President Trump initially tried to call Kansas Republican Kris Kobach while he was meeting in the Oval Office with Kobach’s rival for the GOP Senate nomination, Roger Marshall, the Kansas City Star reports.

“Two sources familiar with Marshall’s Monday meeting with president say that Trump tried to call Kobach to urge him to drop out of the race while the congressman and the president’s political team were present, but the call went to voicemail.”

Washington Post: “Since Pompeo bowed out of the race, the leading Democratic contender, state Sen. Barbara Bollier, has announced that she raised more than $1 million in her first quarter in the contest, unprecedented for a Democratic Senate hopeful in Kansas.”

“Although Kansans have a history of electing moderate and Democratic governors … the Senate seat will be far more difficult, analysts say… Bollier left the Republican Party just over a year ago, shortly before she announced her Senate bid as a Democrat.”

“Kansas Republican icon Bob Dole has endorsed Rep. Roger Marshall’s campaign for U.S. Senate, a major boost to the congressman who holds the same House seat Dole had at the start of his political career,” the Kansas City Star reports.

“His endorsement is also a sign that establishment Republicans may be coalescing around Marshall after Mike Pompeo decided to forgo the race.”

“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appears to be moving swiftly to help bolster GOP chances of keeping an open Senate seat in Kansas in November, after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this week that he won’t be running,” Bloomberg reports.

“McConnell spoke in his Capitol Hill office Tuesday with Rep. Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican who entered the Senate race in September.”

“The Kansas seat could be at risk if former Kansas Secretary of State and 2018 GOP gubernatorial nominee Kris Kobach prevails in the Republican Senate primary in August, and McConnell’s camp isn’t hiding that the majority leader wants another candidate.”

Inside Elections moves the race from Solid Republican to Lean Republican.

“When Mitch McConnell pitches Mike Pompeo on running for the Senate in 2020, a periodic occurrence, the majority leader does not fail to mention that the chamber is a great steppingstone should the secretary of state harbor higher aspirations,” the Washington Examiner reports.

“Fearing former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach could win the Republican nomination to succeed retiring Sen. Pat Roberts and put an otherwise red seat in jeopardy, McConnell and other party insiders are desperate for Pompeo to run.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is further fueling speculation about whether he will run for Senate in Kansas by using a new personal Twitter account.

So far, he’s tweeted mostly about sports.

“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attended an off-the-books sit-down meeting with a conservative group that included a small number of wealthy Republican donors, which was not on his official schedule while he was in London to attend this week’s NATO Summit,” CNN reports.

“The gathering, hosted by the Hamilton Society, conveniently took place in the hotel where Pompeo was staying, situated in a small events space on the second floor. Pompeo slipped into the meeting, without the State Department alerting the press traveling with him about where he was headed or who he was going to meet.”

“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has reached out to Sheldon Adelson, the Republican Party’s largest donor, in recent weeks to ‘gauge interest’ in his potential run for an open Senate seat in Kansas next year,” McClatchy reports.

“It is the latest evidence of Pompeo’s outreach campaign to rally donor support around a potential Senate bid, following similar conversations with Charles Koch, a Kansas resident, as well as donors affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.”

President Trump acknowledged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is mulling a run for Senate in Kansas next year, the Kansas City Star reports.

Said Trump: “He loves the people of Kansas. If he thought that 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.”

“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed the U.S. Senate race in Kansas with billionaire Charles Koch and a top official from his namesake company during a visit to Wichita on Friday,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will make another trip to Kansas on Thursday in a move sure to reignite speculation about his political future,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The official visit—the secretary of state’s third official appearance in the state this year—is seen by Kansas Republicans as the latest sign that Mr. Pompeo hasn’t fully ruled out a 2020 run to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Pat Roberts.”

State Sen. Barbara Bollier (D), one of four Kansas legislators who made headlines last year by defecting from the Republican Party, is running for the U.S. Senate as a “pragmatic” Democrat, CBS News reports.

Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) trails Barry Grissom (D) by 10 percentage points in a head-to-head matchup for Kansas’ open Senate seat in 2020, according to internal GOP polling data reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.

“The previously unpublished findings reveal why some Republicans are deeply concerned that a Kobach candidacy could cost the party a Senate seat in Kansas—and why Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been pushing so hard for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a former congressman from Wichita, to challenge Mr. Kobach for the GOP nomination.”

“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo continued to deflect questions Sunday about his political future, declining to swear off a run for the Senate from his home state of Kansas next year,” the Washington Post reports.

“Pompeo, who represented the southern portion of central Kansas for six years in the House before joining President Trump’s Cabinet, has been Senate Republican leaders’ top choice to replace retiring Sen. Pat Roberts (R). They believe he could clear the GOP field and easily win the general election.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the Washington Examiner that he will not run for the open U.S. Senate seat in Kansas next year.

Said Pompeo: “I am going to stay here. There’s lots of people talking about it. The only one who’s not talking about it is me.”

“Republican political donors have been told to hold off contributing to the 2020 U.S. Senate race in Kansas in the expectation that Secretary of State Michael Pompeo may decide to run,” Bloomberg reports.

“A Pompeo ally has been advising potential contributors to wait until after the secretary of state makes his decision, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a private message communicated to donors. The top U.S. diplomat and former CIA director, who served as a congressman in Kansas’s 4th district from 2011-2017, has until June to enter the race.”

“Kris Kobach is using a nonprofit group he advises to raise money for his U.S. Senate campaign, and legal experts say one recent fundraising push likely ran afoul of federal campaign finance laws,” the Daily Beast reports.

“On Thursday, Kobach sent a fundraising appeal to an email list maintained by We Build The Wall, a 501(c)(4) advocacy group currently attempting to build a wall on the southern border using private funds. Kobach is on the group’s advisory board and serves as its general counsel.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared to close the door to a potential run in 2020 for a U.S. Senate seat in Kansas saying it was “off the table,” but he did not rule out the possibility of a presidential run in the future, Reuters reports.

Said Pompeo: “It’s off the table. As a practical matter, I’m going to serve as secretary of state every day that I get the chance to do so.”