WASHINGTON Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas looks vulnerable to Democrats and some Republicans, and thats a big reason the 2020 race has quickly drawn a prominent potential challenger, former U.S. Attorney for Kansas Barry Grissom.
Grissom confirmed Monday that hes been considering a run for U.S. Senate as a Democrat for roughly a year.
Hes not officially made his decision, but hes actively is laying the groundwork to mount a challenge against Roberts, the Kansas Republican who has been in Congress for nearly four decades.
Based on Kansas history and voter makeup, Roberts seat should be safe. But the 82-year-old Republican is not assured a fourth Senate term.
Roberts survived a primary challenge in 2014 with less than 50 percent of the vote, as first-time candidate Milton Wolf pulled within 8 percentage points by questioning the senators conservative credentials and attacking him for not spending enough time in Kansas. Roberts needed a flood of national money to power him through the general election.
Then theres the age issue.
I can just see the ads. Pat Roberts will be 90 by the time he leaves office. … You certainly dont want to look at an 84-year-old who almost got beat in the primary six years ago and say this is the guy we want to have running, said Burdett Loomis, a University of Kansas professor of political science with ties to the Kansas Democratic Party.
If Roberts doesnt run, outgoing Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer and Rep. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., have been mentioned as potential candidates. No Republicans have officially said they would challenge Roberts, but a 2020 primary battle is expected.
Democrats won the governors mansion in 2018 and one of the states four congressional seats. That momentum should put the Senate seat in play in 2020, argued Grissom, who has formidable credentials for a first-time candidate.
Grissom led the U.S. attorneys office in Kansas from 2010 to 2016, overseeing the investigation of Colyer over campaign loans he made to then-Gov. Sam Brownbacks re-election campaign. The investigation resulted in no charges against Colyer, who was sworn in as governor this year.
The prosecutor also oversaw the successful investigation into a planned terrorist plot against the U.S. Army Base at Fort Riley, which resulted in a 30-year-prison sentence for the Topeka man implicated in the plot.
Grissom would be running against the backdrop of President Donald Trumps frequent clashes with the Democrats old agency, the Department of Justice, which is investigating Russias role in the 2016 election and a string of alleged crimes by Trumps associates.
He has met with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the Maryland Democrat who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, to discuss a possible run. Hes also talked with Democratic Sen. Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney who won last years special election in Alabama.
A Democrat has not won a Senate election in Kansas since 1932 a drought thats more than three decades longer than the partys losing streak in presidential elections in the reliably red state.
Grissom would be taking on a senator who has been a fixture in Kansas Republican politics for decades.
Roberts father was a close friend of President Dwight Eisenhower. The son was first elected to Congress in 1980 after working for years as an aide to Rep. Keith Sebelius, the Republican father-in-law of Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat who became Kansas governor.
Roberts is coming off a major legislative victory as a key player in last weeks overwhelming passage of the farm bill, but he has not yet decided on whether hell mount another run.
