Cindy Holscher Wins Kansas Governorship
The Democrat defeated Ty Masterson to keep the state in blue, capping a night where Kansas voters also elected a new senator and attorney general.
By Ella Cox ·
Democrat Cindy Holscher has been elected the next governor of Kansas.
The Associated Press called the race for Holscher on Thursday, ending a wait that began after her declared victory on Tuesday. She defeated Republican Ty Masterson, the president of the state Senate, in a contest that kept the executive office under Democratic control.
Holscher’s victory extends a wave of Democratic wins across the country. Prior to this race, Democrats had already secured a majority of governorships in the United States for the first time in 20 years. The party also gained two other high-profile offices in Kansas on Tuesday. Adam Hamilton, a pastor and Senate candidate, won the seat to become the first Democrat elected to the Kansas Senate since 1932. In the race for attorney general, Chris Mann defeated Kris Kobach, a former vice chair of the 2017 commission on election fraud.
The campaign for governor saw a massive spending disparity. According to the ad tracking firm AdImpact, the Republican Governors Association spent $19 million on television and digital advertising. Republicans outspent Democrats more than three to one overall, a disparity that Holscher overcame despite early doubts within her own party. Outgoing Governor Laura Kelly initially supported a different candidate and suggested Holscher might be too liberal to win. Kelly later endorsed Holscher and produced a video supporting her bid.
Holscher made a state moratorium on building new data centers for artificial intelligence a central part of her platform. She argued that residents want limits on energy and water usage and want assurance that these facilities create local jobs. “It cuts across party lines,” Holscher told reporters in Topeka late in the race. “The people are asking for reasonable things.”
Masterson, who secured President Donald Trump’s endorsement after a contentious primary in August, campaigned on cutting property taxes. He had hoped to break a 60-year pattern where the opposing party wins the governorship when the incumbent is term-limited or retires. Instead, Holscher capitalized on shifting demographics in Johnson County, the state’s most populous area. She captured more than 60% of the vote in that county, offsetting Masterson’s large margins in rural areas.
Holscher will succeed Kelly, who is term-limited. The new governor is a former manager for Sprint Corp. who has lived in the Kansas City suburbs since the 1990s. Johnson County has become increasingly Democratic since 2016, a trend that Holscher and Hamilton used to secure their respective victories.
