Democrats in governor’s race use debate stage to spotlight affordability, health care, rural Kansas

Three candidates for Kansas governor shared issues the state's residents face at the Kansas Democratic Party's annual meeting on March 8, 2026. From left, moderator Adam Orduna, Sen. Ethan Corson, Sen. Cindy Holscher and Marty Tuley. (Photo by Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — Three Democratic candidates for governor highlighted their experience and concerns they say Kansans want addressed by their state’s next leader — affordability, health care and supporting rural areas.

Sen. Ethan Corson, Sen. Cindy Holscher and Marty Tuley took the stage at the close of the Kansas Democratic Party’s three-day annual convention on Sunday, held at Townsite Topeka, to convince attendees they are the party’s best bet for hanging onto the office.

While Corson and Holscher bring experience as state legislators to the race, Tuley acknowledged he was a “third wheel.”

“I’m a different kind of Democrat,” he said. “I’ve got a very different kind of background than most traditional politicians. It’s probably my best attribute.”

Tuley, a Lawrence personal trainer, said his entrepreneurial business background — he took out his first Small Business Administration loan at age 23 — and early life as the son of two public school teachers and working on his grandparent’s farm give him an understanding of what Kansans need and want.

Corson touted his government experience, pointing to a stint in Washington, D.C., as chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Commerce, and then heading up the Kansas Democratic Party when U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids and Gov. Laura Kelly were elected in 2018.

“They showed that Kansas voters will elect moderate leaders who are focused on getting results and working across the aisle,” Corson said, adding that he has endorsements from Kelly, former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and organized labor.

Holscher, who said she had more than 150 endorsements from leaders throughout the state, shared details of her political career, including the fact that she has consistently won in a red district. 

“I have very humble beginnings,” she said. “I’m the granddaughter of tenant farmers and very proudly say to you that I’m a first-generation college graduate. Because of that, because of public education, a strong union job, that is what enabled my family to rise up out of poverty.”

She also highlighted the importance of the upcoming election cycle.

“We’ve got to flip some seats. This is unsustainable, this supermajority,” she said, referring to the GOP stronghold on the Legislature. “They are working to take away voting rights, reproductive health care. They’re working to take away our schools. And every day that they are in power and control this Legislature, we are getting closer to them reaching their agenda.”

Sen. Ethan Corson, right, says his experience at the U.S. Department of Commerce, along with serving as a state senator, prepares him to be the next Kansas governor. Event moderator Adam Orduna is pictured to the left. (Photo by Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector)

Affordability

Each candidate stressed the need to make life more affordable for Kansans, from taxes to housing to raising wages to increasing access to child care.

“We’ve got to lower housing costs,” Holscher said. “We have an affordability crisis when it comes to housing, and I’ll tell you, there are nuances to it. In particular, in Wichita, we have a landlord that owns a third of the property there, and there are no caps on late fees when someone’s late on their rent.”

She also cited reducing health care costs as a priority, raising the minimum wage and making child care more affordable.

Corson talked about the “working families agenda” he introduced this session and criticized the Republican-led Legislature’s focus on other topics.

“In Topeka there were so many folks focused on these culture war issues and not focused on how to help working families,” he said, adding that his agenda proposes tax cuts that affect working families, including renters and homeowners, young couples starting out and vehicle owners.

Tuley said he supports paying for school lunches, which would lighten the burden on families, and wants to see teachers paid more.

“We also have to focus on small business,” he said. “Affordability and small business go hand in hand. This is a small business state, and small business is how we rebuild rural Kansas.”

Sen. Cindy Holscher talked about her youth growing up on a farm and roots that give her a close connection to everyday Kansans at the Kansas Democratic Party’s annual conference on March 8, 2026. (Photo by Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector)

Health care

The candidates expressed concern about Kansas’ rural health system, where hospitals are in the red and see little hope for coming out of the losses with federal government cuts and the state’s failure to expand Medicaid.

“Kansans should be able to get the care that they need without going broke and without driving for hours to see a doctor,” Corson said. “Right now, we have major challenges in our health care system because of the failures in Washington.”

Kansans have lost health insurance and the state has the largest number of hospitals that are at a high risk of closure, he said. While campaigning across the state, he said, he met with a hospital official in southwest Kansas who said the hospital hasn’t been profitable since 2017.

All three candidates said they would fight for Medicaid expansion.

Corson said he would make sure rural hospitals and care systems receive needed dollars from the federal Rural Health Care Transformation Program and work on ways to get more providers to rural Kansas.

“Politicians are making dangerous cuts to our programs, Medicaid and Social Security. That’s hurting us, and with the expiration of ACA tax credits, that’s a huge threat,” Holscher said. “As governor, I will push back and pull every lever out there to protect our people and to bring health care and what we need across the state.”

She also said it’s important to address issues like maternal and infant mortality, and health disparities in Kansas, such as Black women experiencing higher maternal morbidity rates.

Tuley, in talking about women’s health care issues, said the upcoming election is critical to protecting the vote Kansans made in 2022 to retain a woman’s constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.

“If we don’t elect a Democrat in the governor’s big chair, that legislation is going to come under attack right from the get go, and it’s going to be vicious, and it’s not going to stop,” he said. “Republicans will try their damnedest to legislate it so much that it’ll be impossible to get an abortion in this state.”

Gubernatorial candidate Marty Tuley tells how his experience as an entrepreneur and problem-solver in multiple business roles prepares him to lead the state at the Kansas Democratic Party’s annual convention on March 8, 2026. (Photo by Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector)

Rural Kansas

All three candidates talked about how tariffs levied by President Donald Trump increased costs for farmers and ranchers and eliminated product markets.

“If the federal administration had just done nothing, it would have been a good year for most farmers,” Corson said. “This is a completely self-inflicted wound that the federal government has put on Kansas farmers and farmers around the country.”

He said his skills with international markets at the U.S. Commerce Department would be an asset as it is “critically important” for the governor to understand the ins and outs of the international market.

Holscher mentioned legalizing medicinal cannabis, which could allow a new crop to bolster state agriculture, as well as developing strategies for new markets and product development.