Antiwar activist Marilyn Jordan Lawlor and State representative Anne Stava-Murray were going to challenge Durbin in the Democratic primary, but both withdrew. Republicans who ran include businessman Casey Chlebek, U.S. Navy veteran and former police officer Peggy Hubbard, Vietnam War veteran, physician, and 2018 Democratic primary candidate for governor of Illinois Robert Marshall, Omeed Memar, a dermatologist convicted of health care fraud in 2018, Preston Gabriel Nelson, Dean Seppelfrick, and Tom Tarter. One-term incumbent Republican Joni Ernst was elected in 2014 after serving four years in the state Senate. She is seeking a second term. Democrats in the primary included former Vice-Admiral Michael T. Franken, attorney Kimberly Graham and businessman Eddie Mauro. Real estate broker Theresa Greenfield won the nomination. Republican incumbent Joni Ernst has lost popularity due to her strong support for Trump and for trade tariffs that are unpopular among Iowa farmers. But Democrats have had a hard time winning statewide in Iowa in recent years, narrowly losing the governor's election in 2018. Trump won the state by 9 points in 2016 after Barack Obama carried it in both 2008 and 2012. Democrats do hold three of Iowa's four congressional seats, picking up two of them in 2018. Theresa Greenfield, a first-time candidate backed by the Democratic establishment, is the Democratic nominee, defeating admiral Michael Franken, attorney Kimberly Graham, and businessman Eddie Mauro in the primary. Greenfield and Ernst are polling neck-and-neck in the general election, but Greenfield lacks name recognition, despite raising more money than Ernst. Four-term incumbent Republican Pat Roberts is retiring and will not run for reelection. Former secretary of state Kris Kobach, state Turnpike Authority chairman (and former Kansas City Chief defensive end) Dave Lindstrom, U.S. Representative Roger Marshall, plumber/businessman Bob Hamilton, Kansas Board of Education member Steve Roberts, state senate president Susan Wagle, and Republican socialist Brian Matlock have all announced their candidacies. Wagle has since withdrawn. Other potential candidates (who ultimately did not run) included state attorney general Derek Schmidt and wealthy businessman and former 2018 lieutenant governor nominee Wink Hartman. Kansas state treasurer Jake LaTurner previously sought the nomination, but announced on September 3, 2019 that he was dropping out of the Senate race to run for the U.S. House of Representatives. There was considerable speculation about a Senate bid by Mike Pompeo (the United States Secretary of State, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and former U.S. Representative for Kansas's 4th congressional district), but he opted not to run.