WASHINGTON — Democrats sent up a trial balloon for a US Senate run by former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius — but it was quickly shot down Wednesday.
Sebelius, the public face of the ObamaCare debacle who stepped down from her cabinet post last week, has been mentioned as a possible Democratic candidate for Senate in her home state of Kansas.
The run would potentially pit her against Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, an old friend of Sebelius who turned on her amid the glitch-plagued launch of HealthCare.gov and accused her of “gross incompetence.”
It’s also been suggested that Sebelius would be a powerful candidate if she ended up facing Roberts’ primary challenger, Tea Party-backed radiologist Milton Wolf.
But Kansas Democrats threw cold water on the speculation, even though Sebelius was a popular two-term governor of the state.
“There is no reality to it as far as anyone here knows,” said Kansas Democratic Party spokesman Dakota Loomis, who also is a friend of the Sebelius family.
Sebelius would bring heavy baggage to the campaign trail.
She’s weathered fierce ridicule for her role overseeing the botched rollout of ObamaCare and is closely associated with the unpopular law.
“There’s a whole host of options for her, but a break might be a good idea,” said Loomis.