The head of the Senate GOP campaign arm on Wednesday discouraged a conservative House lawmaker from launching a primary challenge against Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who is chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, praised Pompeo as “a fine representative of his constituents,” but said he hoped he would seek re-election to Kansas’ Fourth District and not challenge Moran, who is running for a second term.
“There is no reason in the world for us to have an intra-party fight that would take millions away from our ultimate goal, which is protecting and expanding our majority,” Wicker told a group of reporters Wednesday.
Pompeo criticized Moran after Moran suggested the Senate should hold a hearing and a vote on Merrick Garland, who is President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court.
Pompeo told the Hugh Hewitt show Wednesday that he would decide “in the next days, or maybe a week or so,” about his political future, dodging a direct comment on Moran’s Senate seat.
Pompeo on Monday criticized Moran for telling constituents the Senate should hold hearings and a vote on Garland, even though Moran changed course and said he does not support taking any action.
“I appreciate that Senator Moran has now apparently evolved that holding a hearing and voting to approve Judge Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court would be a grave mistake,” Pompeo said Monday. “His previous statement on the Supreme Court nomination process was identical to the liberal Democrat talking point.”
