autofill form fields for select boxes

[php_begins]

I have this jquery.ajax form which populates data from the database and auto fills the form fields upon button click.

It works great when the form is of type <input type="text">

But it does not auto fill when the form field is a select box.

here is my code so far!

 

<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function() {
    function myrequest(e) {
        var lead_id = $('#lead_id').val();
        $.ajax({
             method: "GET",
            url: "/pdp/fetch-client-data/",
		dataType: 'json',
		cache: false,
            data: {
                lead_id: lead_id
            },
            success: function( responseObject ) {
                alert('success');
                $('#client_name').val( responseObject.client_name );
                $('#state').val(responseObject.state);

            },
		failure: function() 
		{
                alert('fail');
            }
        });
    }
    
    $('#fetchFields').click(function(e) {
        e.preventDefault();
        myrequest();
    });
$("#lead_id").bind("change", function(e)
{
  myrequest(); 
});
});

</script>

<table width="600" align ='center'>
<form action ='<?php echo $SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>' method='post'>

    <tr>
	<td>		
		<label for="lead_id">Lead id: </label>

		<input type="text" name="lead_id" id="lead_id">

		<button id="fetchFields">Fetch</button>
	</td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td>
		Agent: <select name="agent">
			<option value="">[select]</option>
			<?php foreach($this->agent_query as $agent){ ?>
		    <option value="<?php echo $agent['id']; ?>"><?php echo $agent['name'];?></option>
		    <?php } ?>
		</select>
	</td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td>
		<label for="client_name">Client Name:  </label>
		<input type="text" name="client_name" id="client_name">
	</td>
</tr>
    <tr>	
	<td>
		<label for="state">State: </label>
		<select name="state" id='state'>
		<option id='state' value='1'></option>
		</select>
	</td>
</tr>
    <tr>
	<td>
		# of Policies: 
		<select name="policies">
			<option value="1">1</option>
			<option value="2">2</option>
			<option value="3">3</option>
			<option value="4">4</option>
		</select>
	</td>
	</tr>		
<tr>
	<td>
		<input type="submit" value="NEXT" name="submit">
	</td>
</tr>

</form>
</table>