It’s not news to anyone that national Republicans are trying to recruit U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to run for Kansas’ open Senate seat—except maybe to one prominent national Republican. On Sunday, CBS’ Margaret Brennan asked Donald Trump about reports that Pompeo had spoken to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell about running, and Trump characteristically dismissed it as “fake news.” However, these aren’t just reports, since even Pompeo himself acknowledged last month that McConnell had talked to him about running and asked him to “think about it.”
Indeed, for once, Trump walked back a “fake news” proclamation in the face of overwhelming reality. After Brennan reminded Trump that Pompeo had indeed spoken to McConnell, Trump responded, “Well, he may have spoken to him, but I think he loves being secretary of state.” Trump also insisted that he’d asked Pompeo about a Senate run “the other day,” and that the secretary of state “says he's absolutely not leaving.”
For his part, Pompeo tweeted later that day, “It’s true @realDonaldTrump, I do love being America’s most senior diplomat.” However, while Pompeo went on to say how great his job was, he never ruled out running for the Senate, or even so much as mentioned the race.
If Pompeo had indeed told Trump that he was “absolutely not leaving” the State Department to run to succeed retiring Sen. Pat Roberts and meant it, there’s no reason he couldn’t just end all this speculation right now and say something like, “I’m not running for the Senate.” Until Pompeo makes his plans clear, we’re unlikely to see McConnell and his allies stop trying to recruit him. Kansas’ candidate filing deadline isn’t until June of 2020, so we may have to deal with these games for a long while to come.
However, while Pompeo may be able to scare off some prospective Republican primary foes if he announces, several of them are continuing to lay the groundwork.
Rep. Roger Marshall has expressed interest before, and over the weekend, he said that not only was his wife onboard with him running for Senate, she wouldn't even let him finish talking to her about a campaign before telling him, "You need to do it." Marshall himself added that he’s “in no hurry to make a decision,” but this all sounds like a very strong signal to donors and potential supporters that he very much wants to run.
Another potential GOP candidate, state Senate President Susan Wagle, said a few weeks ago that she planned to form an exploratory committee, but as of Monday, she still doesn’t appear to have done so. Still, Wagle is still very much eyeing a bid, and she said on Friday that she would “take a real serious look at” the contest after the legislative session concludes. The Wichita Eagle says that in Kansas, legislative sessions usually end in May or June.
Wagle also said Friday that she was “worried” that former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat who went on to serve as Barack Obama’s secretary of health and human services, “will be recruited,” and added, “I think I could hold that seat.” However, it seems likely that Wagle is bringing up Sebelius in order to pitch herself as the most electable Republican candidate rather than out of actual fear about the former governor running. Last year, Sebelius said she was “not going to run again for anything myself,” and there’s no indication that she’s eyeing this race.