Dem
51
GOP
49
This was expected by anyone who follows politics, and now it has officially come to pass: Yesterday, Gov. Jim Pillen (R-NE) tapped former governor Pete Ricketts (R) to assume the U.S. Senate seat that was just vacated by Ben Sasse (R).
Announcing the pick, Pillen said he evaluated Ricketts' chances of winning reelection and his commitment to staying in the Senate long term so that he can develop some seniority and bring home the bacon (or, really, the corn subsidies). That sounds good, but what Pillen really evaluated was Ricketts' help in helping secure the GOP nomination for governor in 2022, and the six-figure check Ricketts then wrote to Pillen's super PAC. The Governor knows that, in politics, when someone scratches your back, you damn well better scratch theirs.
That said, Ricketts does indeed have an excellent chance of being reelected in 2024 (when a special election will have to be held, per Nebraska law) and in 2026 (when Sasse's term expires). Appointed senators are a hit-and-miss proposition, but as a former governor (he left office a week ago), Ricketts has universal name recognition, and can obviously win statewide in Nebraska. He also has more money than Croesus, as the son of the man who founded TD Ameritrade. The only risk to the new senator, in a state as red as Nebraska, is a primary challenge from the right. So, he's likely to err a little (or a lot) on the side of extremism, and is not terribly likely to be a vote to, say, overcome a filibuster. (Z)