Why does this senator love to tweet pictures of public restrooms?

If you don't follow Republican Sen. Ben Sasse on Twitter, you probably should. The Nebraska senator frequently eschews the Senate tradition of using Twitter as a dumping ground for press releases and public statements, instead choosing to tweet a mix random thoughts and oddly endearing dad jokes.

In just the past 24 hours the Trump-skeptic Republican has used his Twitter account to argue that Saturday Night Live's Kate McKinnon should be the next face on Mt. Rushmore, take an easy shot at the band Nickelback and repost a self-deprecating gif of himself. 

But there's one part of Sasse's heterodox Twitter presence that deserves serious scrutiny — his inexplicable fixation with public restrooms.

Typically, when one hears the words Republican senator and public restroom in the same sentence they can expect either a story about anti-transgender laws or airport sex scandals. But Sasse's obsession with public bathrooms appears to be neither political nor scandal-driven.

For instance, take this April 2 tweet from Sasse presented without context showing an airport restroom sign.

A quick stroll through Sasse's timeline suggests that the post might have been part of a short series of tweet photos documenting his journey back to Washington to vote on the confirmation of then-Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. Why include the restroom sign? Only the seven followers who retweeted the photo can tell, but it certainly wasn't the first time we were treated to such antics.

Here's a 2016 shot of an unkept Amtrack bathroom during that year's winter storm.

Here's a 2017 shot of a urinal with a pair of underwear draped over the handle, presumably captured in Nebraska's capital.

Here's a shot of colleague Sen. Al Franken exploring the bathroom on a bus transporting the senators to the White House for a briefing on North Korea.

And it appears the senator's bathroom curiosity may run in the family.

In response to an inquiry about Sasse's bathroom tweets, the Senator's office provided the following extremely specific response.

"Having changed approximately 88.6%, 51.2% and, and 63.7% of his three children's diapers respectively, Sasse has an acute appreciation for the blessing of modern plumbing."