Salina State Senator JR Claeys has accepted a position with the Trump administration.

Claeys posted via social media that he has 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 2nd.

Claeys was first elected to the Kansas State Legislature in 2012 in Kansas House District 69. He most recently has served in the state senate in District 24.

Claeys’ term in the Kansas Senate was not set to expire until 2028.

Saline County Republican Chair Brenda Smith tells KSAL News she will call a convention in the near future to fill Claeys’ unexpired term. It will be a joint convention with Saline and Dickinson County, in which Precinct Committee Men and Women will vote to fill the seat. The winner will fill it for one year. In 2026 there will be a special election to fill the seat for the final two years, until the seat come up for its regularly scheduled election in 2028.