SerpApi.Org
Kansas’ three Democratic governor hopefuls dug in on the issues and took shots at each other’s integrity and effectiveness in an hourlong Tuesday-evening television debate hosted by Topeka’s WIBW.
Johnson County state Sens. Cindy Holscher and Ethan Corson clashed over their voting records and new dark money group spending in the race, and accused each other of being beholden to special interests.
Overland Park Mayor Curt Skoog criticized “bickering” lawmakers and said Kansas needs to put a mayor in charge to get results in Topeka.
With two weeks to go before the Aug. 4 primary, candidates faced questions about how they would handle an array of issues as governor, from tax policy and the cost of living to marijuana legalization and rural hospitals at the brink of closure.
Data centers
The biggest policy divide of the night came on a question about data centers. Last year, Holscher and Corson both voted to approve a 20-year sales tax exemptions for developers who commit to investing $250 million and creating at least 20 permanent jobs.
Holscher has since reversed her stance and now supports a statewide moratorium on new data center projects.
“This beautiful economic picture was painted (when tax breaks were proposed in 2025) that it would bring jobs and economic growth,” Holscher said.
“It’s a very different picture a year later than what it seemed like initially,” she added, pointing to the reality of hyperscale facilities’ prodigious resource consumption and saying that without state intervention, local governments are “getting steamrolled” by big tech companies.
Corson framed Holscher’s evolving position on data centers as a convenient reversal now that she’s running for governor.
“Let’s be clear about one thing. Data centers are coming to Kansas because Sen. Holscher voted for Senate Bill 98 to bring data centers to Kansas,” Corson said.
Hoscher retorted that she wouldn’t “dig in (her) heels on a bad vote.”
Corson said he stands by his support for the tax breaks, but that Kansas needs “real, meaningful guardrails” at the state level. He wants to only allow closed-loop data centers, which use significantly less water than standard evaporative cooling systems. He also wants a law that puts companies on the hook for removing data centers once they become defunct.
Skoog described data centers as “a key part of the technology infrastructure of tomorrow,” saying they need to go in the right places and that local governments are more qualified to make decisions than the state about whether individual projects make sense.
“As governor, my Department of Commerce will lead the conversation statewide to help local communities be informed, make sure they understand the resources being demanded for those projects and also help communities negotiate development agreements,” Skoog said.
Affordability
Candidates also shared their ideas for helping Kansans navigate the higher-than-usual cost of everyday goods and services.
“The best tax policy in addressing affordability is economic growth. So, number one, we need to focus on that,” Skoog said, adding that the state must raise its “embarrassing” $7.25 minimum wage and expand its property-tax rebate offerings.
“In Overland Park, what we have done is we have given property-tax rebates to those that are in need financially and for those qualifying by age and veteran status,” he said.
Corson said raising the minimum wage and building more housing are both part of the solution for improving affordability. He also proposed a child tax credit, a $250 vehicle registration tax credit and the renewal of Kansas’ tax credit rebate program for renters.
Corson said Kansas needs a “new generation” of leadership with personal experience navigating the financial strains on working families.
“Every single month, my wife, Jen, and I write a check to pay back our student loans,” Corson said. “We weren’t able to buy our first house until our mid-30s. Every single month for the last seven years, we’ve been paying for childcare for our two boys. We pay our mortgage and make two car payments.”
Holscher said Kansas tax policy has created a “patchwork quilt of exemptions that have led to a very regressive system.” She touted her work helping to craft the bill that undid former Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget-imperiling tax cuts, and she said the state should expand its housing stock and crack down on predatory rental fees.
“I’m talking about fees that people have to pay when they just fill out an application to potentially rent an apartment,” Holscher said.
“And there’s no protection from those late fees,” she added. “We have to address that and put a cap on it. Other states have done this.”
Special interests
The most heated exchange of the night came when Holscher and Corson traded barbs about each other’s authenticity.
“I’ve heard Sen. Corson say he will be a champion of the working families and the working people,” Holscher said. “But what I do want to point out is that while he claims to be a lifelong Kansan, close to ten years were spent on the East Coast, most of that time as a corporate attorney representing big pharma, big tobacco, companies like that.”
Corson left his private practice to join the U.S. Commerce Department, where he held two high-level roles during the Obama administration before returning to Kansas.
Holscher alleged that Corson, who is endorsed by the campaign finance reform group End Citizens United, “brought in a dark money group” - Heartland Promise - to run negative ads about her. The group also bought the web domain CindyHolscher.com and used it to accuse Holscher of “lying to win votes.”
She challenged Corson to denounce the group and call on it to take down its “fraudulent website” and reveal its donors.
“My campaign is not running those ads,” Corson responded before going on the offensive against Holscher.
“Sen. Holscher claims to be an outsider. She claims to be fighting special interests. She claims to be taking on big corporations,” he said. “The facts are, when you look at her campaign finance report, her career has been funded in significant part by big tobacco, by big pharma, by gambling and gaming interests.”
A nearly identical claim about Holscher’s donors is made on the Heartland Promise website.
Skoog described the exchange as an example of the dysfunction that has mired progress in the Capitol.
“The bickering that happens in the Legislature is not what a mayor does,” he said. “It’s not how we move the state forward.”
