Republican Sen. Ben Sasse officially steps down, opening up appointment to seat

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump, officially resigned from the Senate on Sunday as he prepares to step back into academia as president of the University of Florida.

Sasse, who led Midland University, a small private college in his home state, before he ran for the Senate, submitted his resignation last month saying he would leave office Jan. 8 — two years into his second term.

In farewell remarks last week, Sasse criticized the body that he had been a member of since 2015, saying, “This institution doesn’t work very well right now.”

• Add to Google

Students protest Sen. Ben Sasse's bid for University of Florida presidency

01:32

“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,” he said.

“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,” he said.

Sasse's departure opens up the seat to an appointment by Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican. The previous governor, Republican Pete Ricketts, has said he would seek the appointment.

As a senator, Sasse was a conservative China hawk who backed repealing the Affordable Care Act and voiced opposition to same-sex marriage, having abstained from voting on landmark legislation codifying gay marriage rights in November. He served in President George W. Bush’s administration as an assistant secretary of health and human services and was first elected to the Senate in 2014.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

NBC News reported last year that he was expected to take a job leading the University of Florida. The university’s Board of Trustees approved Sasse as the school's next president despite vocal opposition from some faculty and students.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

Sasse frequently aired grievances with Trump, as well as his supporters in the Republican Party. When Trump ran for re-election in 2020, Sasse rebuked him, saying he “kisses dictators’ butts,” “flirted with white supremacists,” disparages women, “mocks evangelicals behind closed doors” and “treats the presidency like a business opportunity.”

Sasse was among seven Republicans who voted to impeach Trump a second time after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. He blamed Trump for intimidating election officials and repeatedly boosting baseless claims of widespread election fraud in the 2020 election.

“Those lies had consequences, endangering the life of the vice president and bringing us dangerously close to a bloody constitutional crisis,” Sasse said at the time. “Each of these actions are violations of a president’s oath of office.”