Mike Pompeo, President Donald Trump’s CIA director and now his new Secretary of State nominee, is married to wife, Susan. “Happy anniversary to the love of my life, Susan!” he wrote on Twitter in 2016.
Pompeo has been a member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 2011, representing Kansas’ fourth district. He has previously served in the Army and worked in business as the president of an oilfield equipment company. Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on March 13, 2018 to make way for Mike Pompeo as his nominee to take the position.
Mike’s wife is Susan Pompeo. Here’s what you need to know about her.
1. She’s From Wichita, Kansas
Susan Pompeo was born and raised in Wichita, Kanas, and she graduated from Wichita State University. “Susan and I had a wonderful time today at @KCSL’s Red Stocking Breakfast. It was an honor to serve such a worthy cause with great friends!” Mike Pompeo wrote in a tweet now deleted.
She loves her hometown, and even when her husband became a member of the House of Representatives and moved to Washington, D.C., the two of them came back to Wichita every other weekend.
“It used to be when someone was elected they bought a house and moved their entire family to Washington and that’s where they lived,” Susan Pompeo told Wichita Magazine. “That’s where the kids went to school. That’s where they made their home. But for us it could never be home. Wichita is home and we get back here as often as we can.”
Mike and Susan Pompeo have one son, Nick, who is 26 years old. According to Witchita Magazine, Nick Pompeo lives in New York. Like Susan and Mike, Nick is a fan of basketball and in particular the Wichita State team.
Mike and Susan also have two dogs: Patton, a golden retriever, and Holly, a beagle.
2. She Helped Her Husband Throughout His Congressional Campaign
Mike Pompeo ran for the House of Representatives in the 2010 election, and his wife Susan was an integral part of his campaign. “Susan and I at Wagonmasters Chili Cookoff. Gorgeous day. Great chili. Come on down,” Pompeo one tweeted.
In fact, Susan says that she enjoyed the process of campaigning even more than her husband did.
“We decided we would do this together,” Susan Pompeo told Wichita Magazine. “We set out to do this like we would do any venture. I loved the campaigning part of it, much more than Mike did. We’ve laughed many times because there is no manual to tell you step-by-step how to do this, not even how to transition.”
Susan continued to help out her husband behind the scenes after he won his House seat. In 2011, Sedgwick County Commissioner Karl Peterjohn appeared at a fundraiser without paying, and Susan Pompeo sent him a $2,500 bill.
“It’s my view that Karl wanted a ‘freebie,'” Susan Pompeo said at the time, according to The Witchita Eagle. “We rarely give freebies and there were none at that event. We probably won’t get a dime from him, but hopefully he won’t try to crash another event of ours.”
3. She Appeared in One of Her Husband’s Campaign Ads
During Mike Pompeo’s 2010 Congressional campaign, Susan helped her husband both behind the scenes and in front of the camera. She appeared in a 30 second TV spot entitled “Susan’s Boots.”
In the ad, Susan says that her husband is like his old army boots: tough, durable, and working step by step until the mission is done. The commercial ends with Mike Pompeo appearing with his wife and saying, “I’m Mike Pompeo and I approve this message, and I’m crazy about the messenger.”
During his 2016 campaign, Pompeo ran the exact same boots ad except with a new ending: Mike appears with his wife again and says, “I’m Mike Pompeo and I approve this message, and I’m still crazy about the messenger.”
4. She Is Active in a Kansas Republican Organization
In Susan Pompeo’s hometown of Kansas is the Dwight D. Eisenhower Excellence in Public Service Series, an organization dedicated to promoting female Republican leadership in the state of Kansas.
Each year, the organization sponsors a class of Kansas Republican women, and they hold events on Saturdays.
According to Open Secrets, Susan Pompeo donated about $3,500 to this organization between 2007 and 2008.
Before he deleted his Twitter page, Mike Pompeo frequently mentioned Susan, such as when he wrote, “Susan & I were honored to attend a retirement reception for John Speer, Deputy Police Chief of @WichitaPolice.” He also tweeted, “Getting ready to enjoy the first Wichita State basketball game of the year with Susan and Nick!”
5. She Criticized Her Husband’s Performance on the House Select Committee On Benghazi
In 2014, Mike Pompeo was a member of the House Select Committee On Benghazi, and he had the opportunity to ask Hillary Clinton questions about the attack in Libya.
According to BuzzFeed, Pompeo later said that he thought he did well, but his family disagreed; his son gave him a ‘C’ and his wife gave him an ‘F.’
“I was reminded, I had three opportunities for ten minutes each, my first one I asked [Hillary Clinton] about accountability, where I know wasn’t received so much as a — I gave myself an ‘A’ for that line of questioning. My son gave me a ‘C,” Pompeo said. “My second set of questions I frankly didn’t do as well. It was more difficult to control her extended answers — I, it was trickier and I let my emotion get ahold of me a little bit more, you can go back and watch it, it only takes ten minutes, I wasn’t as good.”
“I gave myself a ‘C.’ My wife gave me an ‘F,’” Pomepo added.