“I’ve been drinking Diet Pepsi, so I’ve got caffeine. I’m kind of good right now,” he said.
The polls were tight, with ballots still yet to count in Lancaster County, but more rural counties—particularly in western Nebraska—were still waiting to report, and they were largely expected to favor Ricketts. And while Ricketts did not declare victory until almost 1 am, the mood was upbeat, and some staffers shared results with other guests stating, “it’s over.”
“We have a great team, we did a great job, and there’s a lot more votes left to count, but we knew that early on we’d be down and we’d have to make that up, and that’s where we still are right now,” Ricketts said.
Ricketts will have to contend with a US Senate that is projected to be controlled by Democrats next year should he return to Washington DC. He remained optimistic, however, that bipartisanship cooperation could get legislation passed regardless of which party was in control.
“You’ve gotta have bipartisan support to get just about anything passed,” Ricketts said. “So a lot of the things, for example, like my MATCH Act or the PORCUPINE Act—or, you know, look at all the other bills that I’ve got that are a part of other things that we’re getting passed—are bipartisan bills. So I work with Democrats to get those forward, and that’s what I’ll continue to do no matter whether Republicans are the majority or the minority.”
At Dan Osborn’s event at the Scott Conference Center in Midtown Omaha, he gave what sounded like a concession speech, placing blame largely on the new party candidates that were added last-minute in the race, specifically Robin Richards of the Working People Party.
“Third party candidates made the difference in this race,” Osborn said. “They were placed on the ballot in an attempt to confuse voters. That made a difference in this race. It really did. The percentage that we’re down by, we would have made up if it wasn’t for Robin Richards.”
Osborn also told his guests that his campaign was outspent with overwhelmingly negative ads.
“We were outspent well over two to one,” Osborn said. “We faced forty million dollars in attack ads meant to define me and my family as someone who we are not.”
This is not entirely correct, however. According to the latest data from VoteLog, total outside spending benefiting Osborn was slightly higher, around $37.4 million versus $32.7 million for Ricketts.
The Plains Sentinel asked Ricketts if Nebraskans can expect even more expensive races in the future.
“I think that just in general races are going to get more expensive as we go on. We’ll just have to see who the candidates are,” Ricketts said. “At the end of the day, it does matter—candidates—and we’ve gotta have good candidates on the Republican side.”
And at the end of the evening near 1 am, Ricketts declared victory:
“Tonight, Nebraskans rejected socialism and the out-of-state liberal money that tried to buy this seat,” said Ricketts. “They came here with millions from California and New York. They thought Nebraska was cheap enough to be bought. They were wrong. Nebraskans chose a senator they can trust, and I will always put Nebraska first.”
— Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.