The pipeline from sitting governor to senator has been well-trodden, but Sens. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) and Angus King (I-Maine) understand why the script’s been flipped this year.
Four of their colleagues — Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) — are seeking the governorships at home this cycle, moves that Ricketts chalks up to opportunity rather than disillusion with the Senate.
“The governorship job does not come open every day, so if you have the opportunity, you kind of have to take advantage of it,” Ricketts said Tuesday at the second annual Punchbowl News Conference.
Both senators said being governor, a position they both held for two terms, is more fun than being in the Senate. But King was quick to note that in Congress, “when you do have a breakthrough, legislatively, you’re making a difference for the whole country.”
Institutional concern. King said he almost didn’t run in 2024 but reversed course over concern that the ranks of the Senate’s dealmakers had been nearly depleted.
“It was literally the middle was shrinking,” King said of his decision. “I just felt like I’ve got to stay and try to keep some momentum toward trying to work together.”
King name-checked former Sens. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) as particularly tough losses for the dealmaking ranks.
Ricketts singled out Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), who’s been front-and-center in the ongoing Homeland Security funding talks, as a valuable new addition to those willing to find compromise.
The two-term former Nebraska governor said countering the rise of China and other foreign policy issues were key upsides to the Senate gig, framing it in existential terms.
“If [Chinese President Xi Jinping] would try to take Taiwan by force, that’s a huge problem — that’s potentially World War III,” Ricketts said.
On Iran. The senators disagreed on President Donald Trump’s ongoing military campaign in Iran. Ricketts, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wouldn’t call for public hearings on the war and asserted that Trump was within his executive powers to strike Iran.
King said while he agreed with Ricketts that “the president has both the obligation and the power to defend the country in the case of an imminent attack,” that was not the case this time.
“There was no imminent attack,” King said. “There was no emergency. There was no time pressure.”
Other conversations.Separately, Bob Sternfels, global managing partner of McKinsey & Company, discussed how successful companies are thinking about incorporating artificial intelligence into their operations in a “balanced way — not just thinking about productivity.”
“We need to take steps to safeguard the use of AI,” he said. ”There has to be the right framework, but we can’t let the right framework slow the rate of innovation down.”
If you missed The Conference, you can read key takeaways from our conversation with Mark Cuban, co-founder of Cost Plus Drugs, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and the sessions with Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).
