Former JoCo state rep announces bid for Kansas governor

The 2018 race to become the next governor of Kansas is underway.

Ed O’Malley, a former state representative from Roeland Park, announced an exploratory campaign for the governor’s office in a YouTube video Thursday afternoon.

The former Republican lawmaker served in the Kansas Legislature from 2003 to 2006. He’s since worked as the president and CEO of the the Kansas Leadership Center in Wichita.

“I believe we can do better in our state,” O’Malley says in the video. “I believe our problems can be solved faster, more effectively, more efficiently.”

Gov. Sam Brownback is term limited and cannot run for re-election in 2018.