Emporia ? Republican Jim Barnett is resigning from the Kansas state Senate with two years left in his latest term.

The Emporia Gazette reports Barnett announced the decision Wednesday in a statement that didn’t give a reason. He’ll step down Oct. 1 and, according to the statement, will announce his future plans within the coming week.

Barnett is a family physician from Emporia serving his third four-year term in the Senate.

He was the Republican nominee for governor in 2006, losing to Democrat Kathleen Sebelius. This year he ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination in Kansas’ 1st Congressional District.

Barnett’s current Senate term runs through 2012. His statement says the Republican Central Committee for the 17th District will hold a convention to pick his replacement, who will finish his Senate term.