TORONTO — A moderate Republican legislator from southeast Kansas plans to resign Saturday for health reasons.
State Rep. Larry Hibbard of Toronto told The Hutchinson News that he has chronic hives and has to “get rid of some stress.” Hibbard said he already had planned not to seek re-election next year.
Hibbard is a rancher who won his House seat easily in 2012 but faced a serious Republican primary challenge in 2018.
He voted in 2017 to reverse past income tax cuts championed by former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. He supported GOP tax relief legislation this year but voted to sustain Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of one of the measures.
Hibbard also supported a plan Kelly favored to expand Medicaid.
Republican precinct committee members in Hibbard’s district will name his replacement.
