Dan Osborn, the Nebraska ‘independent’ Senate candidate with deep Democratic ties, has directed huge sums of campaign and PAC money to his wife, himself and a string of family members across his two runs for office, analysis by the Daily Mail can reveal.
The payments, which amount to nearly half a million dollars, raise questions about how donor money is being spent – though federal law does not bar candidates from paying family members or themselves for campaign work.
Osborn has come under fresh scrutiny as he mounts a second challenge against Republican incumbent Pete Ricketts.
His wife, Megan Osborn, and businesses tied to her received a total of $311,309 in payments to herself and businesses tied to her during his runs for office in 2024 and 2026.
Per financial disclosures filed by Osborn, his wife has had an ownership interest in and has received a salary from Dark Forest LLC, as well as Independent Campaigns LLC.
Dark Forest LLC, a business tied to Megan as well as Daniel Moraff, the Democratic Socialist political consultant who recruited embattled Graham Platner to run for the US Senate in Maine, has received $9,000.
Another consulting firm tied to Megan that works with Democrats, Independent Campaigns LLC, has received $208,671 from Dan’s campaign and PAC.
Osborn has also paid himself $122,056 from his campaign and PAC funds.
They have additionally extended to other family members. Osborn’s daughter, Georgia, has taken $4,200, reportedly for ‘assistant services’ during her father’s 2024 run for the US Senate.
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Osborn’s sister-in-law, Bridget Boyle, has taken $45,736, and his brother-in-law, James Vihstadt, has taken $2,500 in campaign funds. Jodi Osborn, another sister-in-law, has taken $2,450, and payments to all three individuals have been for ‘treasurer’ services.
The total paid to Osborn’s family members and their related businesses amounts to $488,253.
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While he has labeled himself an independent, Democrats would very much like to see him take out a Republican incumbent.
Osborn declined the Nebraska Democratic Party’s endorsement in 2024, but the state party endorsed him for the Ricketts race, and their nominated candidate has pledged to drop out of the general to clear the field for him.
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The spokesperson added that ‘Megan is a central part of our campaign,’ and had previously helped recruit and launch candidates ‘fighting for the working class’ across the country.
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The campaign was also hit with an FEC complaint in April from Americans for Public Trust, a right-of-center watchdog group, over the payments. The status of the complaint is not available, since the status of ongoing FEC complaints is confidential until they are resolved.
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The payments, as well as a photograph of Georgia and Megan pictured alongside Moraff, also expose Osborn’s associations with embattled Democrat candidate in Maine, Platner’s consultant Moraff.
The Daily Mail exclusively reported earlier this month that while a college student, Moraff published an article in the ‘humor’ section of Vulture magazine titled, My Heroes, Daydreamt.
In it, Moraff, a long-time Democratic socialist operative, writes that he had daydreams about political figures whom he regards as his heroes, descriptions that also include odd sexual remarks. The most eyebrow-raising comments came about Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr.
Moraff wrote in his essay that King promised that they would ‘have sex with each other,’ before King’s speech from the balcony of a Memphis hotel where he was shot dead in 1968. Moraff did not comment on this literary work before or after this story was published.
But Osborn is no stranger to controversy.
During his 2024 run, an email directly connected to Osborn was used to sign up for the infamous affair website Ashley Madison, which is well known for facilitating extramarital affairs.
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He also had access to a Twitter account that was previously caught liking explicit gay porn and pictures of naked girls on X, per screenshots obtained by Daily Mail in 2024.
Osborn’s campaign also denied that he ‘liked’ gay pornography on Twitter, now X, between 2020 and 2021.
But they confirmed that Osborn had access to the account ‘BCTGM 50G Union President’ along with ‘multiple people.’
Read more here.