Nebraska Senate candidate responds to leaked audio criticizing Trump voters: ‘We’re all angry right now’

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Nebraska independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn on Wednesday appeared to confirm the authenticity of a leaked recording in which he is purported to criticize voters who support President Donald Trump.

“Billy Bob in f**king Red Cloud, Nebraska, who lives next door to the f**king Trump store as you pull into town and is waving the Trump flag … all he knows is he’s like on the winning team,” a speaker said in audio obtained by the Omaha World-Herald. “He’s been so effective at taking Billy Bob and his wife Mary Jane or Mary Jo and telling them, look we’re winning. You’re on the winning team. And that’s all they care about, because their lives probably suck so f**king.”

Asked by CNN’s Dana Bash on “Inside Politics” if he was the speaker, Osborn replied, “It sure sounds like me.”

“I don’t remember the context of this one particular conversation, but it certainly does sound out of character for myself,” he said, adding, “I would apologize to those people that might be offended, but I gotta tell them, I feel their pain. I absolutely feel their pain. We’re all angry right now and sometimes when you’re angry you say some things.”

Osborn, running as an independent in ruby red Nebraska, is challenging Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts. Democratic party leaders decided to stand down and support Osborn, leaving no Democrat on the ballot, in hopes of ousting the incumbent in a state Trump carried by roughly 20 points in 2024.

A Navy veteran and former union leader, Osborn is running on a populist, working-class message, blending support for labor and some abortion rights with backing for gun rights and tougher immigration enforcement.

Osborn defended his outreach to voters across the state, including those who support Trump. He told CNN he’s visited 55 counties on his tour with less than two months until Election Day.

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As union leader, Democrat-backed Senate candidate Dan Osborn helped alert ICE to claims of undocumented workers

“I talked to a lot of Trump voters and … I’m talking about people are pissed off, people are disenfranchised, especially, and that’s what Trump captured in Nebraska. He captured people who are angry about the political system and Trump ran outside of that as an outsider,” he said. That’s what people like about Trump. It’s why I’m running again as an independent running outside the political system, because I’m tired of the two-party doom loop.”

While Osborn has said he will not caucus with either party if elected, Democrats believe a unified challenger could put the seat in play, as their party fights to break Republicans’ narrow Senate majority.

Party leaders sought to clear the primary field for Osborn after his surprisingly competitive performance in 2024, when, running as an independent, he lost a closer-than-expected race to Republican Sen. Deb Fischer.

Two years later, Osborn is hoping to capitalize on voter frustration with both the right and the left and cost of living concerns that have only grown since the start of the Iran war.

“That’s why people are angry. That’s why I’m angry. And I think you know anybody who hears this and knows me understands that’s where it’s coming from,” he told Bash on Wednesday.

Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald/Getty Images

内布拉斯加州独立参议员候选人丹·奥斯本周三似乎证实了一段泄露录音的真实性，据称他在录音中批评了支持唐纳德·特朗普总统的选民。

“内布拉斯加州红云镇的那个比利·鲍勃，就住在特朗普商店隔壁，你开车进城就能看到他，他还挥舞着特朗普的旗帜……他只知道自己是胜利阵营的一员，”一位发言者在《奥马哈世界先驱报》获得的一段录音中说道。“他（特朗普）非常有效地让比利·鲍勃和他的妻子玛丽·简（或玛丽·乔）相信，我们正在胜利。你们是胜利阵营的一员。而他们只关心这个，因为他们的生活可能糟透了。”

在 CNN 的“Inside Politics”节目中，主持人 Dana Bash 问奥斯本，他是否就是演讲者，奥斯本回答说：“听起来确实像我。”

“我不记得那次谈话的具体背景了，但听起来确实不像我的风格，”他说道，并补充道，“我会向那些可能感到冒犯的人道歉，但我必须告诉他们，我感同身受。我完全理解他们的感受。我们现在都很愤怒，而愤怒的时候，人有时会说出一些不该说的话。”

奥斯本以独立候选人的身份在共和党铁票仓内布拉斯加州挑战共和党参议员皮特·里基茨。民主党领导人决定退出竞选，转而支持奥斯本，这意味着选票上没有民主党候选人，他们希望借此机会在这个特朗普2024年大选中以约20个百分点优势获胜的州击败现任参议员。

奥斯本是一位海军退伍军人和前工会领导人，他以民粹主义、工人阶级的口号参选，将对劳工和部分堕胎权的支持与对枪支权利和更严格的移民执法的支持结合起来。

奥斯本为自己接触全州选民（包括支持特朗普的选民）的行为辩护。他告诉CNN，距离选举日不到两个月，他已经走访了55个县。

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作为工会领导人，民主党支持的参议员候选人丹·奥斯本曾帮助向美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）举报非法移民工人。

“我跟很多特朗普的支持者聊过……我的意思是，人们都很愤怒，尤其感到被剥夺了政治权利，而这正是特朗普在内布拉斯加州赢得选民支持的原因。他赢得了那些对政治体制感到愤怒的人的支持，而特朗普是以局外人的身份参选的，”他说。“这就是人们喜欢特朗普的原因。这也是我再次以独立候选人的身份参选的原因，因为我厌倦了两党制的恶性循环。”

虽然奥斯本表示，如果当选，他不会与任何一方结盟，但民主党人认为，如果出现一位统一的挑战者，这个席位可能会变得扑朔迷离，因为民主党正在努力打破共和党在参议院的微弱多数优势。

奥斯本在 2024 年的初选中表现出乎意料的竞争力，当时他以独立候选人的身份参选，但在与共和党参议员黛布·费舍尔的竞争中以比预期更接近的差距落败。此后，党内领导人试图为奥斯本扫清初选障碍。

两年后，奥斯本希望利用选民对左右两派的不满以及自伊朗战争开始以来日益增长的生活成本问题来赢得选举。

“这就是人们愤怒的原因。这就是我愤怒的原因。我想，任何听到这些话并且了解我的人都会明白我的愤怒源于此，”他周三告诉巴什。