Pompeo Not Running for Kansas Senate Seat, National Security Advisor Says

White House national security advisor Robert O’Brien said Sunday on ABC’s This Week that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will not be running for Senate next year in his home state of Kansas.

Pompeo, a congressman prior to joining the Trump administration first as CIA director, is being pushed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to make the jump, according to the Washington Post, with the rationale being that Kris Kobach, Kansas’s former secretary of state, would win the Republican primary but could lose in the general election to a Democrat.

NEW: White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien to @jonkarl: “Mike Pompeo is a fantastic secretary of state … I spoke with him about this two nights ago. He said he’s not running for Senate. He said he’s staying as secretary of state.” https://t.co/SIMF3WFW2D pic.twitter.com/mUx4XdTBa7

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 29, 2019

“I spoke with him about this two nights ago,” O’Brien said. “He said he’s not running for Senate. He said he’s staying as secretary of state.”

Pompeo has also reportedly been considering a presidential run in 2024, and McConnell has suggested that the Senate would be a stepping stone. Pompeo is spending the holidays thinking things over, but a decision would likely not come until the impeachment trial of President Trump concludes, according to the Washington Examiner.

Pompeo has recently expanded his social media presence, having begun posting from new personal accounts on Twitter and Instagram.

O’Brien himself is reportedly seen by both Trump and Pompeo as a suitable replacement should the current secretary of state leave his post. Sen. Pat Roberts, 83, announced in January that he would not seek reelection, having served since 1997.