Former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, who represented Nebraska from 2015 to 2023, has announced he has pancreatic cancer, calling the diagnosis a “death sentence” in a deeply personal social media post.
Sasse, 53, shared the news Tuesday on X, writing candidly about being diagnosed last week with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer.
“Friends — This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I’ll cut to the chase: Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die,” Sasse wrote.
He and his wife have three children.
“Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it’s a death sentence,” he added. “But I already had a death sentence before last week too — we all do.”
Sasse, who was one of seven Republicans to vote to impeach President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, reflected on the timing of his announcement during the Advent season.
Raised Lutheran and now Presbyterian, Sasse wrote that the weeks leading up to Christmas are “a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what’s to come.”
“I’ll have more to say,” he added. “I’m not going down without a fight.”
During his Senate career, Sasse — a graduate of Harvard and Yale — was frequently critical of Trump’s conduct, even as he supported the president on several major policy issues. His tenure is most often remembered for his 2021 vote to convict Trump of incitement of insurrection during the former president’s second impeachment trial.
Although Trump was no longer in office at the time, a conviction would have barred him from seeking the presidency again.
“A weak and timid Congress will increasingly submit to an emboldened and empowered presidency,” Sasse said at the time. “That’s unacceptable. This institution needs to respect itself enough to tell the executive that some lines cannot be crossed.”
After leaving the Senate, Sasse became president of the University of Florida. He stepped down from that role in July 2024, citing his wife’s health after she suffered a stroke.
Following his departure, a review by the Florida Auditor General found that Sasse had inappropriately spent university funds. Sasse has disputed those findings, saying his spending was not improper.
