A super PAC supporting independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn is airing a graphic 60-second ad attacking Republican incumbent Pete Ricketts for pardoning a man convicted of sexual assault nearly three decades ago. The ad opens with a content warning and features a narrator identifying herself as Jody S., who describes being violently assaulted by John Arias in her home on April 30, 1993. Arias pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual assault and was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison, released in April 2008 after serving nearly 14 years.

The ad shows newspaper headlines from the 1990s, a black-and-white image of Ricketts, and a mug shot of Arias from Nebraska’s sex offender registry. The narrator states that Ricketts, then governor and a member of the pardon board, cast the deciding vote to pardon Arias in September 2022, which removed his name from the registry and allowed him to own a gun. Audio from the pardon hearing includes R.