Former Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) publicly shared Tuesday that he was diagnosed last week with "stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die."
Why it matters: Sasse, 53, has been one of the few Republicans willing to buck MAGA forces in his party. He shared the devastating news in a lengthy post on X, pointing to the hope he finds in his Christian faith.
- Sasse was first elected to the Senate in 2014 and again in 2020, but left Congress in 2023. He then became president of the University of Florida until his resignation the following year.
- Sasse has been an outspoken Republican critic of President Trump, and voted to convict him of impeachment while in the Senate.
What he's saying: "Death is a wicked thief, and the bastard pursues us all," Sasse wrote.
- "There's not a good time to tell your peeps you're now marching to the beat of a faster drummer — but the season of advent isn't the worst," he continued. "As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what's to come."
- "Death and dying aren't the same — the process of dying is still something to be lived," he wrote. "We're zealously embracing a lot of gallows humor in our house, and I've pledged to do my part to run through the irreverent tape."
