Senate President Ty Masterson wades into crowded Kansas governor’s race
Senate President Ty Masterson launched his bid Sunday to become the next governor of Kansas.
Masterson, an Andover Republican, has defined himself in opposition to Gov. Laura Kelly over the last four years, enacting legislation despite the Democratic governor’s vetoes and working to minimize her role in critical activities, such as shaping the state budget.
“Tangling with Laura Kelly these last few years has taught me I can only do so much from the position I’m in,” said Masterson, 55, in a campaign video. “Big change comes from the big seat.”
He joins a burgeoning field of GOP hopefuls alongside Secretary of State Scott Schwab, former Gov. Jeff Colyer, Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt and an array of lesser-known candidates.
Overland Park state Sen. Cindy Holscher is the only prominent Democrat who has filed to run so far.
Masterson and his GOP rivals hope to capitalize on Kansas’ decades-long tradition of trading off executive power between Republican and Democratic governors without electing candidates of the same party consecutively.
“In the Legislature, I fought for $2 billion in tax cuts,” Masterson said in his promo video. “I protected my girls from boys in their sports. I protected our minors from mutilating transgender surgery. I’ve improved the security in our elections, and I’ve worked hard to get the woke left ideology off our college campuses.”
After a bitter 2024 campaign that saw Kansas Republicans expand their veto-proof supermajorities in both chambers, Masterson made big promises at the outset of the 2025 session about property tax relief.
But division between the GOP caucuses in the House and Senate derailed systemic changes to the tax structure, with each chamber rejecting the other’s plan for reigning in soaring valuations. The only property tax reform passed into law in 2025 was a 1.5-mill reduction to the state levy.
Masterson defended the cut as “meaningful relief” in April but said he wished the Legislature had been able to accomplish more.
In 2025, Masterson also oversaw the repeal of the three-day grace period for late-arriving mail ballots and helped place a constitutional amendment proposal on the ballot asking voters to switch to directly electing Kansas Supreme Court justices. That question will appear on the ballot next August when voters choose their Republican and Democratic nominees for governor.
In a press statement, the Democratic Governor’s Association for which Kelly currently serves as chair said Masterson’s entrance confirms the GOP primary will be “defined by extreme positions that will drag Kansas backwards.”
“In the Legislature, Masterson not only voted to enact Sam Brownback’s failed tax experiment that left schools underfunded, gutted infrastructure funding, created a major budget crisis, and drove Kansas’ economy into the ground — he even tried to block the bipartisan effort to repeal the devastating law,” said DGA spokesperson Johanna Warshaw.
Masterson’s track record
Masterson joined the Kansas Senate in 2009 after serving two terms in the House. Before entering state politics, he was a member of the Andover City Council.
Records show Masterson filed for bankruptcy in 2010 after his construction business went under — a fact that drew scrutiny in 2014 when he was appointed to chair the Senate Ways and Means Committee, which handles the state budget. At the time, Masterson blamed his financial troubles on an unscrupulous employee.
Outside of the Legislature, Masterson now serves as executive director of GoCreate, a collaborative workspace at Wichita State University funded by Koch Industries.
Masterson is also on the board of directors for the American Legislative Exchange Council, a coalition of conservative state lawmakers who draft and share model legislation for introduction in statehouses around the country.
In recent months, Masterson has taken an active role in attempting to recruit the Kansas City Chiefs across the Missouri border.
He claimed credit for convincing Chiefs President Mark Donovan to write a letter requesting an extension to the deadline for locking in a Kansas deal, and he’s accused Kelly’s administration of prioritizing the Royals in negotiations while neglecting the NFL team.
Masterson used his campaign launch to praise President Donald Trump and suggest that Kansas must be delivered from bad policy and dark forces conspiring against it.
“We need to save Kansas from high, out-of-control property taxes, from rising crime from the prior open border,” Masterson said. “We need to save Kansas from government that overreaches and overspends, and we need to save our kids from a radical ideology that’s penetrated our culture and our education systems.”
This story was originally published July 21, 2025 at 10:24 AM.
