Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday ruled out a US Senate bid in 2020, saying he’ll “be the secretary of state as long as President Trump gives (him) the chance to serve as a senior diplomat.”
“I love doing what I’m doing. I have great warriors around the world, trying to deliver for the American people,” Pompeo said on NBC’s “Today.”
“It’s ruled out. I’m here. I’m loving it,” he said.
There has been much speculation that the former Kansas lawmaker would return to the Sunflower State and run for retiring Republican Sen. Pat Roberts’ seat. One GOP source told CNN in January that Pompeo was being eyed as a possible recruit and described the secretary of state as “in a league of his own.” He met with leading GOP consultant Ward Baker last month, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to CNN.
Pompeo said in January that he spoke once with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell about the possibility, saying the Kentucky Republican “asked me if I’d think about it, and I told him I appreciated the phone call.”
“Lots of folks have reached out to me and suggested I ought to do that. 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,” he said in an interview with Fox News.
In an interview in early February, President Donald Trump suggested that reports around Pompeo’s possible Senate run were “fake news.”
“I think he loves being secretary of state. He’s doing a fantastic job. And I asked him the question the other day, he says he’s absolutely not leaving,” Trump told CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “I don’t think he’d do that. And he doesn’t want to be lame duck. And he’s doing a fantastic job as our secretary of state.”
