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Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse resigned and his replacement has already been named.
Nebraska’s Republican Gov. Jim Pillen tapped his predecessor, former Governor Pete Ricketts, would serve the remaining two years of Sen. Sasse’s term after the Republican, who was a frequent opponent of former President Donald Trump, resigned, The Daily Caller reported.
“Pete Ricketts fits the bill,” the governor said. “He is hard-working, a positive leader, and someone who advocates for conservative and Christian values. Pete has a proven record of serving the state, both in times of plenty and in times of crisis. These are the attributes that he will take with him on his journey to Washington.”
“Gov. Ricketts assured me that no matter who calls for a different job, he is committed to the United States Senate,” the governor said. “No matter who calls him to be a vice president of the United States, who calls him to be … Secretary of State or any other thing, he’s committed to this seat; and he and Susanne have committed to winning elections at a minimum of 10 years, and I’m praying it’s gonna be longer than that, and you’re gonna love it there, Susanne.”
“There’s a fallacy in Washington, D.C., that government can’t work and we have to expect failure, but that’s not true. We proved that’s not true here in Nebraska,” former Gov. Ricketts said. “We need to hold Washington, D.C., accountable for making sure they’re providing the same level of high service that we do in state government.”
Some critics accused the former governor of purchasing the appointment as he donated $100,000 to Gov. Pillen’s 2022 campaign directly, and gave more than $1 million to a pro-Pillen PAC. But he hit back against those claims.
“Anybody who knows me, that’s not part of my DNA. Just doesn’t work,” he said. “Integrity of the process and commitment to the process was the highest priority.”
Sen. Sasse resigned from the Senate to take a job as the University of Florida’s president.
In a December 5 letter, Sasse outline the terms of his departure from the legislature and said he was “thrilled to join Gator Nation in February,” adding, “very excited about the work ahead. Melissa and I have had the great honor of serving Nebraskans in the Senate these 8 yrs — I will finish out the upcoming lame duck session and resign in the first week of January.”
During his goodbye speech last week on the Senate floor, Sasse slammed his critics for allowing the Senate to become “increasingly beholden to special interest groups, including social media mobs, advocacy organizations, small-dollar donors and cable hosts.”
“Each of us knows we should be taking a look in the mirror and acknowledging that lives lived in a politicized echo chamber are unworthy of a place that calls itself a deliberative body, let alone the world’s greatest deliberative body. When we’re being honest with each other, which usually means when on one of the very rare occasions where cameras aren’t present, we all know that a big chunk of the performative yelling that happens here and in every hearing room is just about being booked for even more performative yelling at night on TV,” Sasse said.
thrilled to join Gator Nation in February — very excited about the work ahead. Melissa and I have had the great honor of serving Nebraskans in the Senate these 8 yrs — I will finish out the upcoming lameduck session and resign in the first week of January https://t.co/W4mS5hnTR9
— Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) November 9, 2022
Former President Donald Trump celebrated the news when it was first reported back in October.
“Great news for the United States Senate, and our Country itself. Liddle’ Ben Sasse, the lightweight Senator from the great State of Nebraska, will be resigning. If he knew he was going to resign so early in his term, why did he run in the first place? But it’s still great news! The University of Florida will soon regret its decision to hire him as its President. We have enough weak and ineffective RINOs in our midst. I look forward to working with the terrific Republican Party of Nebraska to get a REAL Senator to represent the incredible People of that State, not another Fake RINO!” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social account.
Sasse did vote to impeach Trump during his first impeachment trial and during a campaign call with constituents in October 2020 he shredded him.
“The way he kisses dictators’ butts. I mean, the way he ignores the Uighurs, our literal concentration camps in Xinjiang. Right now, he hasn’t lifted a finger on behalf of the Hong-Kongers,” the senator said, The Washington Post reported.
“The United States now regularly sells out our allies under his leadership, the way he treats women, spends like a drunken sailor,” he said. “The ways I criticize President Obama for that kind of spending; I’ve criticized President Trump for as well. He mocks evangelicals behind closed doors. His family has treated the presidency like a business opportunity. He’s flirted with white supremacists.”
