A nearly 50-year career of service on Capitol Hill came to the beginning of its end Jan. 4 as Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-KS, announced he would not run for a fifth term in the U.S. Senate.
The 82-year-old Roberts made the announcement at the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s headquarters on the campus of his alma mater, Kansas State University.
“It is here, in this spot, that I am announcing I will serve this remaining term as your senator, fighting for Kansas in these troubled times. However, I will not be a candidate for a fifth Senate term,” Roberts said.
In an interview following the announcement, Roberts said, “You got to step down sometime. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would become the longest serving member of Congress in Kansas history.”
Prior to Roberts’ four terms in the Senate, he served eight terms in the House of Representatives and before that he served two years as an aide to Sen. Frank Carlson and 12 years as administrative assistant to Rep. Keith Sebelius.
“I have had the honor and privilege of representing Kansas for 16 years in the House, 22 years so far in the Senate,” Roberts said.
Roberts is the only person to serve as chairman of both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees, “holding the gavel,” as Roberts put it, through six chairmanships in both houses, including a term as chairman of the Senate Intelligence and Ethics committees.
Accomplishments touted
Roberts spent much of his retirement announcement offering a list of accomplishments, including locating the National Bio and Agro-defense Facility in Manhattan, building facilities at Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley, and having a new line of aerial tankers built in and located at Wichita.
Yet, toward the end of the list, he discussed what he considers were his accomplishments.
“Many who do not live in farm country just don’t understand the role we Kansans play to feed a troubled and hungry world,” Roberts said. “I’ve always proudly been a champion for agriculture. Just a few weeks ago, we passed a new farm bill by an historic, bipartisan vote. It was my eighth farm bill.
“The usual naysayers said it would not be possible, but we did it,” Roberts said. “Consider all the significant issues surrounding these tough times in farm country. We got something for the farmer to enable him to go to his lender and say ‘I’m good for five years.’”
Freedom to farm architect
In his interview, Roberts said even more outstanding was the passage of the 1996 farm bill, better known as “freedom to farm,” which gave producers increased flexibility in their decision making for farm program payments.
“The whole idea behind that was to let the farmer decide what he or she wanted to plant according to market signals, not by the federal government saying, ‘If you set aside X, Y or Z, you get a payment,’” Roberts said.
“We’ve let that drift a bit, but the times are different, with the trade situation we’re in.”
Roberts is one of the last of the members of Congress who made Washington his permanent home while keeping a residence in his home state. With the rise of Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House—who insisted that new members commute back to their home states each weekend—came the end of members getting to know each other by doing things outside of Congress, such as attending church or having children attend school together.
Praise from top Democrat
This old-school approach gave Roberts a reputation for conciliation, good humor and bipartisanship, as a statement from Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow, D-MI, attests.
“Throughout his career, Pat Roberts has been a true champion for American agriculture and for Kansas farmers, ranchers, and families.
“Day in and day out, he defines what it means to be a consensus builder. As my true friend and partner on the Senate Agriculture Committee, he always puts the needs of our farmers and ranchers first and never wavers in his commitment to getting things done.
“It is an honor to serve with him and I look forward to working with him over the next two years on the important issues facing our farmers and families.”
Tight 2014 race
But with Roberts mostly traveling back to Kansas only during recesses, opponents began to accuse him of being out of touch with voters. In his last campaign, in 2014 against Tea Party conservative Milton Wolf in the primary election and independent Greg Orman, were both in single digits, considered squeakers for a candidate who sometimes ran unopposed for re-election to the House.
Roberts’ election record stands at 24-0. He would be 84 years old if he had been elected for another term. He is the fifth-oldest member of the Senate, surpassed by Diane Feinstein, D-CA; Chuck Grassley, R-IA; Richard Shelby, R-AL; and Jim Inhofe, R-OK.
Roberts’ decision now throws open the doors to a wide-open 19-month-long primary election battle. The election of a Republican to the seat is a foregone conclusion, since Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since George McGill in 1932. Among the likely combatants for Roberts’ seat in the 2020 Republican primary:
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a former 4th district U.S. Representative, considered a favorite of President Donald Trump.
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Outgoing Gov. Jeff Colyer, a plastic surgeon from Hays and owns farm property in Ellis County, but makes Johnson County his home.
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Outgoing Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who lives on an acreage near Lecompton.
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Rep. Roger Marshall, a former obstetrician from Great Bend. Marshall’s chief of staff, Brent Robertson, said in a statement to Politico, “Since the moment speculation of Senator Roberts’ retirement began, Dr. Marshall’s phone has been ringing. It’s safe to say that while Dr. Marshall is seriously considering it, he is dead set on making sure we get border security funding to the President’s desk first. Until then, I don’t anticipate any type decision on a Senate run taking priority.”
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Former Rep. Kevin Yoder from Kansas City, Kansas.
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Attorney General Derek Schmidt from Independence.
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Kansas Chamber of Commerce President Alan Cobb.
But, for now, Roberts said, “It’s a sprint to the finish. We’re not done by any means, but it was time.”
Larry Dreiling can be reached at 785-628-1117 or [email protected].
See video from Sen. Pat Roberts’ Jan. 4 announcement below.
