Republicans call his visit ‘opportunistic and disappointing,’ say it ‘does nothing to help’ Lexington
By Juan Salinas | Nebraska Examiner
U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn, a registered nonpartisan, held a press conference in Lexington, Nebraska, on Dec. 9, 2025. (Juan Salinas II/Nebraska Examiner)
LEXINGTON, Neb. — Across the street from a Tyson beef plant set to close at the end of January, Nebraska U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn accused the company of breaking a century-old law aimed at preventing anti-competitive behavior by meatpackers.
Osborn, a registered nonpartisan running against U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., in 2026, pointed to his time as a former labor leader in an Omaha Kellogg’s plant to say he knows “what it feels like” to give a company “complete loyalty” and said workers feel betrayed. He said Tyson’s quarterly earnings report won’t feel the ripple effects that the town will face.
He said Tyson is trying to maximize profits at the expense of producers and customers in violation of the Packers and Stockyards Act, a federal law passed in 1921. That law was meant to promote competitiveness and fair practices in the livestock, meat and poultry industries and ensure payment protection. The law also prohibits deception and fraud in those markets.
Tyson officials had no immediate comment.
Osborn called the move to close the plant and not sell it to a competitor “market manipulation” and said Tyson is “destroying 5 percent of America’s beef processing capacity.” Basel Musharbash, an antitrust lawyer from Texas, also spoke at the press conference, saying the “law is on Lexington’s side.”
“The legal analysis here is pretty straightforward,” Musharbash said. “The Lexington plant accounts for around 5% of the nation’s cattle. By shutting down a plant that slaughters such a large portion of the cattle in this region and the country, Tyson will single-handedly reshape the nation’s cattle markets from boom to bust.”
Musharbash said the move would force Nebraska “ranchers to accept lower prices, and Tyson will be able to make higher profits.”
In response to the plant closure, the U.S. Department of Agriculture told the Nebraska Examiner this week that it would “continue to monitor the closure of the plant to ensure compliance with the Packers and Stockyards Act, including ensuring that livestock sellers are issued timely and accurate payments.”
Lexington, a west-central Nebraska city home to more than 10,000 people, has been dealing with the aftermath of Tyson’s decision to close the plant, which will result in the combined layoffs of up to 3,200 workers. Osborn asked where are state federal delegation.
“The people of Lexington need their elected officials to fight now more than ever,” Osborn said. “They don’t have time for reports to come out and investigations to happen. … The law that’s been on the books for over 100 years should be enforced. … So pick up the damn phone, call [U.S. Agriculture Secretary] Brooke Rollins and get the USDA to enforce the law.”
Ricketts, in a call Wednesday with reporters, said his team is looking into any allegation of wrongdoing by Tyson. Ricketts said he had talked with Tyson CEO Johnny King about “making sure that that facility can continue to be used for job creation.”
Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican whose family runs a hog operation based in Columbus, has said the state got its “butts kicked” by the closure. State agencies have partnered with Lexington nonprofits and other groups to help the workers affected.
But Ricketts’ campaign and several elected Republicans criticized the visit to Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional District, with U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith saying the congressional delegation is working with the governor to help the people of Lexington find new jobs and connect them with available help.
“Dan Osborn parachuting in for a press conference does nothing to help the Lexington community,” Smith said.
Nebraska 1st District U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, a Republican from Norfolk, has emphasized that the state dealt with a similar Tyson plant closure in 2006 in his hometown. Flood, in a video posted on social media by his office, said it “stripped the plant bare” and the property couldn’t be used as a beef processing facility.
He said the plant still sits empty today.
Former U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., criticized Osborn during his 2024 Senate race against her for helping drive the Omaha Kellogg’s plant out of business. Its leaders announced the plant would close in 2026, though the union leaders who followed Osborn didn’t blame the concessions he negotiated.
The Ricketts campaign, in a statement Tuesday, said Osborn was “heavy on grandstanding but offered no help or solutions to those impacted in Lexington.” Will Coup, a Ricketts campaign spokesperson, said Ricketts is working with state leaders to keep jobs in the community. He called the closure devastating.
“Senator Ricketts will continue approaching this like a natural disaster, with work carried out locally, directed by the state and supported by the federal government,” Coup said. “Nebraskans will overcome this together.”
Osborn’s campaign had organized a listening session for Tyson workers at a local restaurant in the middle of the day Tuesday, after the press conference, but no workers showed up. The Osborn campaign said they would reach out to the workers who had expressed interest in the listening session to set meetings with the former labor leader at a later date.
State Sen. Teresa Ibach of Sumner, in a social media post this week, said the closing of the Tyson plant was heartbreaking news for many families in her district and the community of Lexington. She criticized Osborn for “using this community’s hardship to score campaign points,” calling it “opportunistic and disappointing.”
Osborn said it was important to him to come to advocate for the workers because in his eyes, no one is advocating for them.