Sen. Lindsey Graham Wants Nebraska Governor to Take Over Senate Seat Left Vacant by Sasse Resignation

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts in his office in Lincoln, Neb., on June 24, 2021. (Petr Svab/The Epoch Times)

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is pushing for Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts to fill the vacant seat left by Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), who recently announced his retirement.

Sasse confirmed on Oct. 6 that he will retire early from the Senate and will likely take a position as president of the University of Florida.

Now, Graham wants Ricketts to take Sasse’s place in the Senate—a position to which Ricketts could theoretically appoint himself. Under Nebraska law, the governor appoints a new senator if a vacancy arises in the middle of a term.

However, Ricketts has been clear that he does not intend to appoint himself, though he did still leave open the prospect of joining the U.S. Senate when his term is over.

“If I choose to pursue the appointment, I will leave the appointment decision to the next governor and will follow the process established for all interested candidates,” Ricketts said. “It is the honor of a lifetime to serve as the governor of Nebraska. It is the greatest job in the world, and it will remain my number one focus for the remainder of my term.”

Ricketts’s second and final term expires in early 2023.

Ricketts “may be moving to Washington for a few years,” Graham told a gathered crowd during a stop in Nebraska, the Cornhusker State.

“To the Ricketts family,” Graham said, “you’re the American dream, too.”

“I didn’t buy his dad’s book, but I don’t buy anybody’s book, don’t take it personal,” Graham joked, referencing a book by Ricketts’s father and TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts. “But he told me his story, his father’s story, and his family’s story, and that’s a story that could only happen in America.”

“So Pete, I hope you'll think about it, sit down with your family and pray on it, and if that opportunity comes, maybe you can take the competency and the caring and the conservativism you’ve demonstrated here in Nebraska and bring it to help us in Washington,” Graham wrapped up. “Think about it.”

Though reports of Sasse’s impending retirement began to circulate on Oct. 6, Ricketts said he did not learn of the decision until Oct. 8, when he was informed by Sasse that he would be retiring early.

Because his second and final term is up next year, Ricketts is not running for reelection to the office. Rather, Republican Jim Pillen, backed by Ricketts, is vying to replace Ricketts against Democrat Carol Blood.

Nebraska has not had a Democrat governor since 1999, and it is likely that Pillen will win.

Media reports said Sasse planned to resign before the end of the year, but Sasse’s office declined to comment. Sasse said in a statement he was interested in the University of Florida job but did not offer timing for when he might leave the Senate. The University of Florida announced this week that its presidential search committee recommended only one person, Sasse, to the school’s Board of Trustees.

In an interview with National Review, Sasse was asked what he would tell Nebraskans disappointed by his leaving the Senate in the middle of a term.

“Nebraskans have well understood that I didn’t expect to be in politics as a lifelong calling,“ Sasse said. ”I need to get back to building stuff. The best picture in the dome of the U.S. Capitol is Washington surrendering power.”

His Vote to Convict Donald Trump

Sasse was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict and remove President Donald Trump from office, a decision which has haunted other Republicans.

Among the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump—including Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Tom Rice (R-S.C.), Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio), Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), John Katko (R-N.Y.), and David Valadao (R-Calif.)—eight have either been defeated in a primary by GOP challengers or have announced that they would not seek reelection.

In the Senate, the second and final impeachment effort in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally won the support of seven senators, including Sasse. Others on that list included Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.).

Burr and Toomey have said they will not seek reelection after their current term ends.

Only one, Murkowski, is up for reelection this year, and is facing a steep primary challenge by Trump-endorsed Kelly Tshibaka. Murkowski was able to take some solace from the results of the ranked choice primary this year, where she came in first place with 45.05 percent of the vote to Tshibaka’s 38.55 percent.

Still, the real test for Murkowski is ahead, and the results will be the first indication of whether voters will be as tough on senators who voted to impeach Trump as they’ve been on House members.

It is unclear what role this consideration had in Sasse’s decision to leave the Senate before his term ends in 2027.

Ricketts has been an ally to the former president, and has been critical of Democrats’ impeachment efforts.

At the time, Ricketts called the impeachment proceedings a “partisan impeachment parade” and lauded the final vote acquitting Trump.

Because it remains unclear when Sasse will retire formally, Ricketts may be out of office before the seat is vacated. In either case, the governor of Nebraska will need to fill the vacancy by appointment within 45 days of Sasse leaving the upper chamber. This appointee would represent Nebraskans in the upper chamber until at least 2024, when the governor will need to call a special election to finish out Sasse’s term.

As Nebraska is considered deep red state, this will likely have no impact on the composition of the Senate.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.