Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is open to running for president after his boss leaves office, the top U.S. diplomat confirmed.

“America has given me an awful lot,” Pompeo said Monday in Washington. “And if I thought I could do a good turn, there's nothing I wouldn't consider doing for America.”

Pompeo’s future has become a topic of keen interest for political insiders in recent months. A former House backbencher from Kansas, his tenure in President Trump’s administration — first as CIA director, now as secretary of state — has made him one of the most visible American leaders in the world.

“The service that I've had the chance to do, I'm almost 20 years now in federal service, 18 years of federal service of my time in the Army, in Congress, and now in the executive branch,” he told the Economic Club. “I hope I have left things a little bit better, and I do feel an obligation.”

Pompeo ruled out serving by running for the Senate next year to replace retiring Kansas Republican Pat Roberts, though. “It's off the table,” he said.

Pompeo “ruled out” such a campaign in February, but the rumor he might make an eleventh-hour foray into the race before the June filing deadline has persisted, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hopes to persuade him to take the leap.

“I always leave open the possibility that something will change and my path in life will change too, but my mission set is really very clear,” Pompeo said earlier this month, when a local Kansas radio host asked about a Senate campaign.

He stressed Monday that he will remain at the State Department as long as Trump allows him to keep the job. “I'm going to serve as secretary of state every day that I get the chance to do so,” Pompeo said. “There is a time for everyone. And I hope I get to do this for a while longer.”