A super PAC supporting Dan Osborn, the independent candidate for Senate in Nebraska, is airing a graphic new 60-second ad attacking his opponent, Senator Pete Ricketts, the Republican incumbent, for pardoning a man convicted of sexual assault nearly three decades after the assault.
Here’s a look at the ad, its accuracy and its major takeaway.
On the Screen
The ad opens with a “content warning” about sexual assault and the phone number for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
It cuts to a narrator, called “Jody S.,” who says she has a “story to tell” about Mr. Ricketts.
The woman describes being violently assaulted by an intruder in her home.
The style is spare, with limited music and images of an empty home. Some of the woman’s words are rendered in white type over a black background.
The ad pans to a series of newspaper headlines from the 1990s showing that the woman’s attacker pleaded guilty to sexual assault and was sentenced to prison.
Later, a black-and-white image of a smiling Mr. Ricketts flashes on the screen. The woman says that the senator, then serving as governor and as a member of the state’s pardon board, had voted to pardon her assailant.
Viewers next see a mug shot of the woman’s attacker on Nebraska’s official sex offender registry, part of the state government website. The man’s image then disappears. His pardon, the woman explains, meant that his name was removed from the registry.
The Script
Narrator
“I have a story to tell about our senator, Pete Ricketts. On April 30, 1993, John Arias broke into my home, tied me up with parachute cord and violently raped me. My children heard everything that happened. He was caught, pled guilty and went to prison. He said I should watch my back for the rest of my life. Pete Ricketts cast the deciding vote to pardon this man.”
FEMALE VOICE (From Pardon Board Audio)
“Governor Ricketts.”
MR. RICKETTS (From Pardon Board Audio)
“Yes. But with that, you’ve got your pardon.”
Narrator
“That pardon brought back all the nightmares. I found out just totally by accident. I thought impossible that anyone would make that decision without contacting the victim. Because of Pete Ricketts, my attacker is now allowed to own a gun and had his name removed from the sex offender registry. I have no idea why Senator Ricketts chose my rapist over me.”
Male voice
“Nebraska Values PAC is responsible for the content of this advertising.”
Accuracy
The assailant, John Arias, pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual assault and was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison. He was released in April 2008, after serving nearly 14 years, according to state records.
In September 2022, he requested a pardon from the state board of pardons, which included Mr. Ricketts, who was then governor; Doug Peterson, then the state attorney general, and Bob Evnen, the secretary of state. A pardon would not erase the crime from state records but would remove his name from the state’s sex offender registry.
According to an audio recording of his 28-minute pardon hearing, Mr. Arias did not deny the assault, though he appeared to question some of the details of the victim’s account.
Mr. Ricketts and Mr. Peterson ultimately voted for the pardon. Mr. Evnen opposed it, saying that he didn’t think Mr. Arias had “fully come to grips with what happened that night.”
Mr. Peterson described the request as “on the bubble,” but cited Mr. Arias’s military service and volunteer work with the American Legion.
“We historically have taken these types of criminal acts, like sexual assault and child abuse, very seriously,” he said.
Mr. Ricketts agreed that Mr. Arias’s request was “on the bubble” but announced “you’ve got your pardon” — the line clipped in the ad.
Weeks after granting the pardon, Mr. Ricketts issued a statement defending his decision, saying that Mr. Arias “has shown to be remorseful.”
A few months later, the victim, who said she was not notified about the pardon or invited to participate in the hearing, testified before the State Senate in support of a bill to ensure that crime victims are notified of Nebraska Board of Pardons meetings.
“His rights were restored,” she told the legislators. “I ask you, where do my rights fit in?”
The Takeaway
Mr. Osborn, a union leader and Navy veteran, is in a tough race against Mr. Ricketts, who served two terms as governor and won his Senate seat in a 2024 special election. While Mr. Osborn is an independent, Democratic candidates cleared the field to ease his path, and he has been endorsed by the Nebraska Democratic Party.
The spot is an effort by Democrats and their allies to gain traction in a red state, where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats nearly two to one. Mr. Osborn has repeatedly cast Mr. Ricketts, one of the richest members of the Senate, as uninterested in the concerns of everyday Nebraskans. The ad is an effort to undermine his character and reinforce that image.
