Jake LaTurner, who was a state senator from Pittsburg, was officially sworn-in Wednesday as the new state treasurer of Kansas. His seat in the Legislature will now need to be filled.
Republican officials in the southeast Kansas district will make the selection this weekend. LaTurner was one of the solidly conservative members of the Senate. He says local officials should consider replacing him with someone of a similar political ideology.
“The people of my district elected me. The issues in that race were pretty clear. That would make sense. You could make a strong argument that you should find somebody that’s in about the same place. But the precinct people, it’s their decision and I’m going to support their decision,” says LaTurner.
The previous state treasurer, Ron Estes, left the job after being elected to a seat in Congress.