WASHINGTON _ 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, three sources familiar with the matter told McClatchy.
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.
Pompeo has flirted with the race for months, and President Donald Trump said on Tuesday in London that he would encourage his secretary of state to leave office and run if he believed Republicans were at risk of losing the seat.
Sources close to Adelson and Koch told McClatchy that both megadonors were receptive to Pompeo's overtures, but that no concrete commitments have been made.
The level of donor support sought by Pompeo far exceeds what would be necessary to secure a Senate seat in deep red Kansas, where he is expected to cruise to victory should he enter the race.
Pompeo's relationship with Koch, a Wichita billionaire, extends back to his days in the House of Representatives, where he represented the city and surrounding region. But his outreach to staunch Israel advocates expands his existing donor pool and offers him the opportunity to bank major funds not only for a Senate run, but also for a potential presidential campaign in 2024.
"Successful politicians are always running scared _ they're always making sure they'd be well-funded before making such a leap," said one source who was briefed on the communications with Adelson.
The timing of Pompeo's exchange with Adelson coincided with the secretary's on-camera announcement Nov. 18 that the Trump administration would revoke its long-standing legal determination on the legitimacy of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Adelson supports the settler enterprise.
The billionaire casino magnate was the largest donor to Republican causes in the 2016 election cycle, and is expected to donate considerably to Trump's reelection bid in late 2020.
Pompeo's quiet outreach effort has been facilitated by a tight inner circle around the secretary, two sources said.
"I know that that's true," a second source familiar with the Adelson discussion said. "I know that he has spoken with substantial people with the means to help him in the last few months. He's been openly considering it."
Pompeo discussed the race with Koch, a longtime supporter, during an October visit to Kansas.
During his four successful congressional runs from 2010 to 2016, Pompeo was the top recipient nationally among federal candidates of contributions from Koch Industries, with more than $335,000 in donations from individual employees and $65,000 from the company's corporate PAC. Americans For Prosperity and other Koch-backed groups also spent heavily on his behalf during his congressional career.
Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, whose pending retirement has left a Kansas seat open next year, told McClatchy on Tuesday that a Senate candidate should be able to raise between $10 million and $12 million to run in the coming election cycle.
In 2014, Roberts and his independent challenger Greg Orman combined to spend nearly $14 million. Outside groups spent more than $17 million on the race.
Pompeo's dormant U.S. House campaign account currently has nearly $1 million, which could go toward a Senate run. This total would give Pompeo a cash advantage on every current candidate for the seat except Republican Rep. Roger Marshall.
Pompeo rejected speculation about a Senate run during an appearance on Fox News Monday, but the following day Trump floated Pompeo's potential candidacy for the second time in less than a month.
"If we thought we were going to lose that, I would have a talk to Mike. If you look at polling, Mike would walk away with that seat," Trump said at a NATO meeting.
Roberts said the possibility that the Kansas seat could flip to Democratic hands for the first time in generations came up when Trump hosted GOP senators at the White House last month.
Based on that conversation, Roberts said he's not surprised by Trump's comments regarding Pompeo's possible entry in the race.
"I think it means, to Mike, that the door's open _ you can make a choice," Roberts said. "And Mike has always said before he's not trying to open the door, so we'll just have to see."
