Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly is approaching the end of her second term, and two candidates are vying to replace her ahead of next year’s legislative session: Republican state Sen. Ty Masterson and Democratic state Sen. Cindy Holscher.
Holscher has served in the Kansas Senate since 2021, and spent four years before that as a lawmaker representing Overland Park in the Kansas House. She is running on a platform that includes support for increased special education funding, Medicaid expansion, a moratorium on data centers and the legalization of recreational marijuana.
If elected, Holscher would likely have to deal with a strong conservative majority — potentially even a supermajority — in both chambers of the Kansas Legislature. That makes working across the aisle a critical skillset for a Democratic governor.
She told KCUR's Up To Date that she hopes to use a collaborative, bipartisan approach to pass bills on issues like Medicaid expansion.
“What I'm working on in terms of going forward is emphasizing the fact that without Medicaid expansion, our rural hospitals are six times more likely to close,” she said. “I'm working to get our advocates back more in the business of educating our new legislators coming in. There hasn't been as much attention on this recently, and the fact of the matter is, we're seeing now more of a push coming from the people — not just the chambers, but the people as well — who are saying they need access to health care.”
KCUR has reached out to the Masterson campaign for an interview, but has not received a response.
Data centers have become one of the biggest political issues in the country over the last year, due to their water usage, strain on the electrical grid, strain on property values, and tapping of public tax incentives. Holscher says she supports a moratorium on new data center developments in Kansas.
“I've asked for a pause, essentially, to get everybody, all the different parties, on the same page," Holscher said. "Because after doing over 80 town halls across the state, I was hearing from the people in terms of their concern for potential depletion or polluting of their water, jacking up of utility bills, and the fact that in some areas, when some of these hyperscale data centers have come into communities, the jobs didn't manifest.”
Kansas is among a small minority of states without legalized medical marijuana, especially in contrast to both neighboring Missouri and Colorado. As governor, Holscher said it's one of her priorities to legalize the drug not just for medical use, but recreationally as well.
“All of the states around us have done it,” she explained. “Sometimes my peers across the aisle will say, ‘Well, we don't want cannabis here.’ The fact of the matter is, it's already here. If you drive by the parking lots of the dispensaries along State Line, you will find a lot of Kansas plates there. So again, cannabis is already in Kansas. We're just not getting the revenue for it, nor do we have our guardrails in place.”
In counties around Kansas, rising property taxes are a major concern for homeowners.
Masterson supports a property tax assessed valuation cap on local governments of 3% growth year over year.
Holscher does not support that plan, and instead has proposed reducing the burden on school districts — which rely heavily on local property taxes — by fully funding special education.
Kansas law specifies that the state has a legal obligation to fund special education, and several school districts are considering legal action against the state for its yearslong failure to do so.
“A lot of folks elected to the legislature really don't have interest in funding of our public schools,” Holscher said. “Over 90% of our kids in Kansas attend public schools. It is absolutely important to them, their families, and their communities. You know, I'm a product of public education. I'm pretty much the poster child in terms of what a public education, as well as a good union job, will do for a family and raise them out of poverty.”
Holscher points to the revenue that could be gained through marijuana legalization as a way to help pay for education and other programs. Next door in Missouri last year, sales taxes on recreational marijuana sales generated $255 million in revenue.
- State Sen. Cindy Holscher, Democratic nominee for Kansas governor
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