Sen. Pete Ricketts told reporters Wednesday that political leaders in both parties need to “bring the temperature down” and find common ground in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
“Republicans and Democrats can work together, we can be friends, we can get legislation done, we can find common ground,” Ricketts said on his weekly media conference call. “And to that point, we do need to bring the temperature down. We do need to recognize that civil discourse is important in our republic, that violence against political figures is an attack on our republic that’s anti-American.”
Ricketts, a Republican and former two-term governor, was appointed to the Senate by Gov. Jim Pillen in early 2023 after Sen. Ben Sasse’s resignation. After being elected last fall to serve out the final two years of Sasse’s term, Ricketts will be on the ballot next fall seeking a full six-year term.
Asked whether he had friendships with any Democratic officials, he cited his relationship with Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, who he’s worked with on foreign-policy issues and traveled with internationally.
Ricketts said he and his wife, Susanne Shore, hosted a “bipartisan” and “bicameral” event this week at the Smithsonian U.S. History Museum along with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. He noted Coons was one of the people who showed up at the event.
“There are lots of opportunities for us to be able to make friendships here,” Ricketts said.
“If you are unhappy with someone’s speech, the answer is more speech,” he added. “To be able to talk to people. We settle our differences here in this country with ballots, but bullets. So we do need to continue to work as a nation to be able to engage the other side and to be able to work together for the benefit of the entire country.”
Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox!
Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.
* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Ben Doody
Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
Your notification has been saved.
There was a problem saving your notification.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Followed notifications
Please log in to use this feature
Log In
Don’t have an account? Sign Up Today