Former Gov. Pete Ricketts to be sworn in as Nebraska senator

Former Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts will be sworn in Monday as the state’s junior senator, filling a vacancy left after Republican Ben Sasse resigned from Congress to serve as president of the University of Florida.

Ricketts, a Republican, will serve for two years ahead of a 2024 special Senate election. Ricketts said that he wants to make the federal government “run like a business.” He has been a top political ally of Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, who tapped him for the role.

“For me, it came down to a single question: How can I best serve the people of Nebraska and advance our conservative values?” Ricketts said in a statement announcing his bid to fill Sasse’s seat. “In Congress, we’re in a fight for the future of our nation, and it’s a fight we have to win.”

Ricketts will be sworn in on the Senate floor Monday afternoon and the Vice President will administer the oath of office.

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The junior senator will join the body at a time when Democrats hold the Senate majority and the Republican-controlled House has been rattled by political infighting. Sasse has been a vocal opponent of former President Donald Trump, while Ricketts’ relationship with Trump has taken more twists.

As governor, Ricketts attended a rally in support of Trump’s 2016 presidential candidacy. But last year, Ricketts urged Trump not to intervene in the Nebraska GOP primary for governor. Trump also called Ricketts a “RINO,” an acronym for “Republican in name only,” for his support of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, one of Trump’s political enemies.

Ricketts has committed to running in the 2024 special election and for a full term in 2026, Pillen said at a press conference announcing the appointment. Republicans in Nebraska would be favored to win those statewide races. Trump carried the Cornhusker State by 19 percentage points in 2020.