Former Nebraska U.S. Senator , a conservative who and stood out as a of former President Donald Trump, announced on Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer.
Fifty-three-year-old Sasse shared the news on social media, stating he found out about the illness last week and is “now marching to the beat of a faster drummer.”
“This is a hard message to pen, but since many of you have begun to guess something’s up, I’ll get straight to the point,” Sasse wrote. “Last week, I was diagnosed with metastasized stage-four pancreatic cancer—and I’m going to die.”
Sasse first won his Senate seat in 2014. He easily secured reelection in 2020 after defeating a pro-Trump primary opponent. Sasse angered GOP activists with his of Trump’s character and policies—including challenging his moral principles and claiming he got too close to hostile foreign leaders.
Sasse was among who voted to convict the former president of “ ” following the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. After facing threats of public censure in his home state, he to party loyalists who blindly follow one individual—and they rejected him for refusing to submit.
He from the Senate in 2023 to take on the role of the 13th following a contentious confirmation process. He the next year after his wife was diagnosed with epilepsy.
Sasse—who holds degrees from Harvard, St. John’s College, and Yale—served as an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services during President George W. Bush’s administration. Before running for the Senate, he was president of Midland University, a small Christian institution in eastern Nebraska.
Sasse and his wife are parents to three children.
“I’m not giving up without a fight. One aspect of God’s grace lies in the stunning advances science has made in immunotherapy and other areas over the past few years,” Sasse wrote. “Death and dying aren’t the same thing—the dying process is still something to be lived fully.”