WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kris Kobach isn't fazed that fellow Republicans worry he's unpopular or too brash in pushing his hard-right views to keep Kansas' open Senate seat in GOP hands next year.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and others are so concerned that they've spent months urging Mike Pompeo, a former Kansas congressman, to step down as U.S. secretary of state and run for the seat Republican Sen. Pat Roberts is leaving. Pompeo in the race would make it far more difficult for Kobach to win the GOP primary in August.

But Kobach, the former Kansas secretary of state, isn't softening hi...