Topeka ? David Adkins, the only member of the Kansas Senate to publicly support gay marriage, is not seeking re-election.

Adkins’ decision will end a 12-year career during which the Leawood Republican grew influential in budget and juvenile justice policy and ran unsuccessfully for attorney general.

However, this year, Adkins received more attention for opposing a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution to ban gay marriage and deny benefits associated with marriage to other relationships, such as same-sex civil unions.

Adkins’ decision not to run again means at least nine of the Senate’s 40 seats will be open in this year’s elections. President Dave Kerr, R-Hutchinson, and Majority Leader Lana Oleen, R-Manhattan, also are not seeking re-election.

In a statement released Wednesday, Adkins cited personal reasons for not seeking re-election. He and his wife, Lisa, are the parents of a young daughter, Nell.

“While I am proud of my work in the Legislature, the time is right for me to move on to other endeavors,” Adkins said. “I am honored to serve as a senator, but the title I value more than any other is ‘Daddy.”‘

Adkins supports abortion rights, argues that the state needed to increase taxes to help public schools and opposes legislation to allow Kansans to carry concealed handguns — all positions leaving him at odds with other Republicans.

He argued that the proposal on gay marriage, which most GOP senators favored, would write discrimination into the state constitution. Asked during one debate whether he supported gay marriage, he said yes. The Senate adopted a version of the proposed ban, but it failed in the House.

A 43-year-old attorney and former Kansas University student body president, Adkins was elected to the House in 1992 and re-elected three times before winning a Senate seat in 2000.

Two years later, he ran for attorney general but narrowly lost a bitter GOP primary to Phill Kline, who eventually won the general election.

In the House, Adkins served a year as chairman of its Appropriations Committee. In the Senate, he served on the Senate Ways and Means Committee and helped draft the final version of budget legislation.

He was a strong ally of Republican Gov. Bill Graves and served as master of ceremonies at Graves’ second inaugural in 1999. In 1996, Graves had appointed him to a commission that drafted a plan for reforming the state’s juvenile justice system.

Adkins said that after leaving office, “I will take with me many valued friendships and lots of great memories and no regrets.”

Besides Adkins, Kerr and Oleen, other Republican senators not seeking re-election are Bill Bunten of Topeka, Bob Lyon of Winchester, Ed Pugh of Wamego and Robert Tyson of Parker. Also, Sen. Stan Clark, R-Oakley, died in a storm-related traffic accident Saturday.

One Democrat, Christine Downey of Newton, has announced she will not run again.