Conservative Rep. Mike Pompeo, sponsor of the House-passed bill to pre-empt state GMO label laws, is declining to say if he will run for the Senate in Kansas against fellow Republican and incumbent Jerry Moran. Politico quoted Pompeo as telling talk show host Hugh Hewitt, “I’m going to always try to find the right place to serve Kansas and America. We’re trying to figure out exactly where that is. And in the next days or maybe a week or so, we’ll figure that out.”
Moran is chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the USDA and FDA budgets. He was criticized for seeming to favor action on President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, a position he has since reversed.
Pompeo would be a competitive candidate but start as an underdog in the Aug. 2 GOP primary, said a Kansas City Star blog. It is more likely, said the blog, that Pompeo “is laying down a marker that states in big, bold capital letters that he has statewide ambition and he’s unafraid to take on anybody.” The likeliest races for GOP up-and-comers are for governor in 2018 or Senate in 2020, said the Star.