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Sasse, 50, represents Nebraska and was one of seven Republican
senators who voted to hold Trump accountable on charges related
to inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
His expected resignation will not alter the balance of power in
the Senate, which Democrats control by a razor-thin margin, as
Nebraska's Republican governor, Pete Ricketts, would appoint a
successor.
Sasse, whose term does not expire until January 2027, said on
Twitter that he was in talks with the University of Florida. The
university, on its website, said its presidential search
committee "unanimously recommends" Sasse as its next president.
Trump, who has hinted that he will run for president in 2024 and
maintains sway over the Republican Party, has used the November
mid-terms to target those who backed his impeachment, achieving
high-profile success with the ouster of congresswoman Liz
Cheney.
Of the 10 Republicans in the House of Representatives who
supported impeachment, it is possible that only one will be in
Congress after November's election. Only one of seven Republican
senators who supported impeachment is up for re-election this
year.
In his Twitter post, Sasse said he was talking with the
University of Florida, a public school, about building "a
vision" for the institution, which he called the "most
interesting university in America."
Sasse, a former president of Nebraska's Midland University,
first took office in early 2015 and handily won re-election in
2020.
Sasse publicly denounced Trump's false claims of widespread
electoral fraud in the 2020 elections and said there was no
basis to object to Democrat Joe Biden's election victory.
The University of Florida "is the most important institution in
the nation's most economically dynamic state," Sasse said on
Twitter. "Washington partisanship isn't going to solve these
workforce challenges - new institutions and entrepreneurial
communities are going to have to spearhead this work."
The university's board of trustees and board of governors must
vote to formalize the appointment of a new president, which is
expected to happen over the next few weeks into November.
According to the university's website, it had a student body of
roughly 53,000 students as of fall 2020
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; additional reporting
by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles; editing by Richard Pullin and
Leslie Adler)
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