Democrats extended their surprising run of victories in traditionally Republican states after Cindy Holscher was officially declared the winner of Kansas’ gubernatorial election.
Holscher defeated Republican Ty Masterson, keeping the governor’s office in Democratic hands and adding to the party’s sweeping gains nationwide.
Before the Kansas result was finalized, Democrats had already won a majority of governorships across the country for the first time in 20 years. Holscher had claimed victory after Tuesday’s voting, but the race was not formally called until later.
The state senator campaigned on a pledge to pause the construction of new data centers while overcoming the millions of dollars Republicans spent supporting Masterson, who leads the GOP-controlled Kansas Senate.
Holscher will replace Democratic Governor Laura Kelly, who could not seek another term because of term limits.
“Kansans have sent a clear message that they want to keep our state moving forward,” Holscher said in a video posted online Tuesday, two days before the election was officially called.
“The work of preparing to lead has already begun.”
Masterson will continue serving as the Kansas Senate’s senior Republican leader.
Democrat Cindy Holscher was officially declared the winner of the Kansas governor’s race, extending her party’s strong performance in traditionally Republican states
Kansas also elected Democrat Adam Hamilton to the Senate, marking the party’s first victory in the state’s Senate race in nearly a century
He said the Republican-led Legislature would pursue property tax cuts — the central promise of his campaign — while also working to improve public safety and schools.
“The things we fought for are no less important today than they were yesterday,” Masterson said in a statement.
“This was a hard election for people who share our vision, here and across the country. But I believe in this state and in the people who live here, and that hasn’t changed.”
The same political momentum that carried Holscher to victory in Kansas’ closest governor’s contest since 1974 also helped Adam Hamilton, pastor of the nation’s largest United Methodist church, win the state’s first Democratic Senate race since 1932.
Kansas Democrats scored another major upset when Chris Mann defeated state Attorney General Kris Kobach. Kobach is known for backing strict voter identification laws and served as vice chair of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 commission on election fraud.
With Hamilton’s Senate victory and the election of Wichita state Representative KC Ohaebosim as lieutenant governor on Holscher’s ticket, Democrats won four statewide races in Kansas for the first time since 1958. Ohaebosim is the state’s first Black statewide elected official since 1887.
Masterson had entered the general election with reasons to be hopeful after surviving a divisive August primary and securing Trump’s endorsement.
For six decades, whenever a Kansas governor retired or was barred from seeking another term, the opposing party’s candidate went on to win the following election.
President Donald Trump listens as Kansas gubernatorial candidate Ty Masterson speaks during a campaign rally at Heartland Credit Union Arena
A proposed moratorium on new artificial intelligence data centers became a defining issue of Holscher’s campaign
Kansas had never before elected Democratic governors in consecutive terms.
The Republican Governors Association spent $19 million on television and digital advertising, according to ad-tracking company AdImpact, portraying Holscher as an extreme liberal.
Although the candidates raised similar amounts during the fall campaign, Republicans outspent Democrats by more than three to one overall.
Holscher also initially lacked the full support of Kelly, who had backed another Democratic state senator and previously questioned whether Holscher was too liberal to win in November.
Kelly eventually endorsed Holscher and filmed a campaign video for her, although she first appeared in a spot supporting Iowa’s incoming governor, Rob Sand.
A proposed statewide pause on new artificial intelligence data centers became one of the main pillars of Holscher’s campaign.
She argued that Kansans wanted safeguards for the facilities’ energy and water consumption, along with guarantees that the projects would deliver jobs to local communities.
“It cuts across party lines,” she told reporters in Topeka near the end of the campaign. “The people are asking for reasonable things.”
A former manager at Sprint Corp., Holscher lives in the Kansas City, Kansas, suburbs of Johnson County, a region that expanded rapidly after World War II. The state’s most populous county is home to roughly 23 percent of Kansas’ two million voters.
Johnson County has shifted steadily toward the Democratic Party since Trump first ran for president in 2016. That year, Holscher won a seat in the Kansas House before being elected to the state Senate in 2020.
She received more than 60 percent of the vote in Johnson County, helping counter Masterson’s commanding leads across heavily Republican rural communities. Hamilton, who also lives in Johnson County, relied on a similar coalition to secure his victory.