Washington — Former Republican Sen. Ben Sasse announced Tuesday that he has terminal stage-four pancreatic cancer.
Sasse, 53, announced his diagnosis on X, saying it’s a “death sentence.”
“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,” he wrote.
Sasse represented Nebraska in the U.S. Senate from 2015 to 2023, resigning to become president of the University of Florida. He stepped down from that role in July 2024, citing his wife’s health issues. He and his wife, Melissa, have three children.
“This is hard for someone wired to work and build, but harder still as a husband and a dad,” Sasse wrote in his post.
“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,” Sasse added. “As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what’s to come.”
Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images 
In the Senate, the conservative Sasse was at times critical of Mr. Trump, despite aligning with the Trump administration on many policies. Sasse voted “guilty” in Mr. Trump’s impeachment trial after the. Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, joining six of his Republican colleagues, though the vote fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict.
The Nebraska-born son of a high school teacher and football coach, Sasse earned his bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard before studying at Oxford University and St. John’s College. He received his PhD in history from Yale University.
Sasse’s former colleagues in Congress expressed their dismay at the news.
“Thanks for reminding us, Ben, it is how we live not how long we live that counts,” wrote Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.
