New Kansas House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins on Wednesday announced that longtime Republican aide B.J. Harden would be his chief of staff.
Harden, now chief of staff and deputy secretary at the Kansas Department of Transportation, has been running in Republican circles for almost a decade.
Over the years, Harden has worked for former House Speaker Ray Merrick, outgoing Secretary of State Kris Kobach and former treasurer Ron Estes, who is now in Congress.
He started with the Kansas Republican Party as deputy executive director in 2010.
“I trust him,” said Hawkins, a Wichita Republican. “I interviewed a couple of different people, but I ultimately came back to B.J. because I really feel like he’s a guy who will really do a good job.”
Hawkins still gets to name a communications director and a staff assistant. He hasn’t yet decided on those positions.
Harden has a law degree from Washburn University and a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, N.J.
He served as legal counsel in Kobach’s office from 2011 to 2013 and legislative director for Merrick in 2013 and 2014.
He also worked as director of unclaimed property for the treasurer’s office in 2014 and 2015, chief of staff and legal counsel for Merrick in 2015 and 2016 and then as assistant treasurer and chief of staff for Estes in 2016 and 2017.
He returned to Kobach’s office in May 2017 as chief of staff and deputy secretary of state. He was there until June 2018 when he moved over to the transportation department.
