Leaked Audio Shows Nebraska Senate Candidate Criticizing Trump Supporters

Leaked audio has surfaced of Nebraska independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn making derogatory remarks about supporters of former President Donald Trump, comments he has acknowledged likely came from him but called out of character. The recording, obtained by The Omaha WorldHerald and published on September 16, 2026, captures a speaker identified as Osborn stating that Trump supporters' lives "probably suck so f---ing bad" and that they back Trump because he is "on the winning team." In a September 18, 2026, interview on CNN's "Inside Politics," Osborn responded to the audio. "It sure sounds like me," he said, but added that the remarks were "out of character" and that he did not recall the specific context. He offered a conditional apology, stating, "If somebody was offended by this, certainly I would apologize to those people that might be offended, but I gotta tell them, I feel their pain." Osborn framed the conversation as a discussion about voters who are "angry and disenfranchised," a sentiment he said Trump successfully tapped into. "I talked to a lot of Trump voters and I'm talking about people are pissed off, people are disenfranchised," he told CNN.