Kansas state treasurer running for U.S. Senate seat in 2020

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas State Treasurer Jake LaTurner speaks at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Topeka on election night, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. The Republican incumbent, appointed to the position in 2017, was running against Democrat Marci Francisco, of Lawrence.

TOPEKA — Kansas State Treasurer Jake LaTurner is running for the U.S. Senate in 2020.

LaTurner declared his candidacy Tuesday for the Republican nomination, less than a week after four-term GOP Sen. Pat Roberts announced that he will not run for re-election.

The 30-year-old LaTurner said Kansas needs both a conservative and generational change in the Senate. He issued a “Contract with Kansas” that includes support for congressional term limits and work requirements for welfare recipients.

He is the first candidate to announce, but several other prominent Republicans have said they are considering the race. They include departing Gov. Jeff Colyer, Attorney General Derek Schmidt, Rep. Roger Marshall and American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp.

LaTurner has been state treasurer since April 2017 after serving four years in the state Senate.

The Associated Press has corrected this story to show that LaTurner is 30.

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