LINCOLN, Neb. — Gov. Pete Ricketts sounds open to becoming a senator — and that’s good news to Mitch McConnell and other top Washington Republicans who are eager for him to join the chamber.
Ricketts has made clear he won’t appoint himself to the seat of outgoing Sen. Ben Sasse. But Ricketts is termed out of office in January, by which time Sasse is likely to have departed to the University of Florida, and the Republican governor could raise his hand then to be appointed to Sasse’s seat.
In an interview with POLITICO, Ricketts made no secret of his fondness for the Senate, in contrast to other GOP governors who have turned down opportunities to run for seats in what they view as a chamber of dysfunction.
“It’s still very relevant and important,” Ricketts said of the Senate, while allowing that a move from the governor’s office to Washington could require a “mind frame shift.”
Ricketts speaks to former President Trump during a 2018 meeting on trade with governors and members of Congress.
While that may sound like a weak statement of interest, it’s enough to give national Republicans hope. McConnell and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), chair of the Senate GOP campaign arm, have been courting Ricketts as he plays coy about his interest in Sasse’s seat.
If they succeed, it would break McConnell’s streak of failing to lure Republican governors to the Senate. If the GOP leader succeeds in getting Ricketts to serve out Sasse’s term through 2024, however, Ricketts, a decidedly mainstream Republican, could end up getting primaried from the right.
Former President Donald Trump this year referred to Ricketts as a “RINO,” or Republican in name only, as the two dueled over the GOP candidates running to succeed Ricketts — and after the Nebraskan repeatedly said Joe Biden had won the presidency.
One Republican lawmaker, granted anonymity to discuss the potential vacancy, said Ricketts is the “odds-on favorite” for the potential appointment and has already gotten ribbed about hazing as a new arrival.
This lawmaker added that Ricketts could actually get broader Republican support than Sasse: “I think they are probably both conservative, so when it comes to policy, they are both fairly aligned. But I believe Pete has a broader — you know, he didn’t go directly against President Trump. Sasse did. There’s a difference there.”
If the next Nebraska governor — expected to be Ricketts-endorsed Republican Jim Pillen — does pick his predecessor for the seat, some within the state are already talking about how to challenge him from the right in 2024, when Nebraska would hold an election for the final two years of Sasse’s term. Matt Innis, who previously ran against Sasse, is one person floated as a potential challenger.
Jim Pillen smiles to applause as he is named the winner of the Nebraska Republican gubernatorial primary during an election night party on May 10, 2022, in Lincoln, Neb.