Pete Ricketts was sworn into the United States Senate by Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday afternoon. Ricketts fills a vacancy left after Ben Sasse resigned from Congress to serve as president of the University of Florida.
“There is no higher honor than serving the people of Nebraska,” said Ricketts, “and representing my fellow Nebraskans in the Senate is an incredible privilege.
“In state government, we’ve shown what a great impact conservative leadership can have, and I’m going to bring the same approach to Washington. I look forward to working with Senator Fischer and the other members of our congressional delegation in the fight to reduce taxes, defend our freedoms, expand trade partnerships for our ag producers, stand up to the Chinese Communist Party, strengthen our national defense, and make government work better.”
Since being nominated by Governor Jim Pillen, Ricketts has said that Washington needs to be held accountable “We’ve got to hold Washington D.C. accountable for the waste and the fraud and make sure that we’re running government more like a business, just like we’ve done here in Nebraska,” said Ricketts at his nomination ceremony.
Ricketts will serve for two years ahead of a 2024 special Senate election. He served as the 40th Governor of Nebraska from 2015 to 2023.