State Sen. Jason Smalley, R-Stroud, who represents Lincoln County and parts of Seminole and Pottawatomie counties, announced Tuesday he will resign his Senate seat effective Jan. 31.
According to a release from his office, Smalley will be the Senior Account Manager for Motorola Solutions Corp. and will be in charge of its Oklahoma office.
Smalley was elected to the state Senate in 2014 after serving two years in the state House of Representatives.
He grew up in Stroud and graduated from Stroud High School.
He earned a music scholarship to the University of Central Oklahoma and enlisted in the Marine Corps while attending there.
He served tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.
After leaving the Marines, he earned a degree in Social Science from the University of Oklahoma.
“It has been an honor to serve the people of Lincoln, Pottawatomie, and Seminole counties, and I will always treasure the trust that the citizens of Oklahoma have placed in me,” he said. “After serving my country in the U.S. Marines for six years and eight years in an elective office, I believe it is the right time and opportunity to enter back into the business world.”
Smalley currently serves as the Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee and as a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, Education, General Government, and Rules.
Smalley passed the most significant teacher pay raise in state history and was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from Higher Education three times, most notably for his work on reforming the Oklahoma Promise scholarship.
Smalley was the first member to raise the income cap in over fifteen years. He also laid the framework to allow ride-sharing networks like Uber to operate in Oklahoma.
He and C’Anne have been married since 2003 and have three boys, Gideon,August, and Lincoln.