BY: ANNA KAMINSKI
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — President Donald Trump appointed former Kansas Republican Rep. Patrick Penn, who resigned from his House seat earlier this month, as the deputy undersecretary for the department’s food, nutrition and consumer services.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, appointed by Trump in February, announced Penn’s new position Tuesday, along with a slate of other state-level leadership designations.
“President Trump is putting Farmers First, and so is the incredible team we are building at the Department of Agriculture,” Rollins said in a press release. “Our latest additions to the USDA family are personally invested in ensuring farmers and rural America prosper.”
Penn resigned from the Wichita-area House seat he held since 2021 on May 14, submitting letters to Republican party and state officials. A special precinct election to select a representative to fill the vacant 85th district seat is set for Wednesday. Penn’s term was set to expire January 2027.
Penn is a former Army signal officer who was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. He was first elected to the Kansas Legislature in 2020, where he was dedicated to pushing Second Amendment legislation, including repeated attempts to pass a firearm education program bill.
The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service administers 16 food assistance programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as food stamps, and emergency food assistance.
Penn voted during the 2025 legislative session in favor of prohibiting SNAP beneficiaries from purchasing candy and soft drinks with their food assistance dollars. Also during the 2025 legislative session, Penn was involved in a handful of disruptive moments. In March, he questioned a Democratic lawmaker’s motives during debate on the House floor. In February, while on the House floor, he alluded to a hypothetical act of violence against a former Hutchinson Democratic representative.