photo by: Associated Press

Dr. Roger Marshall hugs a supporter during a watch party Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016, in Great Bend, Kan. (Travis Morisse/The Hutchinson News via AP)

Topeka ? Roger Marshall says his top priority in Washington is to secure a seat on the House Agriculture Committee so that he can help protect crop insurance and shape farm policy.

The newly elected congressman from Kansas’ 1st District expects President-elect Donald Trump’s administration to lessen environmental regulations that farmers and agribusinesses find burdensome, he told The Associated Press. Marshall also looks forward to the debate over health care legislation as Republicans push to replace the 2010 law championed by outgoing President Barack Obama.

But the Agriculture Committee seat looms large following Marshall’s victory over GOP Rep. Tim Huelskamp in the August primary. Farm groups and many voters in the 1st District, which spans western and central Kansas, turned on Huelskamp because his disputes with GOP leaders led to him being stripped in 2012 of the state’s near-automatic committee seat.

“No. 1 is still to get on the House Agriculture and give Kansans a voice back on that committee,” Marshall said during a telephone interview from Washington between orientation meetings last week.

The 55-year-old obstetrician from Great Bend received nearly 57 percent of the vote against Huelskamp in the primary and coasted to an easy general election victory over independent candidate Alan LaPolice; no Democrat was on the ballot in what has long been a safe GOP district. Support from farm groups and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce also proved important to Marshall’s victory; groups spent $1.9 million on independent campaign expenditures to help Marshall, twice as much as conservative groups spent to assist Huelskamp’s re-election.

In October, Huelskamp filed a statement of his candidacy for a rematch with Marshall in 2018. And Kansas Republican Party executive director Clay Barker said Marshall still faces pockets of Huelskamp supporters “who are going to be watching what he does.”

“He’s got to watch his base,” Barker said. “He knows that.”

Huelskamp said last week that someone “close to the transition” for Trump contacted him about becoming agriculture secretary; nothing more has been announced publicly.

Asked about the possibility, Marshall texted the AP, “I have complete confidence in the Trump transition team, whoever they choose.”

Marshall said he expects to learn in December whether he’ll receive 1 of 2 open Republican seats on the Agriculture Committee. He’s optimistic and sees the key issue as crop insurance.

A budget deal enacted by Congress a year ago would have cut federal crop insurance subsidies by $3 billion over 10 years. Farm-state lawmakers were furious and said the cuts could be devastating to farmers, and Congress reversed the reductions in a highway bill passed in December.

“There’s talk of starting a new farm bill already,” Marshall said. “We certainly want to protect crop insurance. We feel it’s the backbone of any type of a new farm bill.”

Marshall, who plans to give up his medical practice while serving in Congress, said he’d also like to be assigned to either the Transportation or Armed Services committees. The sprawling 1st District stretches east enough to include Fort Riley in northeast Kansas.