Nebraska Republican U-S Senator Pete Ricketts made it official Tuesday and filed to run for the remaining 2 years on the term of Ben Sasse, who resigned a year ago to become president of the University of Florida.
Governor Jim Pillen appointed Ricketts, his immediate predecessor as governor, to fill the seat through this year’s general election, when the final 2 years of Sasse’s term will be on the ballot
Ricketts will have at least one opponent in the primary, retired Air Force Lt Colonel John Glen Weaver, who lost the 2022 GOP primary for the 1st Congressional District to eventual winner Mike Flood.
Ricketts, a multi-millionaire former online brokerage executive, pledged Tuesday to “carry on the fight for our shared values and continue to be a voice in Washington for the common sense, conservative policies that have worked here in Nebraska.”
Because of Sasse’s resignation, both of Nebraska’s Senate seat are up this year with Republican Deb Fischer of Valentine running for a third 6-year term.
Political observers consider Ricketts a heavy favorite to win the GOP nomination and the general election, especially given his general support of Donald Trump and his policies when Trump was president and Ricketts was governor.
He has come under criticism from some in the Nebraska Republican party for being noncommittal about which GOP presidential candidate he supports and not endorsing Trump yet..Weaver is among those who say he’s not loyal enough to Trump.
Ricketts was attacked in 2022 when he strongly supported Pillen in a bitter Republican primary for governor that included businessman Charles Herbster, a top Trump donor who had the ex-president’s endorsement including a campaign rally.
The primary helped trigger a takeover of the Nebraska GOP leadership by a coalition of Trump populists and old-guard conservatives from a team loyal to Ricketts.
Ricketts was a fiscal conservative as governor and has emphasized border security and national defense during his year in the Senate while sharply criticizing nearly all Biden administration programs and decisions.