Nebraska independent candidate Dan Osborn has turned his second U.S. Senate campaign into a showcase for extravagant digital ads. His latest spot mocks Sen. Pete Ricketts as a champion of computer racks, air conditioners, and enormous tax favors for technology companies.

The ad sarcastically praises Ricketts for “finally delivering the tax relief for Google and their hardworking air conditioners that struggling Nebraska families have cried out for.” It then depicts Ricketts summoning data centers onto Nebraska farm fields by shooting energy from his hands.

The theatrics are deliberately absurd, but the underlying figures come directly from Ricketts’s record. As governor, he aggressively promoted data center construction as an economic development strategy and personally helped recruit Facebook to Papillion, Nebraska.

Ricketts appeared repeatedly at data center events dressed for construction. He wielded a shovel at the 2017 announcement of a Facebook facility planned for 146 acres near Papillion, then appeared in a hard hat and neon construction vest during a tour the following year.

In 2019, Ricketts wore a Google hard hat at the groundbreaking for a $600 million Papillion data center. He said he hoped the project would “rival the data centers over in Iowa,” and the facility was later expanded with another $750 million.

Ricketts called the region “Silicon Prairie” and promoted plans for a data center hub. Explaining the industry’s arrival, he said that “the number one reason these technology companies are coming to Nebraska is our people.”

The financial record tells a less flattering story. Ricketts signed the ImagiNE Nebraska Act in 2017, providing corporate tax incentives intended to attract companies, including substantial property tax abatements for data centers.

From January 2021 until an executive order paused data center incentives in July 2026, technology firms received $519 million in property tax exemptions under the law. Data centers obtained another $317 million through tax credits, sales tax exemptions, and direct refunds.

About $311 million of that total went specifically to Facebook’s Papillion facility. The figures came from the office of Nebraska’s current Republican governor, Jim Pillen, whose executive order halted the incentives.

Osborn’s ad says that “Pete delivered $836 million for data centers,” a figure produced by adding the data center benefits distributed through the ImagiNE Nebraska Act. The spot presents that largesse as relief for technology giants rather than Nebraska families.

Ricketts continued supporting favorable corporate tax policy in the Senate. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made permanent 100% bonus depreciation, allowing companies to immediately expense investments in materials, a particularly valuable provision for server heavy data centers.

Microsoft has already saved up to $12 billion in taxes through that provision, according to its annual report, while Facebook, Amazon, and Google also received billions. Six companies connected to data center construction received $83 billion in tax breaks from provisions in the law last year.

Osborn’s ad highlights Ricketts’s vote, stating, “As senator, Pete voted on a permanent measure to let developers write off critical data center infrastructure.” The policy reflects a Republican approach that treats corporate tax benefits as the necessary price of securing investment and jobs.

Data centers complicate that sales pitch because permanent jobs can be scarce after construction. At Google’s 2019 announcement, retiring Rep. Don Bacon celebrated the arrival of 30 jobs and said data centers near Papillion “use more power than the entire city of Lincoln.”

Ricketts has since described data center development as “a community decision” and argued that cities should negotiate favorable arrangements. Yet while governor, he presided over a system in which hundreds of millions of dollars flowed from Nebraska’s treasury toward Google, Facebook, and other technology companies.

Technology interests have also contributed to Ricketts’s campaign. Google’s corporate political action committee gave $20,000, while Meta’s committee gave $2,500, and employees of Tenaska contributed $17,000 during the current cycle.

Kenneth Stinson, the former chair of data center developer Kiewit, contributed $200,000 to the Pete Ricketts Victory Fund and gave the maximum amount directly to Ricketts. Ricketts has also put $5.25 million of his own money into his campaign.

Personal financial disclosures show Ricketts holding more than $1.5 million in investment funds with artificial intelligence holdings, including Silver Lake, BITKRAFT, and RPM Ventures. Osborn’s ad responds: “You may not trust artificial intelligence, but you can trust Pete Ricketts to look after the people invested in it, like him.”

Republicans have poured money into the race, with the Senate Leadership Fund placing $8 million in advertising and a Fairshake subsidiary buying $7.5 million. Among the six polls conducted since Labor Day, Osborn led three and Ricketts led three.

The data center fight has exposed the limits of an economic development model built around corporate giveaways. When enormous companies collect public subsidies for facilities requiring relatively little human intervention, the familiar promises of jobs and community investment become considerably harder to sell.