Former U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom is making a run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Pat Roberts.
Grissom announced his candidacy on Monday in Johnson County. The election is in 2020.
“I know we can do more for our healthcare and rural hospitals, we can fight harder for good paying jobs and education, and we must continue to keep the American people safe,” Grissom said in a campaign statement.
While U.S. attorney, Grissom helped lead the investigation and prosecution against the Wichita Airport and Fort Riley bombers.
He worked with sheriffs and police to drive a violent gang from the streets of Dodge City and disarm felons in the region.
“We face enormous challenges here in Kansas that are uniquely Kansan, and I’m running to make sure our concerns are heard in Washington,” he said.
In 2010, Barry was nominated to be the U.S. Attorney for Kansas and was unanimously confirmed by Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Senate. He immediately went to work improving community relationships, increasing efficiencies for the taxpayers, and managing over 100 people in offices in Wichita, Topeka, and Kansas City, Kansas.
In 2010, Grissom was nominated to be the U.S. Attorney for Kansas and was unanimously confirmed by Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Senate. He went to work improving community relationships, increasing efficiencies for the taxpayers, and managing over 100 people in offices in Wichita, Topeka, and Kansas City, Kansas.
Grissom’s family moved a lot through the nation when he was a child, and settled in Johnson County. He attended Johnson County Community College, then graduated from the University of Kansas. After graduating from Oklahoma City University law school, Grissom came back to Kansas to found his own law firm, helping those who faced discrimination, worker employment cases and bankruptcy cases.
Grissom also worked with law enforcement and civil rights advocates to improve community relations when he was U.S. attorney. He founded Kansas’s first Human Trafficking Working Group, helped clean up gang activity, oversaw Kansas’s Project Safe Childhood program targeting child sex offenders and led the charge among federal authorities to break up a dogfighting ring responsible for capturing and abusing over 400 pit bulls.
Current Sen. Pat Roberts has announced his retirement.