On October 6, 2022, it was publicly announced that the University of Florida’s search committee unanimously endorsed me to become their 13th president. As the sole finalist, I announced my intent to accept the position once the university officials did their due diligence and formally offered me the role. Of course, my announcement came with a great deal of shock and a wide amount of speculation from Americans wondering why I’d give up a safe seat of power for a job in academia. The simple fact of the matter is that my heart has always been devoted to the realm of education just as much as it has been to politics and the law. Furthermore, the University of Florida is an excellent institution that has the wherewithal to lead our nation and our future generation of leaders through this era of partisanship, tragedy, and unrest.
Before I decided to mount my run for the Senate in 2013, I held a multitude of different jobs in the legal and academic realms. Amongst them, the most relevant are the times I spent serving the public at the Department of Homeland Security as an advisor on national security issues, as well as my time serving at the Department of Health and Human Services, where I served as a counselor to the Secretary. The job I found hard letting go, though, was my job as a professor at the University of Texas. Due to then-President George W. Bush calling me into service multiple times, I only spent a few semesters teaching across a period of five years.
As always, though, the things we love tend to come back around: in October 2009, I was named the 15th President of Midland University at the young age of 37. At Midland, I more than doubled the size of enrollment and saved the school from its financial issues by establishing good fundraising skills, as well as enacting policies that saved the school from bankruptcy. Needless to say, it is a very easy thing to be a problem solver in academia. Not only that, though, but it is also an issue that is not partisan by nature. Thus, when I ran for Senate, my goal in mind was to be a difference maker and a problem solver for the American people.
Growing up in Nebraska, I have always subscribed to our state values of remaining in lockstep with principles, morality, ethics, and faith regardless of the path you choose in life. Those three values are what have not just guided my life and my role as a father and husband, but they have guided my time in the United States Senate. In 2000, when he was running for president, George W. Bush advocated for what he dubbed as “Compassionate Conservatism”. Having served under the Bush Administration in different capacities, I witnessed first hand how he led with conviction, grace, and humility. Regardless of what you may believe about his policies, what cannot be negated is the fact that he was a good man who had an immense amount of respect for our democratic institutions and the diversity of our nation.
My inauguration day for the Senate took place on January 3, 2015 - shortly before the 2016 election season took place. During that election cycle, I was sickened by the level of partisan polarization and demagoguery that was espoused by my colleagues, most notably Donald Trump, who eventually became the 45th President of the United States. In one single term, he defied every single norm and violated every single institution that should be highly regarded by an American president. In one single term, he managed to put our democracy on the brink of collapse and was successful in making a deceived base of supporters worship him. He portrays himself as a false idol (which we are warned about in the Bible), and the fact that some of my colleagues in the Senate today still support him is mind boggling. I voted to impeach him the second time around, and an insurrection seemingly wasn’t enough to convince a majority of my colleagues to do the same.
Needless to say, it’s evident that my time in the Senate has been mired in controversy and has been quite stressful and restless. For the first four years, I had to figure out a way to save my party from moving further and further right from within as President Trump continuously defied democratic, constitutional, and institutional norms every single day. And, for the past four years, I have had to advocate on behalf of my state as an election was falsely claimed as fraudulent, an insurrection occurred, government overreach has become commonplace, inflation has ravaged the common American, and unjust wars take place overseas.
While being a public servant has certainly been a difficult occupation to have, I remain steadfast in advocating for the Nebraskan values of principle, ethics, morality, faithfulness, and justice. A lesson I have learned from my constituents in Nebraska is that we should be tough in resolve, yet humble and understanding in concession. I have had the pleasure to work on a litany of legislative pieces throughout the nearly 9 years that I have served in the United States Senate. It has been the honor of a lifetime to be a public servant and advocate on behalf of a state that is often relegated to simply being a flyover state.
Now, I recognize that bipartisanship nowadays is hard. But in the past few weeks, I have voted “yay” on a good amount of bipartisan legislation that will benefit American interests at home and abroad. Moreover, I do not write this to puff up my time in the Senate. To err is human, and I have certainly made my fair share of mistakes, whether it pertains to my voting history, public statements, or my relationship with my Democrat colleagues.
As I leave the Senate soon, though, the only words that cross my mind are humbled and grateful. It truly has been the honor of my lifetime to be called into public service. Now, I have another calling, which is in academia, and I intend to serve the Gainesville community with the same principles and moral compass that I have served Nebraska.
Thank You,
Ben Sasse
United States Senator from Nebraska
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