Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had politics at the top of his agenda as he visited New Hampshire this week.
But the trip to the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state by the man who served as American’s top diplomat for the last two and a half years of President Donald Trump’s administration also sparked further speculation over a possible 2024 Republican presidential nomination run.
Pompeo shared top billing with another member of the Trump cabinet – former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos – at an event to kick off a national campaign to give parents expanded options for their children other than sending them to public schools.
The Tuesday gathering at the Bank of New Hampshire Stage in downtown Concord was sponsored by a conservative outside group called the Club for Growth. The event was held the day before a new law took effect that was passed by the GOP controlled New Hampshire House and Senate and signed into law by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu that offers education freedom scholarships to low and moderate-income families to send their children to private schools or home school programs rather than to their local public schools.
Praising the New Hampshire law, Pompeo said it’s imperative that “every child has this opportunity to go to a place that’s going to prepare them for the workforce, prepare them for higher education, or prepare them for whatever it is they choose to do in their lives.”
Pompeo also warned that American students are falling behind rival economic nations, blaming what he called the public education monopoly for causing “the complete absence of freedom in school choice for families.”
A couple of hours earlier Pompeo headlined a campaign event in Bedford for Linda Camarota, a Republican running in an upcoming special state representative election.
Pompeo, an Army veteran and former congressman from Kansas who served as CIA director and then America’s top diplomat in the Trump administration, has been crisscrossing the country in recent months, helping fellow Republicans running for office this year and in the 2022 midterm elections. He also launched a political action committee to help raise money for GOP contenders.
“We need leaders with a conservative understanding of America,” he said in an interview. “That’s why I’m here in New Hampshire. … I’m going to be working on behalf of Republican candidates who share my conservative belief system, try to help them have the resources, talent, organization and oomph they need to be successful in November of 2022.”
But Pompeo’s jam-packed one-day swing through New Hampshire is naturally sparking more speculation about his potential national ambitions in 2024. Pompeo’s teased a possible White House run and pundits see him as a potential contender for the GOP presidential nomination, especially if Trump doesn’t follow through on his flirtations and runs again in 2024.
Pompeo’s trip to the Granite State came after he already made…
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