TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Secretary of State Mike Pompeos declaration Tuesday that he wont run for Senate in Kansas returned some Republicans to worrying that they cant block a polarizing conservative from winning the GOP nomination and putting the seat in play.
Pompeos decision to remain as the nations top diplomat, assuming he sticks by it, means the GOP cant dodge the issue that had prompted top Republicans to woo Pompeo for months. They saw Pompeo as the best bet for torpedoing hard-right immigration policy advocate Kris Kobachs bid for the Senate.
The turmoil in the Middle East that preceded Pompeos decision could help Kobach with hawkish GOP primary voters. Kobach, the former Kansas secretary of state, has spent two decades building a national profile partly by framing illegal immigration as a national security issue and touting his work with the U.S. Justice Department right after the 9/11 terror attacks.
Some anti-Kobach Republicans focused quickly on the races best-funded candidate so far, GOP Rep. Roger Marshall of western Kansas. But he still faced skepticism about his conservative bona fides and whether he can stop Kobach, particularly absent a one-on-one match.
Everybody but Kobach probably should get together and say, Now why are we doing this and what are we trying to gain? And pick somebody and go head-to-head, said Tim Shallenburger, a former Kansas Republican Party chairman and state treasurer.
Pompeos decision complicates GOP efforts to defend their 53-47 Senate majority in Novembers elections. The national party and its allies face the prospect of having to put resources into Kansas, even though Republicans havent lost a Senate race there since 1932.
Pompeo has said repeatedly that hed remain secretary of state as long as President Donald Trump will keep him. But his travels to Kansas last year and comments from Trump kept buzz about a potential candidacy alive.
He told reporters Tuesday: I said the same thing yesterday that Ive said for months. No.
Fears that a Kobach nomination could put the seat in play arose even as four-term Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, now 83, announced a year ago that he wouldnt seek re-election. Kobach lost the Kansas governors race in 2018 to Democrat Laura Kelly a contest many in the GOP thought winnable.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee questioned Kobachs ability to win a general election when he announced his candidacy last summer.
And Scott Reed, the U.S. Chamber of Commerces chief political strategist, who ran Bob Doles 1996 presidential campaign, said, We continue to think Kobach is a loser.
Some Republicans want to winnow the field by urging candidates at the back of the field to drop out. Kelly Arnold, another former state GOP chairman, said if candidates cant conduct effective fundraising, its time for them to get out.
Kobach said Tuesday that his independence bothers the Republican establishment including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and led it to woo Pompeo. His supporters argue that with Trump on the ballot in November, fears of losing the Kansas seat are misplaced.
Were seeing a race where conservatives are lining up behind me, Kobach said.
Kobach also believes his background is an asset with tensions high in the Middle East. At the Justice Department, he helped develop a system that forced more than 80,000 foreign residents to register with the U.S. government so that it could know why they were there for security reasons. Widely derided by civil rights groups, it was abandoned in 2011 by President Barack Obamas administration.
Marshall spokesman Eric Pahls said the congressmans seven years in the Army Reserve are more crucial.
