Pete Ricketts

Pete Ricketts delivered the Omaha World-Herald as a boy, covering weekday afternoons and weekend mornings.¹ Raised in Omaha by an entrepreneur father and schoolteacher mother, he now lives there with his wife, Susanne Shore; they have three children, Roscoe, Margot and Eleanor.²

Ricketts studied biology at the University of Chicago and earned an MBA in marketing and finance before returning to Omaha.² His work included Union Pacific and customer service at the family company that became Ameritrade, where he eventually became president and chief operating officer.² He also founded an investment business supporting entrepreneurs and served on the Chicago Cubs' board.²

After two terms as Nebraska's governor, Ricketts entered the Senate in January 2023.² As governor, he approved the 2021 law fully exempting military retirement income from state taxation beginning in 2022.³ In Washington, he introduced a federal military retirement tax exemption proposal with Senator Jacky Rosen in 2025.⁴

Ricketts emphasizes tax relief, expanded American energy production and stronger border enforcement as priorities for another term.¹ His record includes voting for the 2025 Republican tax and spending law, including Medicaid reductions, and supporting private school scholarships and abortion restrictions.⁵ He faces independent Dan Osborn in a race without a Democratic nominee, offering voters contrasting approaches to labor rights, healthcare and the federal government's economic role.¹⁵