Former Nebraska state Treasurer Shane Osborn, one of the two frontrunners in the GOP primary for Senate there, launched a new ad that declares him the only candidate in the race capable of delivering on his pledges.
But his main primary opponent, Midland University President Ben Sasse, got an on-air boost as well from Senate Conservatives Fund, a national conservative group backing his bid. SCF launched an ad Friday that calls him a “rock solid conservative” and touts his endorsements from a wide array of conservative leaders.
In Osborn’s ad, a narrator declares that while “they all say the right things. Only one has proven he can do what he says,” over a shot of all four GOP candidates.
The narrator points to Osborn cutting his budget while treasurer and his work bringing jobs to veterans.
Osborn appears on the screen and adds, “It’s not what you say — it’s what you do.”
Osborn and Sasse are locked in a tough fight over who’s the true conservative in the race. While Sasse has nabbed the endorsement of most of the nation’s major conservative groups, including the Senate Conservatives Fund and the Club for Growth, Osborn has the backing of FreedomWorks.
Sasse’s detractors have said he wouldn’t do enough to oppose ObamaCare if elected and cite his work on healthcare policy in the Bush administration as evidence.
But that work is part of what makes Sasse’s supporters so enthusiastic about him. They believe his policy experience will help him produce a conservative alternative to ObamaCare if heads to the Senate, and he launched his own healthcare reform alternative on the campaign trail this week.
—This piece was updated at 12:30 p.m. to reflect SCF’s ad.