The governor of Kansas, Sam Brownback, is expected to be nominated as the United States ambassador at large for international religious freedom. If Mr. Brownback is confirmed, as expected, the state’s lieutenant governor, Jeff Colyer, will step in to lead the state.

Mr. Colyer, who like Mr. Brownback is a Republican, would inherit a state that has struggled with budget shortfalls and a party that has been split by philosophical debates about taxation.

It is not known when the Senate might take up Mr. Brownback’s planned nomination, which President Trump announced on Wednesday.

A Conservative

First elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 2006, and to the State Senate two years later, Mr. Colyer is a political conservative aligned with Mr. Brownback on most issues.