US Senate candidate cancels fundraiser set to be co-hosted by operative tied to Jeffrey Epstein

The fundraiser was set to be co-hosted by Dana Chasin, a consultant who served as a policy advisor to Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and previously worked for Democratic senators Jon Tester of Montana and Tim Johnson of South Dakota. 

Chasin's name appears in a 2024 email written by an attorney who told the Justice Department that her client had been sexually abused by billionaire private equity investor Leon Black, a close associate of Epstein. 

Jeanne Christensen, the attorney, wrote in the email that her client had been transported to New York City on a private plane owned by Chasin. 

The canceled Osborn fundraiser was first reported Tuesday night by Politico. An Osborn campaign spokesperson told Politico in a statement that "anyone who hurt kids or engaged in other illegal activity needs to be arrested and prosecuted." 

A campaign spokesperson on Wednesday morning referred The World-Herald to the comments in the Politico story. 

Osborn, an independent running against incumbent GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts, lost by about 7 percentage points to GOP Sen. Deb Fischer in 2024. The Democratic Party is not running its own candidate against Ricketts, and state and local Democrats are backing Osborn. 

Chasin, a Rockefeller family heir with degrees from Yale and Harvard, is the founder of 20/20 Vision, which describes itself as an economic policy research and advocacy firm. 

Federal Election Commission records show that Chasin made two donations to Osborn's 2024 Senate campaign totaling $3,300. 

Chasin has not donated to Osborn's campaign this year. FEC records show that he made two donations in January totaling $82,600 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. 

He's been a frequent donor to Democratic candidates and Political Action Committees dating back to the 1990s.