“Go big red” is University of Nebraska’s slogan, and the de facto motto of the Nebraska Republicans, who face uncharacteristically competitive Congressional elections.

Sen. Deb Fischer (R., Neb.) is running against an self-described independent opponent in Dan Osborn, who receives heavy financial backing from Democrat donors, and whose Senate campaign was launched by socialist activists.

“It’s vital that Nebraskans know who this guy is, and that he’s not who he pretends to be,” Fischer said in an interview with the Washington Reporter. “He’s not an independent. He is a Democrat on all of his positions…What we hear from him is that he’s going to be with Bernie Sanders, he has those leanings, whether it’s on abortion or immigration.”

Osborn has not yet said who he will back for president or if he supports American allies abroad, but Fischer is eager to fill in the gaps for him.

“Every time he’s asked about who he’s voting for president, he’ll say he’ll make up his mind when he goes in the voting booth. And I’m just like, give me a break,” she said. “At this point in time, everybody knows who they’re voting for for president. There’s a distinct choice in this election…When he gets in the voting booth, he’ll vote a straight Democrat ticket,” even though he lives in the House district represented by Rep. Don Bacon (R., Neb.), one of the most bipartisan elected officials in America. Fischer will vote Republican, she said.

Recent polling shows that, despite over $10 million spent against her, Fischer’s image is now net-positive. Although Osborn has released polls showing him in the lead, Fischer’s team has her up, 49 percent to 43 percent.

On matters of foreign policy, which have emerged as sleeper issues in the Nebraska race, Fischer said that Osborn is “clueless…when it comes to issues that we read about daily around the world that affect this country. He doesn’t address them, and he really, really has no depth and knowledge on them. He does some sound bites, and that’s what we hear.” That puts him at odds with Nebraskans, who have “a lot of support for Israel and their need to defend their country and their people,” she said.

Osborn’s campaign has advertised his roots as a union organizer, amid dodging reports about Osborn’s Twitter account liking graphic porn, and explaining how an email address affiliated with him appeared in a hack of Ashley Madison’s database. But even Osborn’s work as a labor organizer comes up short for Nebraskans, Fischer said.

“He doesn’t have much of a record, and he doesn’t talk about issues, so that makes it difficult,” she said. But one of Osborn’s highest-profile acts as a labor leader is something that Fischer’s allies have seized on. 

Kellogg’s recently announced that it would close its Omaha plant, where Osborn led a strike in 2021. Osborn is now minimizing his role in the strike, claiming that he “was just one cog in the wheel,” but at a recent press conference, Omaha City Councilman Brinker Harding laid the blame at Osborn’s feet, Fischer said.

Fischer’s pitch to Nebraska voters is simple: she serves on six committees, more than any other senator — she is “the only Republican on Armed Services and Appropriations, and the Ag Committee, besides being the ranking member on Rules and then the Ethics Committee as well.” Osborn, who has remained noncommittal about even caucusing with either party, has said he will “dial for dollars and I’ll buy my committee assignments…so I’ll figure that out as we go.” Fischer said in response that Osborn “needs a civics lesson. He’s not even going to have any committees.”

Fischer has goals for the next six years. “I want to make the Paid Family Leave law permanent for working families…[and] we’ve got to continue to rebuild and modernize our military.”

While Democrats and local media outlets in Nebraska are trying to make Osborn’s campaign a success, Fischer is confident that her state’s voters will see through him. “Nebraskans are figuring out who this guy is, and they realize he’s just trying to sell a story. He’s just trying to fool them, and Nebraskans don’t take kindly to that,” she said.

Below is a transcript of our interview with Sen. Deb Fischer, lightly edited for clarity.

Washington Reporter:
What are the stakes of this election next month? What does it mean for Nebraska if Democrats win the Senate majority? 

Sen. Deb Fischer:
Every election cycle, you hear that it’s the most important election in your lifetime, that it has huge consequences, but this one does, and I hear it from Nebraskans all the time, who are worried what’s going to happen on the national level, obviously, if we see a continuation there of the Biden-Harris administration, and they’re worried about here at home in Nebraska too. So you know what’s at stake? It’s what I hear from Nebraskans. They’re they’re worried about higher prices, they’re worried about inflation. They just don’t know what their future is going to hold. They’re worried about trade policies. They’re worried about what’s going to happen with the Farm Bill. They’re worried about the border, and its national security implications. For the country as a whole, it’s the same thing. And I think the more people see Vice President Harris and her, I would say, stumbling on a lot of national security questions and everything else, to be blunt about it, they realize we’re going to continue down a path where this country is not going to be safe, and where we don’t have to respect and its translates not just with our adversaries, our foreign adversaries, but it translates here in our own country too, obviously, with the border crisis. I think nationally, people are concerned about the same things as Nebraskans are.

Washington Reporter:
We just did a story about foreign policy emerging as a sleeper issue in your race. You were blasting Dan Osborn’s, silence, on Israel in particular. How are you seeing issues like Israel affecting your election?

Sen. Deb Fischer:
Obviously, we know that they’re important issues, and most Nebraskans know that too. There’s a lot of support for Israel and their need to defend their country and their people. And I think as you said, my opponent is clueless when it comes to foreign policy, when it comes to issues that we read about daily around the world that affect this country. He doesn’t address them, and he really, really has no depth and knowledge on them. He does some sound bites, and that’s what we hear.

Washington Reporter:
You just rolled out another ad about President Donald Trump’s endorsement of you. How are you letting voters in Nebraska know that Dan Osborn is a Democrat in sheep’s clothing? 

Sen. Deb Fischer:
We’re just blanketing the airwaves with radio and TV and digital. We think it’s necessary, and it’s vital that Nebraskans know who this guy is, and that he’s not who he pretends to be. He’s not an independent. He is a Democrat on all of his positions. You hear enough to know that there’s always that push that he’s this independent, and that he’s going to be there, and that he’s not going to caucus with either party. People say, ‘well, Senator Fisher, what do you think of that?’ And I’ll smile and say, ‘well, he needs a civics lesson. He’s not even going to have any committees. He makes a comment that he’ll buy the committees, and I think that shows maybe who he really is, the values he really has, where he thinks he can just go in and buy his way there, like how they’re hoping they’re going to buy this seat.’ What we hear from him is that he’s going to be with Bernie Sanders, he has those leanings, whether it’s on abortion or immigration. As we continue to be able to match him with ads, we’re out raising money like crazy, trying to be able to keep up, and there’s been some movement, because Nebraskans are figuring out who this guy is, and they realize he’s just trying to sell a story. He’s just trying to fool them, and Nebraskans don’t take kindly to that.

Washington Reporter:
Has he said who he’s voting for in the other Senate race? Is he voting for Sen. Pete Ricketts or for the Democrat?

Sen. Deb Fischer:
I have to laugh at him, because every time he’s asked about who he’s voting for president, he’ll say he’ll make up his mind when he goes in the voting booth. And I’m just like, give me a break. At this point in time, everybody knows who they’re voting for for president. There’s a distinct choice in this election. And no, he hasn’t made any other comments about that. He said that it doesn’t matter, but I think people understand what that means now too, and I’m sure it’ll be reflected in his other choices. When he gets in the voting booth, he’ll vote a straight Democrat ticket.

Washington Reporter:
Do you think that he’ll also vote against Rep. Don Bacon, even though Bacon is the kind of Republicanan independent like Dan Osborn might support?

Sen. Deb Fischer:
Yeah, I’m sure he’s voting straight Democrat ticket.

Washington Reporter:
You’re voting straight Republican ticket, is that safe to say?

Sen. Deb Fischer:
You would assume correctly. We’ve got to make sure that we make some changes here, and be able to to have a strong group in Washington and in our state House here in Nebraska as well, to address all the problems we’re looking at.

Washington Reporter:
We talked about foreign policy, but what are you seeing as the top issues as you travel from big cities like Omaha to small towns like Kimball? Why do you think that unified Republican control is the solution there?

Sen. Deb Fischer:
Well, obviously it’s inflation, and it’s the border. I was recently stopped in the parking lot here at a HyVee, a grocery store, here in Lincoln, Nebraska. An older gentleman stopped me, and he said he’s on a fixed income, and he’s having problems. He had trouble even buying groceries because of the cost. Looking at over 20, 30 percent increase in costs here, and people are worried about that. It affects their daily lives. It affects every decision that they make. And then, as I said earlier, they’re obviously worried about the border too, and it’s not just the idea that crime is increasing, and the chaos at the border, or human trafficking or drugs, fentanyl, which Nebraska is really getting hit with fentanyl now, but they understand that this is a national security crisis. We don’t know who’s coming in this country, and we don’t know where they go once they’re here. This affects our total security.

Washington Reporter:
You’re one of the growing number of women in the Senate Republican Conference. What advice do you have to your fellow Republicans of either gender for how to shrink that gender gap with women while also maintaining the gender gap that they have with men? 

Sen. Deb Fischer:
I think we have to continue to talk about the issues that affect everybody. When I was first elected to the Nebraska Legislature, a reporter came up to me and asked if I was going to focus on women’s issues. And I said, ‘well, what’s a woman’s issue?’ Every issue is a woman’s issue. And when we’re looking at security, obviously, that’s huge. Cost of living, that’s huge, and we have to show that Republicans understand how that affects families. And we have to show that we care about it. So one thing that I like to bring up in all my discussions is the Paid Family Medical Leave bill that we were able to get as a pilot program in the 2017 tax reform that took place. And I’m gonna fight to be able to make that permanent. That’s something that really uses our conservative principles of looking at a tax credit that addresses small businesses, small business owners, who want to be able to to provide that family leave, but maybe they only have one employee, or maybe they have five. That’s a hardship for the business, and it’s a hardship for their employees. And I’m talking about targeting hourly workers. That’s the way we set this up, hourly workers. Hopefully small business owners take advantage of it. Women understand that if they’ve got to leave an hourly job and maybe go pick up a child at school who’s sick, or maybe they need to go check on an elderly parent, take them to a doctor’s appointment, go to a school program, whatever it may be. That’s how we designed that program. And women respond to that, and that’s the kind of conservative legislation we need, as a party, to continue to work on that’s going to help people so they don’t feel that they’re squeezed all the time, so they don’t feel like Republicans don’t care about them. That’s what we need to do and show them that we have good solutions that can address these issues.

Washington Reporter:
You’re running against a labor leader at an interesting time for the GOP right now, as union leadership continues to back Democrats, but the union workforce shifts right. How have you been navigating that landscape as someone running against a labor union leader? 

Sen. Deb Fischer:
Since my first couple of weeks in the Senate, I’ve worked with all Nebraskans. The firefighters came and they are some of my biggest supporters, because we’ve worked on issues together, the same with law enforcement. I recently got the endorsement of the State Patrol here in Nebraska. They don’t do that usually. I got their endorsement. What’s interesting is, I have the endorsement from SMART. So the rail, the transportation workers, I received their endorsement, even though you have this so-called Nebraska Rail Workers, or something, an organization that is out there supporting my opponent. It’s just being able to work with everybody. Don’t take people for granted who support you, and continue to show outreach to work with everybody. I think the Democrats take the union vote for granted, and that’s what I think is necessary for Republicans to get outside the zone and be able to represent everybody in your state. Just be willing to listen. 

Washington Reporter:
Your allies have been tying Osborn’s 2021 strike at Kellogg’s to the closure of Kellogg’s in Nebraska. What else do you feel like about his record should be a red flag to voters? 

Sen. Deb Fischer:
He doesn’t have much of a record, and he doesn’t talk about issues, so that makes it difficult. We had a press conference a couple of weeks ago, and a city councilman, Brinker Harding, was there. Brinker made a comment when he was saying nice things about me, and he made a comment about the Kellogg’s strike. And now Kellogg’s is leaving Omaha. And there was a follow up question from, I think it was the Omaha World Herald reporter, that said ‘it seemed like Councilman Harding, that you were saying it was Osborn’s fault.’ And Brinker answered it and said, ‘yes, it is his fault we’re losing 500, 600 jobs here in Omaha,’ but then there’s no follow up. There was no article even though we had probably seven or eight reporters there, nobody wrote about that. Nobody put that on TV. So even in Nebraska, we face that. 

Washington Reporter:
Do you have thoughts on what committees you want to be on for the next six years, and, what are you aiming to achieve for Nebraskans over the next six years, should you win again in November?

Sen. Deb Fischer:
Well, I have six committees, the most of any senator. I have the most committees. Obviously, I’d like to be able to keep those committees. I’m second in seniority on the Armed Services Committee. I am right in line to be chairman, also, of the Commerce Committee. That could also be a possibility, not to wish any of my colleagues ill. Those are important positions to be in. The Appropriations Committee, I’m the only Republican on Armed Services and Appropriations, and the Ag Committee, besides being the ranking member on Rules and then the Ethics Committee as well. What do I want to do in next six years? We’ve got to continue to rebuild and modernize our military. We face peer adversaries with China and Russia. And Iran is out there, and North Korea as well. But we have China and Russia as peer adversaries when it comes to our nuclear triad. That’s making the world more dangerous, and that and a number of things as we continue to rebuild our military, which takes time. We aren’t prepared, and we’ve got to continue to get prepared. Infrastructure’s extremely important to me. I believe it’s an investment for the future. It is a responsibility of government. So I want to be able to be able to continue to fund better roads and bridges and airports and water projects and broadband and all those big things. And then, as I said before, I want to make the Paid Family Leave law permanent for working families.

Washington Reporter:
Thanks so much, Senator Fischer.