Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is trying to convince Secretary of Sate Mike Pompeo to run for the open Senate seat in Kansas, The Washington Post reports.
According to the Post, McConnell recently made a personal appeal to Pompeo, who served six years in the House as a representative from Kansas, on a phone call, but members of the GOP have been contacting Pompeo about running since before Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., announced his retirement earlier this month.
“Secretary Pompeo is focused on serving the president and keeping Americans safe as the Secretary of State,” a spokesperson for the secretary, Robert Palladino, told the Post in a statement Thursday.
Pompeo “hasn’t closed the door,” said an unnamed person with knowledge of the phone call. Another person close to Pompeo, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity, said that Pompeo could be looking to “parachute out if things get bad” in President Donald Trump’s administration.
Although a Democrat hasn’t won a Kansas Senate seat in over 80 years, the state did elect a Democratic governor last year, and many of the states female Republican legislators have switched parties due to their consternation with Trump and the rest of the GOP.
Republicans are reportedly also considering former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach, former Gov. Jeff Colyer, American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp, and Rep. Roger Marchall.
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