Nebraska judge says Democrats not required to replace dropout candidate on ballot

Former Nebraska Senate Candidate William Forbes had wanted to force the Democrats to put up a name on the ballot to face off against a favored independent and a Republican incumbent.LINCOLN, Neb. (CN) — The Nebraska Democratic Party has the discretion to decide to not fill a ballot vacancy if the candidate who earned the nomination drops out, a state judge determined Wednesday.“Under the plain language of § 32-623, a political party has the discretion to fill a vacancy after a candidate declines their nomination. If the party decides to fill the vacancy, then it must follow the mandatory rules or ministerial actions designated in § 32-627. This interpretation harmonizes and gives effect to both statutes,” Lancaster District Court Judge Susan Strong wrote, siding with the Democrats against failed Democratic U.S. Senate candidate William Forbes.This means Democrats will not have to nominate a candidate to replace Forbes’ opponent Cindy Burbank, who dropped out in July after winning the May 12 primary — likely making it a race between Republican incumbent U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts and independent candidate Dan Osborn.This past weekend, the Nebraska Democratic Central Committee voted, at least a small amount of drama, not to fill the vacancy.Forbes had argued Monday Burbank’s dropping out was a party scheme to clear the field for Osborn — a 51-year-old tattooed union leader who led the 2021 strike at the Kellog’s plant in Omaha — because he has a better chance to defeat Ricketts than any candidate with a D next to their name on a ballot in the conservative state.Forbes, who received just 10% of the vote in the primary race against Burbank, sued the Democrats in July to force Democrats to put up a name to face off with Osborn in November.Erin Hawley, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney with Lex Politica, one of two who argued for Forbes Monday, declined to comment, but referred Courthouse News to a brief where Forbes stressed that he was a registered Democratic voter and emphasized that Burbank never intended to serve.“Instead of engaging with Mr. Forbes’ irreparable harm arguments, [the Nebraska Democratic Party] again attacks Mr. Forbes’ motives. But irreparable harm is not excused because a party member crosses the party line. They do so all the time,” Forbes wrote in the brief, referencing the Democrat’s accusations that he is a plant from the campaign of the incumbent Republican.In a statement, Jane Kleeb, the state’s Democratic chair, alluded once again to Forbes’ apparent conservative past.“Today’s ruling in our favor recognizes an essential principle: Nebraska political parties retain the discretion to determine whether to fill a ballot vacancy when a nominee withdraws,” she said. “William Forbes, and by proxy, Pete Ricketts and the MAGA billionaires, failed in their attempt to force the Nebraska Democratic Party to place a candidate on the ballot line for U.S. Senate.”Forbes and his attorneys had cited a state law saying that if a vacancy arises for a partisan office, “the vacancy shall be filled by the majority vote of the proper committee of the same political party.”But Strong agreed with the Democrats’ argument that Forbes was misreading the statute. They had pointed to another statute that governs what happens if a candidate drops out, which says the vacancy if a candidate drops out, “may be filled.”Democrats also argued that forcing them to nominate a candidate at the last minute, one they didn’t want to nominate in the first place, would be confusing to voters.The ruling comes just weeks before the Sept. 11 deadline for the Nebraska secretary of state to certify candidates for the general election. Forbes could still appeal to the Nebraska Supreme Court before then.Though other candidates of other parties remain on the ballot, Osborn — who came within 7 percentage points of beating GOP incumbent Deb Fischer in the 2024 race for the state’s other U.S. Senate seat in 2024 — remains the biggest contender in the Democrat effort in the red states of the American west to embrace independent candidates who have a better shot at toppling Republican opponents.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads