Kansas voters to decide governor’s race: Democrat Cindy Holscher or GOP’s Ty Masterson
Democrat Cindy Holscher debates Republican Ty Masterson on Sept. 12, 2026, at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson. The two state senators were locked in a tight race heading into Election Day. (Photo by Anna Kaminski/Kansas Reflector)
WICHITA — Kansas voters hoped to resolve Tuesday the political fates of gubernatorial candidates Ty Masterson and Cindy Holscher in a campaign fueled by affordability concerns and conflict over surging property taxes, emergence of data centers and state budget priorities.
The contest developed into a tightrope as President Donald Trump twice campaigned in Kansas on behalf of Masterson, who presides as president of the Kansas Senate. Trump was dismissive of consumers’ complaints about high costs. Holscher, one of Masterson’s colleagues in the Senate, won support from Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and fought to bring the race into toss-up territory. She pushed a narrative that emphasized bitter inflation rates.
Holscher, who grew up in Missouri as the granddaughter of tenant farmers, said she acquired a tough work ethic and relied on that instinct when fighting for working families, public schools, reproductive freedom and healthcare access. She blamed Masterson for failure to take the bite out of property taxes and called for a moratorium on new data center projects.
“Property taxes are too high,” said Holscher, the Overland Park Democrat. “Health care is too expensive. Why are all the hospitals closing?”
In a Johnson County rally Monday, she claimed Masterson fumbled his role as Senate president and missed opportunities to make life more affordable for average Kansans.
“He’s been busy cutting favors for himself, billionaires and special-interest donors instead of delivering results for everyday Kansans,” Holscher said. “Ty has failed to lower property taxes. He has refused to expand Medicaid and he has done nothing to make life more affordable.”
Masterson, a lifelong Kansan who directs a Koch-funded business laboratory at Wichita State University, said the 2026 gubernatorial election offered voters a stark choice between a proven GOP conservative and a Democrat with socialist instincts.
“I’ve never seen it more clearly,” Masterson told Johnson County voters on eve of Election Day. “The direction she wants to go, it’s in the voting record, she wants boys in girls sports, in women’s bathrooms, trans surgery for children.”
Masterson, who championed devastating 2012 state income tax cuts signed into law by GOP Gov. Sam Brownback, said Holscher was all wrong on tax policy.
“She voted against taking tax off Social Security, taking tax off food,” Masterson said. “She voted against every effort we made to try to constrain property taxes. Her answer to everything is to try to legalize marijuana and expand Medicaid.”
Masterson blamed high fuel prices on environmental radicals who stood in the way of refinery expansion in the United States. Attempts to blame Trump for gasoline and diesel price spikes due to his war with Iran was simply wrong, he said.
On Monday, the latest New York Times poll gave Holscher a slim 1 percentage point edge over Masterson.
Trump dove into the governor’s race at a Park Hill rally, which was the first of two presidential rallies in Kansas leading up to Election Day. He urged MAGA adherents to vote against Holscher.
“We must also defeat crazy Cindy Holscher,” the president said. “Cindy Holscher is the most radical candidate to ever run for Kansas governor. I would call her a radical lunatic.”
Kelly, who didn’t endorse Holscher until after the Democratic senator convincingly won the August primary, said she wanted the next governor to care about all Kansans.
“I want somebody who will protect our schools. I want somebody who understands and will work for and always pay attention to our rural communities,” Kelly said. “And, as I’m sure you’ve heard me say before, I want somebody who doesn’t look like a mob boss.”