WASHINGTON — Sen. Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, plans to leave the Senate by the end of the year to become president of the University of Florida, after a presidential search committee for the flagship university in the State announced Thursday that it was the sole finalist for the position.
Mr. Sasse, who voted with six other Republican senators to convict President Donald J. Trump for impeachment following the Jan. 6, 2021, uprising on Capitol Hill, and harshly criticized his own party for backing Mr. Trump, has been reconsidered. elected for his second term in 2020 and was not expected to be on the polls again until 2026.
But his college background was obviously a draw for the group seeking to replace Kent Fuchs, the current president of the University of Florida who is returning to teaching as the campus has been rocked by disputes over academic freedom.
“It’s good for the University of Florida, good for the State of Florida, and good for the Sasse family,” said Rahul Patel, chairman of the presidential search committee. “Ben brings intellectual curiosity, a belief in the power and potential of America’s universities, and an unparalleled record of leadership spanning higher education, government, and the private sector.”
Mr. Sasse’s recommendation was the start of a protracted formal process that may not be concluded until November or December, but the senator has made it clear that he would take the job if offered.
In a statement provided by the university and posted on Twitter, he said he had already been sued by other institutions, but asked not to be named a finalist.
“This time is different because the University of Florida is very different,” he said in the statement. “I think Florida is the hottest college in America right now.”
If Mr. Sasse leaves as planned, it would mark the last exit from Congress for a member of the small, dwindling group of Republicans who have publicly broken with Mr. Trump. Many of them have since announced their resignations or been defeated in party primaries in which they were targeted as disloyal.
In Mr. Sasse’s case, the departure is extremely unlikely to affect the balance of power in Congress given Nebraska’s reliable Republican tilt. His seat would be filled by nomination by Gov. Pete Ricketts, a Republican, before a special election at a later date in which a GOP candidate would be almost certain to win.
Sasse, who easily won the open seat election in 2014, has a doctorate from Yale University and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College. He was previously president of Midland University, a small private Lutheran school in Nebraska.
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In the Senate, Mr. Sasse made it clear that he did not see government as the solution to all problems and that he was not engaged in politics. More than some of his colleagues, he expressed frustration with the partisan warfare that had come to dominate and cripple the Senate; During confirmation hearings last spring for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, he lamented “the jackassery we see here” of “people being assaulted” for the cameras.
These opinions seemed to have been at least one of the reasons for his interest in moving on. In his statement on Thursday, Mr Sasse said the disruption to the workforce was the biggest problem facing the nation today and suggested that political leaders were unable to solve it .
“Washington partisanship is not going to solve these labor issues — new institutions and entrepreneurial communities are going to have to lead this work,” he said.
Mr. Sasse’s strong criticism of Mr. Trump, whom he lambasted in a lengthy rant to his constituents just weeks before the 2020 election, and his vote to convict Mr. Trump of inciting uprising earned him the wrath of the right. But despite being involved in bipartisan efforts in the Senate, the senator maintained a solidly conservative voting record.
Mr. Sasse is due to visit the Gainesville campus on Monday and answer questions from students and faculty. The university’s board of trustees will review the comments and interview Mr. Sasse on November 1 before making a final recommendation on filling the post. Unless unforeseen, Mr. Sasse should resign from his seat in the Senate before the end of the year.
The public university has been troubled by a dispute over whether faculty members can serve as expert witnesses in cases against the state over voting rights issues and other matters, raising questions of academic interference at the highest levels of state government. Mr. Sasse’s views on the matter will be closely monitored as he navigates the rest of the interview process.
Members of the search committee said more than 700 people were initially considered potential candidates for the top academic position, but the list was eventually narrowed to around a dozen before Mr Sasse was recommended to the unanimity.