Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., Resigns from Senate to Become President of University of Florida

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump, has resigned from the Senate after serving since 2015.

Sasse submitted his resignation last month, saying he would leave office on January 8th, two years into his second term. In his farewell speech, Sasse criticized the Senate, saying “This institution doesn’t work very well right now.” He was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict the former president of incitement of insurrection in his second impeachment trial.

The University of Florida Board of Trustees voted unanimously in November to appoint Sasse as president. In his new role, Sasse will be stepping back into academia after leading Midland University, a small private college in his home state.

In a statement, Sasse said, “Each of us knows we should be taking a look in the mirror and acknowledging that lives lived in a politicized echo chamber are unworthy of a place that calls itself a deliberative body, let alone the world’s greatest deliberative body.”

Sasse’s resignation marks the end of his time in the Senate and the beginning of his tenure as president of the University of Florida. He is the first sitting senator to become a university president in over a century.