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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDemocratic Party slams own Senate candidate as GOP plant after Trump support revealed
By Alexander Willis
Published March 30, 2026 9:42 AM ET
The Nebraska Democratic Party denounced a Democratic candidate for Senate recently that they allege to be a Republican Party plant, CNN reported Monday, with the candidate being exposed for having supported President Donald Trump, opposed access to reproductive health care and attended a GOP-sponsored training event.
That candidate is William Forbes, a 79-year-old pastor who filed to run for Senate as a Democrat earlier this month. The Nebraska Democratic Party has backed independent candidate Dan Osborn this election cycle, creating what CNN described as an unusual dynamic in which a lone Democratic Senate candidate could siphon votes from Osborn and potentially hand Republicans an easy victory.
Forbes spoke with CNN for its report Monday, in which he admitted that he had voted for Trump in multiple elections and had attended a GOP-backed leadership summit as recently as January. Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb also provided CNN with screenshots from a now-deleted Facebook page that she said show Forbes attending anti-abortion events.
https://www.rawstory.com/gop-2676637346/
I guess this "guy" didn't get to the part in the tale about bearing false witness......................
walkingman
(10,850 posts)We can and should do better.
Torchlight
(6,807 posts)walkingman
(10,850 posts)President or Cabinet members - 70
Senators - 75
Representatives - 60
I think those should be the max ages allowed to run. I would prefer younger candidates, but experience is important and that comes with age.
JBTaurus83
(1,374 posts)Sounds like a good time for people to move out of the way. Become an advisor or something if you want.
Torchlight
(6,807 posts)JBTaurus83
(1,374 posts)To get fresh perspectives into congress. We do have a minimum age for elected office written into law and I dont really agree with that either. Im sure there could be exceptions and outliers at both ends of the age spectrum, I just think it might be healthy for Democracy to have a regular turnover of the generations.
delisen
(7,363 posts)One thing I have to say about Republicans, they rarely age-bash their candidates, office-holders, and voters. Why? They know they will lose voters.
A lot of women spend a disproportionate amount of time on familtly compared to men and enter politics at a later age than men. So you want to arbitrarily tell these women they have missed the boat and cannot serve as long as men no matter what their skillls? Should we have told Nancy Pelosi she had to quit at 60, no matter how effective she was at the time?
You want to break up one of the most effective Democratic movements in history? At the next Indivisable march grab a microphone and tell everyone over 60 that you thank them for their concern and work but dont dare run for the House of Representatives.
I personally am disgusted by people who want me to vote the way they do but want to tell me I should not have the right to vote run for office, that I can be a follower but not a leader?
I think there are more productive avenues to improving representative democracy.
walkingman
(10,850 posts)I view the House as a great training ground for advancement like Senator or Governor etc. but I just don't think it should be a lifetime job. Constant reelection leans toward constant fundraising which leans to compromised ideals.
I apologize if I offended you but just giving my opinion. ☮
delisen
(7,363 posts)Just need to speak up and speak out to defend my rights.
Captain Zero
(8,902 posts)Making everyone done in their 70s.
Callie1979
(1,350 posts)Term limit Amendment NOW
Torchlight
(6,807 posts)Good luck!
SunSeeker
(58,269 posts)walkingman
(10,850 posts)pat_k
(13,346 posts)Cindy Burbank will defeat Forbes in the primary and then drop out and endorse Osborn.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100221135599
pat_k
(13,346 posts)... and endorse Dan Osborn.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100221135599
littlemissmartypants
(33,518 posts)an age optimal age range LAW (say 25 to 65) with a law that spells out explicitly cognitive and health fitness qualifications with regular assessments and enforcement to back them up in the LAW.
In addition to initial qualifying assessments, to be effective, the LAW should include pre - and post tests at specific time based intervals and as needed for cause assessments. Other ages might be considered with the contingency that the cognitive, neuropsychological, and physical fitness standards are within acceptable limits.
As with any other enterprise and especially when we are talking about the leadership of our government, if we hire decrepit, mentally unfit psychopaths then we get what we deserve.
I'd also prefer that we get the cash/crypto out of politics, too. But without the leadership, we need to make any of this work. I guess we can all wish in one hand, and you know what in the other and see which hand fills up first.
NC (my home) is familiar with posers and turncoats, by the way. Tricia Cotham* comes to mind.
1. Aggressive, callous, and cunning
2. Complete absence of conscience and empathy
3. Very adept at manipulating others
4. Willingness to engage in immoral, criminal conduct
5. Willingness to take what they want and do as they please, regardless of who is hurt or wronged
6. Deceptive ability to appear outwardly benevolent
7. Deceptive ability to behave in superficially charming ways to hide purely selfish motives
8. Willingness to use intimidation and violence to control others in order to satisfy their own needs
9. Willingness to intentionally violate the basic inherent human rights of others
10. Complete absence of any sense of guilt or remorse for the harm their actions have caused to others
11. Rationalization of their own immoral behavior
12. Will attempt to lay blame upon someone else for their own conduct
13. Denial, will deny their own wrongdoing outright
14. Utter contemptuousness toward the feelings and desires of their fellow beings
15. Pathological lying, will say anything without any concern for truth to advance their own hidden agendas
16. Ablity to feign [fake] normal human emotions and empathy
17. Distorted sense of the consequences of their actions
18. Total failure to accept any responsibility for their own socially irresponsible ways
19. Strong bellef that they will never be brought to justice for their criminal behavior
*Tricia Cotham aka Patricia Ann Cotham
[Rumored girlfriend of North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore(R)]
"Cotham represented the 100th district in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017 as a Democrat. She was elected as a Democrat in 2022 to represent District 112. Cotham formally changed her affiliation to the Republican Party on April 5, 2023, granting the North Carolina House Republicans a supermajority. Prior to her party switch, Cotham had campaigned on a traditional Democratic Party platform and had voted for abortion rights legislation. Shortly after her party switch, Cotham cast the deciding vote for legislation to restrict abortion access in North Carolina.
[2]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricia_Cotham
TBF
(36,643 posts)as the president's approval rating drops. This has nothing to do with age; it is political expediency.
Renew Deal
(85,127 posts)Just like RFK Jr. did.
pat_k
(13,346 posts)Cindy Burbank is almost sure to defeat him in the primary. She is only running to beat him and then drop out and endorse Osborn
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100221135599
Susan Calvin
(2,437 posts)republianmushroom
(22,322 posts)We seem to have one of those already.
Blue Full Moon
(3,479 posts)Mad_Machine76
(24,957 posts)but, given his position on several other issues, he's not very attractive to Republicans
GoodRaisin
(10,909 posts)as Independent.
ultralite001
(2,550 posts)Every single candidate
pat_k
(13,346 posts)They pulled themselves together to fight back, and got Cindy Burbank on the ballot for the sole purpose of beating Forbes, then dropping out to endorse Osborn.
The Republican Secretary of State tried to kick Burbank from the primary ballot. The Nebraska Supreme Court reinstated her March 23rd. It is VERY strange that a March 30 Raw Story article has no mention of Burbank.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100221135599
swong19104
(625 posts)as conservatives try either to siphon votes or to clean off the GOP stain. Remember, vet the candidates. Check their education and work histories. Listen carefully to how they frame their positions. Its not their political party affiliation, but their political ideology and position that matters.
AllyCat
(18,830 posts)blue-wave
(5,086 posts)They've done this locally in my neck of the woods. Put up a candidate who is a right winger in disguise. I'm very careful about who I vote for now. Especially in the primaries.
calimary
(89,980 posts)Eyes ALWAYS focused on the prize. Ears wide open to catch ANY kind of manipulation or discouragement strategies.
The enemy plays FOR KEEPS. WE should, too. ALWAYS.
littlemissmartypants
(33,518 posts)blue-wave
(5,086 posts)but I just searched her name. She pulled a real dirty trick with the way she voted and how she changed. She gave the republicans a super majority in the legislature and changed her stance on abortion to cast the deciding vote restricting abortion rights. That's beneath contempt.
I'm not in North Carolina, but they've done that where I live. Ran on the Democratic ticket, then switch after the election.
GoodRaisin
(10,909 posts)Farmer-Rick
(12,653 posts)It was when Frist decided not to run for the Senate again, if memory serves me. The Dems had a respectable, qualified and well liked candidate. The Repubs snuck a KKK Clan member, former wizard, into our primary. The piece of crap won the primary but of course he lost the general to another piece of crap Repub...I think it was Crooked Corker.
I was so angry with our local Democratic branch. I had gone door to door, I had made calls. Couldn't they see the piece of crap was a plant? They shrugged and said well people voted for him.....
It's an open primary. Republicons came in and voted for him. The local Democratic leadership said there was nothing they could do. They could have NOT allowed him in our primary ballot.
Celerity
(54,394 posts)
The 2012 United States Senate election in Tennessee took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the general election including the 2012 U.S. presidential election, elections to the House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Bob Corker won a second term in a landslide, carrying all but two counties in the state.
Corker narrowly flipped reliably Democratic Davidson County, home to Nashville, which had not voted Republican on the presidential level since 1988. He faced Democratic nominee Mark E. Clayton as well as several third-party candidates and several independents in this election.
Corker easily won the Republican primary with 85% of the vote, and anti-LGBT activist and conspiracy theorist Clayton won the Democratic nomination with 30% of the vote, despite raising no money and having a website that was four years out of date.
The next day Tennessee's Democratic Party disavowed Clayton over his active role in the Public Advocate of the United States, which they described as a "known hate group". They blamed his victory among candidates for whom the TNDP provided little forums to become known on the fact that his name appeared first on the ballot, and said they would do nothing to help his campaign, urging Democrats to vote for "the write-in candidate of their choice" in November. One of the Democratic candidates, Larry Crim, filed a petition seeking to offer the voters a new primary in which to select a Democratic nominee among the remaining candidates the party had affirmed as bona fide and as a preliminary motion sought a temporary restraining order against certification of the results, but after a judge denied the temporary order Crim withdrew his petition.
snip
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-10-22/politics/35500334_1_yard-sign-tennessee-democrats-senate-race
https://archive.ph/erQkA

70sEraVet
(5,482 posts)We talked briefly of politics, and I was very impressed by him. But he seemed to stay on the fringe, never attracting the people with money.
Farmer-Rick
(12,653 posts)I'm old, my memory fails me sometimes.
But you got the receipts and posted them!!
Thanks
Celerity
(54,394 posts)look at the names:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_United_States_Senate_election_in_Tennessee#Democratic_primary

Park Overall
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Overall

Park Overall is an American actress, political activist, and former U.S. Senate candidate, known for her trademark heavy Southern accent. Her best-known role was as nurse Laverne Todd in the sitcom Empty Nest, though she has appeared in the TV show Reba and a number of feature films, including Biloxi Blues, Mississippi Burning, Talk Radio, and In the Family.
Robin Williams, Jonathon Winters, & Park Overall on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (9/19/91)
Festivito
(13,886 posts)In michigan the republicans have to run as democrats anyway. I know republicans have thrown in a third candidate to keep a particular candidate from winning.
The more times republicans win, the more they feel insecure and need to win even more.
Farmer-Rick
(12,653 posts)And they con others to cheat too.
Exp
(952 posts)Joinfortmill
(21,143 posts)quakerboy
(14,860 posts)If no Democrat is going to bother to even sign up to run, I guess we get what we get.
Mad_Machine76
(24,957 posts)What an attitude
LeftInTX
(34,249 posts)I tend to agree that he's a likely plant as opposed to a DINO
If he was a DINO he would have come clean from the beginning.
He probably filed to throw the race to the GOP!
He knew this would happen.
Here is the Nebraska Democrats statement:
https://nebraskademocrats.org/blog/ndp-press-release-statement-on-u-s-senate-candidate-william-forbes/
pat_k
(13,346 posts)The Republican Secretary of State tried to boot her off the primary ballot. The Nebraska Supreme Court reinstated her March 23rd. It is VERY strange that a March 30 Raw Story article has no mention of Burbank.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100221135599
pat_k
(13,346 posts)I find it very strange that a March 30 Raw Story article doesn't mention Burbank.
The Republican SOS tried to kick her off the ballot. The Nebraska Supreme Court reinstated her March 23rd.
https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/03/23/nebraska-u-s-senate-candidate-back-on-ballot-state-high-court-rules-sos-acted-too-late/
More here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100221135599
.