Aug 4, 2019 - Politics & Policy

Pompeo to give speech at Kansas State amid speculation of Senate run

Mike Pompeo

Mike Pompeo. Photo: Jonathan Ernst/AFP/Getty Images

Add this nugget to your Mike Pompeo tea-leaf reader: The secretary of state, who Mitch McConnell hopes will resign to run for the open Kansas Senate seat in 2020, plans to return to Kansas in early September to give a speech at Kansas State University, according to two sources familiar with the secretary's schedule.

Between the lines: Pompeo's recent activity suggests a 2020 Senate run is far from "ruled out," as the secretary declared it was in February. (In July, Pompeo updated his position, telling a Kansas City radio station that he will "always leave open the possibility that something will change.")

Go deeper: The Wall Street Journal's Lindsay Wise has a well-reported piece on the fevered speculation about Pompeo's political future.

Go deeper