This article will answer every question you have about Pete Ricketts. Below are some of the frequently asked questions about him.
- What does Pete Ricketts do for a living?
- Who are Pete Ricketts’s parents and siblings?
- What are Pete Ricketts’s interests and hobbies?
- Is Pete Ricketts married or does he have a girlfriend?
- Does Pete Ricketts have any children?
- Where is Pete Ricketts now?
- How tall is Pete Ricketts?
- How much money does Pete Ricketts earn?
- What is Pete Ricketts’s net worth?
N/B: Please read the entire post to have all your questions answered.
Who is Pete Ricketts?
Pete Ricketts (John Peter Ricketts) is an American businessman and politician currently serving as the 40th governor of Nebraska since 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party, in addition, he is also a part-owner of Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs.
Pete runs for the US Senate in 2006, where he ran against sitting Senator Ben Nelson. However, he lost the election with 36%, and Ben getting 64%. After that, he ran for the governorship in 2014, moreover, he won the Republican primary. He went ahead and defeated the Democratic Party nominee Chuch Hassebrook with 57.1% to 39.2 %. He was again reelected in 2018.
Career
Soon after graduating from school, he was hired by the Union Pacific Railroad where he was worked for a period of one year. After that, he was hired by Chicago environmental consultant as a salesman.
In 1993, he began working for his father’s firm, starting in the call center for a few months. After that he was promoted to a series of senior roles, eventually becoming the firm’s chief operating officer during his father’s stint as CEO. In a 2006 article, he indicated that his net worth ranged from $45 million to $50 million.
Pete left resigned from the Ameritrade in order to run for the U.S Senator in 2006. However, he never won the election, losing it to sitting Senator at that time Ben Nelson. After the loss, he went back to the company’s board, where he stayed until his family relinquished its board seats in 2016.
Furthermore, Pete co-founded and became director and president of the Platte Institute for Economic Research in 2007. He described the organization as a “free-market think tank”. On the other hand, the Nebraska media described it as “conservative.” However, he stepped down from the organization, in 2013 to focus on his gubernatorial candidacy in 2014.
In 2007, he became a national committeeman for the Republican National Committee until 2012. In addition, still in 2007, he became a trustee of the American Enterprise Institute.
How Old Is Pete Ricketts?
He was born on August 19th, 1964, and currently, he is aged 56 years old.
Pete Ricketts Family
Who are Ricketts Parents?
Ricketts was born in Nebraska City to his parents Joe Ricketts and Marlene Ricketts. In addition, his father was the founder of the First Omaha Securities in 1975, which was one of the first discount stockbrokers in the US. Pete’s mother worked as a teacher.
Does he Have Siblings?
He has three siblings, Tom, Laura, and Todd, all of them attended the same school.
Pete Ricketts Education
He attended Westside High School in Omaha, where he graduated in 1982. After that, he enrolled at the University of Chicago where he graduated with a BA in biology in 1986. He went ahead and acquired his MBA in marketing and finance in 1991.
Pete Ricketts Wife
He is happily married to Susanne Shore, a Garden City native. Her wife holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree both from the Oklahoma State University. In addition, Sussanne has also worked for the dean of students at the University of South Dakota. She has also studied a course in nursing and worked as a nurse at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
Pete Ricketts Kids
Together with his wife, they have been blessed with three children.
Chicago Cubs
The Ricketts family trust purchased the Chicago Cubs baseball club from Tribune Media in 2009. Together with his siblings, they had four of the five seats on the team’s board of directors; as of 2018, they still did.
Ricketts has a World Series title to his name as a result of this, as the Cubs won the championship that year (fulfilling a pledge he made in 2009 during the press conference announcing the family’s purchase of the team when he and his brother Tom guaranteed a World Series win for the Cubs under their ownership).In addition, Pete is a Roman Catholic and also a member of the Knights of Columbus, and a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre.
During the 2006 election, Pete was the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Democrat Ben Nelson. Moreover, in the primary, he faced former Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg and former state Republican chairman David Kramer. Despite the competition being tough he managed to win the nomination after spending roughly $5 million of his own money, outspending his opponents 10–1.
In addition, Pete was endorsed by high-profile political leaders, including President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. On November 5, 2006, just days before the election, Bush spoke at a Ricketts campaign event in Grand Island, Nebraska.
Pete ran on a conservative platform focusing more on fiscal responsibility, immigration reforms, and agriculture. Furthermore, he endorsed a socially conservative platform rejecting same-sex marriage and abortion. In addition, Pete contributed about $11,302,078 of his own money to his campaign. His contribution led to the Millionaire’s Amendment which allowed his opponent to raise a larger amount from each and every donor. Pete was the first Senator to spend so much money on his campaign more than any Senator in the history of Nebraska. However, despite him spending that much he still lost the election to Democrat, Nelson with 36% to 64%
Governor
2014 election
In 2014, he decided to run for the gubernatorial seat in Nebraska. This was after incumbent governor, Dave Heineman finished his last term and could seek reelection due to term limits law. By early 2013, two candidates who were considered major contenders for the Republican nomination had withdrawn. Lieutenant governor Rick Sheehy, who was involved in a controversy, and Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood, whose wife had been diagnosed with cancer.
Finally, Pate joined the campaign officially in September 2013. Moreover, Pete and state auditor Mike Foley were considered early front-runners in a field that featured state senators Charlie Janssen, Beau McCoy, and Tom Carlson. However, Janssen resigned in February 2014, and state Attorney General Jon Bruning launched his candidacy. Even if Bruning entered late for the competition he managed to replace Pete as the front-runner.
Ricketts received 26.6% of the vote in the May 2014 primary. Bruning earned 25.5 percent; McCoy earned 20.9%; Foley earned 19.2%; Carlson earned 4.1%, and Omaha attorney Bryan Slone earned 3.7%. Pete challenged Chuck Hassebrook in the general election, who had run uncontested for the Democratic primary.
During the general election, Pete won the election by receiving 57.1% of the vote to Hassebrook’a who received 39.2% of the vote cast. Marj G. Elworth Jr., a Libertarian was the third receiving 3.5% and write-in votes accounted for 0.1%.
2018 Election
Pete declared his bid to run for the governorship, on June 5, 2017. Moreover, during his address, he stated that if re-elected, his top goal would be “reducing property taxes.” He also went on and requested that Lieutenant Governor Mike Foley be “rehired.” As a result, of his work in the first term, he was re-elected with 59.0% of the vote on November 6.
In addition, he took the oath of office for his first term as the 40th governor of Nebraska at the Nebraska State Capitol on January 8, 2015.
Pete Ricketts Height
He has a height of 5ft 7inches tall and weighs and weighs 70 kgs.
Pete Ricketts Net Worth
His net worth is estimated to be around $70 million
Twitter Account
https://twitter.com/GovRicketts