Six
TOPEKA, Kan. (Legal Newsline) - Kansas Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt has won the Republican primary for state attorney general.
Schmidt, of Independence, defeated Junction City prosecutor Ralph DeZago on Tuesday.
Schmidt graduated from the University of Kansas and put himself through law school at Georgetown University while working for U.S. Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum, a Republican.
Schmidt has worked as an assistant Kansas attorney general in the consumer protection division, served as general counsel to U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel and served as special counsel to Gov. Bill Graves.
Schmidt also worked as a city prosecutor and as a private practice attorney. He was elected to the Kansas Senate in 2000. Since then, he has served as vice chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and currently serves as Senate Majority Leader.
The state senator has been closely involved in promoting economic development and improving Kansas' business climate; strengthening criminal laws, including those to combat methamphetamine production; pushing for a better public education system; holding down property taxes; streamlining and limiting government; and protecting public services and institutions important to those in the more rural parts of Kansas.
He and his wife, Jennifer, have two daughters, Caroline and Claire.
Schmidt will now face in November's general election Democratic incumbent Steve Six, who was unopposed in the primary.
Six was appointed Kansas attorney general in January 2008, after his predecessor Paul Morrison resigned amid a sex scandal.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by e-mail at jessica@legalnewsline.com.