Trump Says Pompeo Would Win Kansas Senate Race ‘In a Landslide’

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said Secretary of State Michael Pompeo would “win in a landslide” if he runs for the U.S. Senate in Kansas, and predicted the top diplomat would join the race if there’s any risk Republicans could lose the seat in 2020.

“He loves what he’s doing,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Friday. “But if I thought they had somebody out there, and he came to me and said, look, I’d rather stay where I am, but he loves Kansas, he loves the people of Kansas, if he thought there was a chance of losing that seat, I think he would do that.”

“And he would win in a landslide because they love him in Kansas,” Trump said.

While Pompeo, 55, has been evasive about his plans, there’s been widespread speculation he’ll join the race if Republicans conclude that Democrats have a shot at taking the seat being vacated by Senator Pat Roberts, 83, who’s retiring. Trump’s comments appeared to confirm that the president has given tacit blessing to such a plan, even if it means losing one of his most loyal aides.

Frequent Visits

Pompeo, who represented Kansas in the House of Representatives before joining the Trump administration in 2017, told NBC in February that a Senate run had been “ruled out.” He later softened that stance, telling a Kansas radio station “I always leave open the possibility that something will change,” and he’s made frequent trips to the state this year.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican leaders have urged Pompeo to run. Among their fears is that immigration hard-liner Kris Kobach, a former Kansas secretary of state who lost the 2018 governor’s race, will jeopardize the GOP’s grip on the seat. Last summer, Republican donors were told to hold off contributing to the race until Pompeo makes a decision.

Pompeo’s spokeswoman declined to comment on Trump’s remarks. On Wednesday, the spokeswoman branded as “completely false” a Time Magazine story that said Pompeo has told at least three Republicans that he plans to run.

Among the Democrats who’ve so far declared their interest in running for the seat are state Senator Barbara Bollier and Usha Reddi, mayor pro tem of the Kansas city of Manhattan.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nick Wadhams in Washington at nwadhams@bloomberg.net;Josh Wingrove in Washington at jwingrove4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny

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