Republican state Rep. Mike Thompson of Bonner Springs unexpectedly announced Tuesday night that he was resigning from the Kansas House.
Thompson — not the state senator from Shawnee — announced his resignation at a Wyandotte Republican Party event Tuesday night. His resignation is effective Aug. 31.
Thompson opened his announcement by recalling a quote from a sermon he heard many years ago: “Fields I have tended, other than my own.”
So it is that Thompson came to decide it was time to leave the Legislature.
“All my working life, I’ve served other people. I’ve come to a place in my life where I need to tend to my own field. I must focus 100% of my attention on my family,” he said in a statement late Monday night.
“As many of you know, my wife suffers from Parkinson’s disease. Since last House session, her symptoms have significantly increased and continue to do so daily.
“She is no longer able to drive by herself. My care-giving requirements and responsibilities are becoming more numerous,” he said.
Thompson is a former Navy SEAL and active-duty Army chaplain who served with Delta Force in Iraq.
He also served on the Bonner Springs City Council and worked as a Lenexa police officer and a chaplain in five hospitals.
Thompson was first elected in 2022 to the Kansas House District 33 seat, a position once represented by former Democratic state Rep. Tom Burroughs of Kansas City.
He defeated Democrat Bill Hutton with 51% of the vote in a three-person field in the 2022 general election.
He won a second term in the Kansas House in 2024 when he defeated Democrat Eli Woody IV with about 57% of the vote in the general election.
“As in the beginning of our campaign, God led in my decision to run for office,” he said.
“His providential hand was evident throughout our campaign and my service as your representative.
“I now believe God is leading me to a different mission and sacred obligation; to love and care for Debbie as she travels this difficult journey,” he said.
Thompson chairs the Veterans and Military Committee in the House. He also serves on the House tax and Financial Institutions and Pensions Committee.
Thompson is the third lawmaker to leave the Kansas House this year.
Former Republican state Rep. Patrick Penn of Wichita left the House to take a job in the Trump administration.
And former state Rep. Scott Hill, a Republican from Abilene, won a precinct committee election to replace Republican J.R. Claeys in the Senate.
Local Republican leaders have 21 days from the day his resignation is submitted to hold a meeting of precinct committee leaders and choose a successor.
