Republican Senator Crosses the Aisle to Support His Wife’s Run for Public Office

Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts is crossing the aisle to endorse his wife, Susanne Shore, in her election bid to become a member of the University of Nebraska’s Board of Regents, he told the Nebraska Examiner on Thursday.

Ricketts and Shore have been married for 28 years. She said the couple frequently disagrees about politics. But despite the current political divide in the country, Shore said they support each other and the opposing party while campaigning and governing.

“He’s told me what it’s like to run for office, and I’ve seen it firsthand,” Shore told the Examiner.

The pair have been a part of public life in Nebraska for more than a decade. Ricketts served two terms as the Republican governor of Nebraska.

Shore pointed to her record of championing child welfare as first lady as indicative of how she would serve the public on the university board, adding that her time as dean of students in residential life at the University of South Dakota would inform her decision-making in the role.

“It’s being able to get out without being burdened by a massive debt … work-study programs and internships,” Shore told the Examiner of her motivations to serve and help students of all backgrounds attend college.

Shore is a longtime Democrat who endorsed Hillary Clinton for the presidency in 2016. In 2022, she endorsed Patty Pansing Brooks for Congress, while her husband endorsed then-candidate Mike Flood — who won the election for Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District.

“Patty is exactly the type of leader I would be proud to call my congresswoman,” Shore said in a 2022 campaign video.

Ricketts has been a vocal ally of President Donald Trump in his second term, serving as vice chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and vocally supporting most of the president’s proposals, including many controversial cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“We’ve got to start implementing things like what the DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, is doing to start finding ways to be able to make ourselves more efficient in the federal government, to be able to start controlling our spending and to be able to make sure we’re providing services the American people expect,” Ricketts said last year.

Ricketts has also criticized the White House, including earlier this month after Trump posted a video on his Truth Social account that depicted former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, as apes.

“The White House should do what anyone does when they make a mistake: remove this and apologize,” Ricketts said in a X post.

Ricketts is the son of billionaire Joe Ricketts, who founded the trading company that became TD Ameritrade.