Kansas’s two major-party candidates for governor, Republican Ty Masterson and Democrat Cindy Holscher, sat for back-to-back one-on-one interviews at a Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association (KIOGA) forum in Wichita on August 24, 2026, laying out sharply different visions on property taxes, Medicaid expansion, and the state’s billion-dollar incentive deal to bring the Kansas City Chiefs across the state line. Masterson called property taxes a “crisis” and pushed for a Colorado-style cap on local tax growth, while dismissing Medicaid expansion as a proven failure for saving rural hospitals. Holscher countered that unfunded special education mandates and “billionaire giveaways” are driving property taxes up, and called Medicaid expansion — which Kansas has never adopted — the single biggest thing the state could do for its at-risk rural hospitals. Both candidates defended parts of, and raised concerns about, the Chiefs stadium incentive package, but for different reasons. The forum, originally planned as a debate, was restructured into separate interviews after the candidates agreed to postpone their formal debate to the Kansas State Fair. Assistance from Claude AI.
About the Event
The forum took place at Century II in Wichita, hosted by the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association and moderated by Michael Schwanke, a longtime KWCH anchor and investigative reporter. Organizers originally planned a traditional debate, but the candidates agreed late in the week prior to hold off on a formal debate until the Kansas State Fair. Instead, each candidate sat for an approximately 20-minute individual interview with Schwanke, who asked both candidates largely the same set of questions — some developed independently by his KWCH team, others submitted by KIOGA members. KIOGA itself had no role in writing or selecting the questions. The candidates drew backstage to determine speaking order; Holscher went first, followed by Masterson.
Participants
- Cindy Holscher — Kansas State Senator; Democratic candidate for Governor of Kansas
- Ty Masterson — Kansas State Senator; Republican candidate for Governor of Kansas
- Michael Schwanke — Moderator; anchor, KWCH Eyewitness News (5:00, 6:00, 6:30, and 10:00 broadcasts) and FactFinder 12 Investigator
- KIOGA Host (unnamed in the transcript) — Opened the event on behalf of the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association and the KIOGA PAC
Taxes and the State Budget
Holscher said the state has “gotten into a rut” of offering large incentive packages geared toward corporations and billionaires, leaving little left over for small businesses and communities. Asked about further budget cuts, she pointed to what she characterized as damage already done by cost-cutting, including reduced SNAP benefits, and said her focus would be on building revenue responsibly rather than cutting further.
Masterson said his top priority would be creating “tax parity” with surrounding states so residents and employers have no incentive to relocate across state lines. He acknowledged Kansas has cut taxes in recent years but noted the state built up large reserve funds following COVID-era stimulus, and argued continued restraint on spending is necessary. Asked which specific taxes he’d still like to cut, he said “every area,” singling out severance tax and capital gains tax alongside property tax.
Property Taxes
Holscher argued that recent legislative property tax bills have mostly been “gimmicks” that shift the burden rather than reduce it. She tied rising property taxes directly to what she said is chronic underfunding of special education — unfunded, in her telling, since 2011 despite a federal mandate — which pushes costs onto local governments and, in turn, onto property tax bills. Her fix: stop tax breaks she described as benefiting the wealthiest Kansans and fully fund general and special education.
Masterson called the property tax situation a “crisis,” arguing it taxes people on “unrealized gains” and is squeezing elderly homeowners on fixed incomes out of their houses while pricing younger Kansans out of the market — he cited the average first-time homebuyer age in Kansas as now over 40. He said he wants a Taxpayer Bill of Rights modeled on Colorado’s, which would cap tax increases at the rate of population growth plus inflation without voter approval, and wants to extend similar constraints to local governments, while still allowing revenue growth in fast-growing areas.
Economic Development and New Investment
Asked what would attract new investment to Kansas over the next decade, the candidates diverged sharply.
Holscher pointed to legalizing cannabis, noting polling that shows over 70% public support and arguing the market already exists — she said 80% of the cars in dispensary parking lots just across the state line in Missouri have Kansas plates. She noted the Kansas House has passed medical cannabis legislation, but it has stalled in the Senate. She also called for stronger “guardrails” on data center development, citing concerns about excessive water and energy use driving up consumer utility bills.
Masterson pointed to Kansas’s traditional strengths — agriculture, aviation, and energy — plus opportunities in the medical sector. He highlighted ethanol as a way to create new markets for Kansas farmers and boost fuel sales. He tied broader investment attraction to lowering energy input costs for producers, including electricity costs and severance taxes.
Oil and Gas Competitiveness, and Renewable Energy Tax Parity
Schwanke asked both candidates what the state can do to keep its more than 1,000 small oil and gas businesses competitive amid declining production and rising costs, and whether wind and solar producers should pay taxes comparable to traditional energy producers as those industries expand.
Holscher focused her answer on rising electricity rates, which she said are a growing burden on oil and gas pumping operations as well as consumers statewide. She said the industry needs to be “safeguarded” from rising electricity costs and called oil and gas a lasting, critical part of the Kansas economy, but did not directly address the wind-and-solar tax parity portion of the question in her response.
Masterson gave a direct answer on tax parity: “yes,” wind and solar should pay comparable taxes, arguing energy policy “shouldn’t be picking winners and losers.” On the broader competitiveness question, he flagged Kansas’s large number of “marginal” or stripper wells — small, low-output wells that stop being profitable if prices or costs move against them — and said the state needs to find ways, whether through severance tax policy or energy costs, to keep incentivizing those wells to keep producing.
The Chiefs Stadium Deal
Both candidates were asked whether Kansas’s multibillion-dollar incentive package to bring the Kansas City Chiefs to Kansas was the right use of taxpayer money, and where the line should be between a business-friendly state and giving away too much to corporations.
Holscher raised two specific objections. First, she said the Hunt family’s planned $1 billion entertainment district includes no guarantees for local Wyandotte County businesses to participate. Second, she raised concerns about wages for long-term facility workers, noting comparable workers in Missouri make more than $15 an hour while Kansas’s minimum wage is $7.25, and said the bill contains no wage guardrails. She also argued that because the Hunt family — which she described as Texas billionaires — won’t pay property taxes under the deal, it undercuts the state’s ability to bring property taxes down for everyone else.
Masterson pushed back on the framing of the deal as a “giveaway,” explaining that STAR Bonds only redirect future growth in tax revenue and don’t raise taxes or create liability for individual citizens. He argued the deal will bring thousands of jobs and billions in private investment, plus hundreds of millions in new state income tax revenue — pointing out that visiting teams’ players and staff pay Kansas income tax on a share of their earnings under existing tax rules — along with expanded capacity for concerts and other large events. On the property tax concern, he characterized any shortfall in local property tax revenue as a Wyandotte County government allocation issue rather than a flaw in the state deal itself, citing the Kansas Speedway’s STAR Bond history: he said the same 1,200 acres that were once grassland now generate roughly $30 million a year in property tax revenue and a billion dollars in local taxable sales.
Retaining Young Professionals and Skilled Workers
Holscher said her own three children, who attended Kansas public schools, received stronger college offers from out-of-state schools. She argued Kansas has fallen behind neighboring states that have raised the minimum wage — some more than once — expanded Medicaid, and legalized cannabis, all of which she said make it harder to attract and keep young workers. Her broader point: helping working families thrive is what keeps them, and their employers, in Kansas.
Masterson tied retention to both tax parity and job creation, saying “people move for two reasons mainly: jobs and relationships,” and joked that since he’s “not running a dating service,” the state’s job is to focus on the jobs. He pointed to deals like the Chiefs stadium and a Panasonic plant as examples of job creation that keeps young Kansans in the state, arguing that workforce training naturally follows when the jobs are already there.
One Promise, and How to Be Held Accountable
Holscher committed to making life more affordable for Kansans across the state — in housing, groceries, and medication costs — saying that goal would guide her focus as governor.
Masterson committed to “putting more money in your pockets” through lower taxes and reduced regulation. He also pledged to keep streets safer, framing it as backing law enforcement over “protesters and criminals,” and to root out what he called waste, fraud, and abuse in state government, citing Kansas’s SNAP (food stamp) program, which he said faces tens of millions of dollars in federal fines over administrative errors.
Rural Healthcare
Both candidates were asked about a recent study finding a large share of Kansas hospitals at risk of closure (the candidates cited slightly different figures — Holscher referenced roughly 80% at risk with about 30% at immediate risk, while Masterson referenced roughly 70% at risk with about 30 at immediate risk).
Holscher made Medicaid expansion her central answer, saying Kansas has forfeited more than $7 billion in taxpayer funds by not expanding, money she said is instead going to other states. She cited polling support above 75% across the political spectrum and said rural hospitals and chambers of commerce have both called for expansion. She connected it to mental health care access as well, and said Kansas has repeatedly spent more money on legislative workarounds than expansion itself would cost. She spoke about coming from an area that lost a hospital, describing the loss of both healthcare access and jobs that followed.
Masterson rejected Medicaid expansion as a solution, arguing that in states that expanded more than a decade ago, it has not been shown to save rural hospitals. He argued expansion primarily benefits able-bodied adults without dependents, which he said displaces resources meant for the disabled, frail, and elderly. He pointed to state-level steps he’s supported instead — provider tax assessments and changes to reimbursement rates — and cited a roundtable he held with about 16 rural hospital representatives at Hays Medical Center, saying none of them identified Medicaid expansion as the answer.
Closing Arguments
Holscher described herself as focused on serving “the people” rather than corporate interests, citing her role co-founding the Women’s Bipartisan Caucus, which she credited with ending what she called the “Brownback experiment” in state tax policy. She framed the race as a choice between a decade-long record on school funding and constituent responsiveness versus what she called continued service to corporate interests and billionaires. Her closing priorities: affordable housing, healthcare, childcare, and lower property taxes.
Masterson pointed to his working relationships with the federal government, saying he has an opportunity to bring federal “on-shoring” investment specifically to Kansas. He framed the race in stark partisan terms, describing the Democratic Party as “the party of open borders and mail-in elections and fraud” against a Republican Party he described as standing for “lower taxes, safer streets, and accountability.” He also referenced a sitting Democratic governor who, he said, has called the Democratic nominee “too extreme for Kansas.”
Source
Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association. Gubernatorial Candidate Forum with State Senators Ty Masterson and Cindy Holscher. Moderated by Michael Schwanke, KWCH-TV, Century II, Wichita, KS, 24 Aug. 2026. Transcript.