TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) At least eight Kansas Republicans have expressed interest in running for the Senate seat Pat Roberts will be leaving after four terms, but a big cloud hovers over the potential 2020 field as some in the party nudge U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to enter the race.
Pompeo deflected such talk on Wednesday during a television interview on Fox News, declaring that his singular focus now is his work as the nations top diplomat. But he also stopped short of ruling out the idea.
The interest in Pompeo reflects a desire by some GOP leaders to unify in the Republican-leaning state ahead of what could be a difficult election year nationally for the party.
Democrat Laura Kellys victory in the governors race last year also factors into Republicans thinking. It followed a fractious GOP primary won by former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, an often-polarizing ally of President Donald Trump who advocates tough immigration and voter ID laws. Kobach is among those considering a Senate run.
Pompeo has a luxury most other potential candidates dont: far more time to decide. The Kansas filing deadline isnt until June 2020, but other prospective candidates must start building an organization and raising money before this fall to launch a credible campaign.
Secretary Pompeo doesnt need to decide whether he is going to get into this race until the day of (the) filing deadline, Kelly Arnold, the Kansas Republican Partys chairman, said before the secretary of states latest comments. He would be not only our nominee but he would win the election.
Many Republicans agree with Arnold that Pompeo would be a lock to win Roberts seat after the 82-year-old senator announced earlier this month that he wouldnt seek re-election. That prompted an effort by other GOP senators to recruit him. Pompeo said during the Fox News interview that the push included a call from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Pompeo, a former Army officer, represented a Wichita-area district in the House before Trump named him CIA director in 2017. He became a trusted adviser and took over as secretary of state in April 2018 after Trump fired predecessor Rex Tillerson.
Running for the Senate would be an unusual move after holding the most prestigious post in the Cabinet for eight months.
Lots of folks have reached out to me, Pompeo said. I have suggested to them that I have a very full plate as secretary of state, and I intend to keep doing this so long as President Trump will commit to it.
But open Senate seats in Kansas dont come along often. Pompeo even considered challenging Kansas other senator, Jerry Moran, in 2016.
Republicans were not reading Pompeos recent comments as a declaration that hes out.
It seems the door was not shut. Its really not much more complicated than that, said Alan Cobb, president and CEO of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, a former Trump campaign official whos considering the Senate race himself. I hope Mike Pompeo runs. He would be clearly the strongest and best candidate.
Pompeos support cuts across the GOPs moderate and conservative wings, and his candidacy would excite donors. As of late November, Pompeo still had nearly $1 million in his congressional campaign account a good start for a Senate race.
Kansas would seem unlikely to have a Senate seat in play. Republicans have won every one of its Senate races since 1932, and Trump won the state by nearly 21 percentage points in 2016.
But Roberts had both a contentious primary and a tough general election race in 2014, and some Republicans see a warning in Kellys victory in the governors race. Kobach had narrowly defeated then-Gov. Jeff Colyer in a crowded seven-person GOP primary. The two of them fell just short of 41 percent of the vote and all the others won single-digit percentages.
