It’s down to two in the race for House majority leader.
Republican state Rep. Ron Highland of Wamego announced Sunday night that he was withdrawing from the race for the second most powerful job in the chamber.
Highland made his announcement Sunday night at a reception for Republican lawmakers in Topeka in advance Monday morning’s leadership elections.
“It’s strictly numbers,” Highland said Sunday night. “The numbers weren’t there to make a challenge of it. I decided it wasn’t worth dissension within the party so I withdrew.”
Highland’s decision leaves current House Majority Leader Don Hineman and the state Rep. Dan Hawkins in the race.
Hineman, a moderate elected majority leader in 2016, is expected to face a tough battle in a chamber that will lean more conservative after this year’s elections.
It is believed that conservatives outnumber moderates 52-33 in the House Republican caucus although those numbers are fluid depending on the issue.
Highland, a conservative who was just elected to a fourth term in the Kansas House, declined to say who he would support in Monday’s balloting.
“I tend to try not to influence people’s votes,” he said. “That’s up to them what they do now.”
