Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit the early presidential proving ground of Iowa later this month on the heels of his February speech to a major gathering of conservatives in Florida.
The former Kansas congressman will speak to a March 26 breakfast gathering of the Westside Conservative Club, which meets in the Des Moines suburbs. Future presidential candidates often begin cultivating the support of Iowa voters years in advance of the state's first-in-the-nation caucus.
Former President Donald Trump maintains a high degree of influence within the party and hasn't ruled out running again. That has created potentially awkward situations for would-be Republican hopefuls looking to lay the groundwork for a campaign without offending Trump and his core supporters. Like many potential candidates, Pompeo spoke last month at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
For his part, Pompeo hasn't directly answered whether he is contemplating a run, but told Fox News recently that he is "always up for a good fight."
Since leaving the administration, Pompeo has taken a post as a distinguished fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank near the White House.
After leaving the House to work as CIA director and secretary of state under Trump, Pompeo was at the center of speculation in 2019 over whether he would run for Senate. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called Pompeo his "first choice" to run. Ultimately, then-Rep. Roger Marshall won the seat.
