Salina Post
Republicans in Saline and Dickinson County are getting ready to find a replacement for Kansas Senator J.R. (Jeremy) Claeys of the 24th District who is taking a job with the Trump administration.
According to a story in the Monday Sunflower State Journal, Claeys in a letter to Kansas Senate Ty Masterson, has accepted a position with the USDA and will lead the office of Rural Business Service. Claeys began his new job Monday.
According to the Sunflower State Journal, The Rural Business Service provides financial assistance, technical support, and resources to help rural businesses expand, become more competitive, and promote community development.
According to sources in the Republican party in Saline and Dickinson counties, two names have been brought up as a replacement for Claeys.
They are former Saline County Treasurer Jim Dubois and Abilene State Rep. Scott Hill.
GOP precinct committeemen and women in the district will select a replacement for Claeys, who was just re-elected this past November.
A date for selection of a replacement has not been announced.
Below is the letter Senator J.R. Claeys wrote to Kansas Senate President, Ty Masterson:
Dear President Masterson,
For the past 13 years I have had the privilege of serving my hometown in the Kansas Legislature. Representing the people of Saline and Dickinson County — including Salina where I was born and raised — has been the honor of my life.
During my tenure, the areas I represent have seen growth typically reserved to the major metropolitan areas of our state. Public safety has been improved with new investments in the Kansas Highway Patrol, our transportation plan includes a new interchange at I-70 and I-135, housing shortages have been eased with programming and grants to bring hundreds of new housing units online in Salina, major manufacturers have doubled and tripled in size, our airport is expanding both physically with a new terminal and with additional flights to three hubs, a downtown has come back to life with STAR Bond expansion, the Eisenhower Presidential Library is expanding, new industries have moved their operations from a thousand miles away, enormous hangars for aircraft manufacturing are under construction, our flight school is one of three in the nation offering hours on jet aircraft, medical services for residents in need are more accessible with state investment in our family healthcare facility, more doctors and nurses are graduating our programs to serve rural Kansas, and educational opportunities in central Kansas are more prevalent than any time in our history.
This is a record of success that all of us can be immensely proud of, including all of those who helped make this turnaround possible. But the best is yet to come.
We have laid the foundation for massive federal investment, major manufacturers and service providers are choosing central Kansas as their home, and a new generation of technological evolution is taking place right here in the middle of our state. Rural America is not an afterthought. It is where the strongest work ethic exists in our nation. A resource more valuable than any other.
I will always be proud that I arrived at the Statehouse every day with that same work ethic to fight for rural Kansans and the people I serve.
With a desire to continue to fight for rural Americans, I have accepted an appointment offered by President Donald Trump and Secretary Brooke Rollins to lead the Rural Business Service in the United States Department of Agriculture effective June 2, 2025.
Sincerely,
Senator J.R. Claeys