Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday came out in support of state Sen. Kellie Warren for attorney general as GOP opposition continues to build against former Secretary of State Kris Kobach in the primary.
“As the Biden Administration continues to overreach its constitutional authority, we need a proven conservative fighter as Kansas’ next attorney general,” Pompeo said in a statement.
“As Kansas’ next Attorney General, Kellie will hold the line against government overreach, she’ll protect life, and she’ll defend our freedoms.
“I’m excited to endorse her campaign,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo joined Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall in backing Warren in the Republican primary for attorney general.
Meanwhile, Americans for Prosperity and a federal political action committee with the ties to business leaders at the Kansas Chamber of Commerce are spending hundreds of thousand of dollars to help Warren get elected.
AFP has spent about $200,000 on radio and digital ads for Warren plus much more on mailers that have been blanketing the state promoting Warren’s candidacy.
Meanwhile, the Freedom Conference PAC has already has booked about $142,000 in broadcast air time.
The PAC is running an ad in Kansas City billing Warren as a conservative and Kobach as a law breaker who takes illegal donations and costs the state millions for failing to successfully defend a legal challenge against the proof-of-citizenship requirement for Kansas voters.
Contributors include Justin Hill of Lawrence Paper Co., who is on the board of directors of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and whose PAC is backing Warren.
Crossland Construction Co. also gave $12,500 to the PAC.
Ivan Crossland, the construction company’s chief executive officer, is on the chamber’s board.
Polls have shown Kobach leading the race since last year followed by Warren and former federal prosecutor Tony Mattivi.
Broadcast spending by Kobach and Warren have dwarfed Mattivi, who has been unable to get out of the single digits even a poll that he commissioned.
