The 2026 Kansas gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 2026, to elect the next governor of Kansas. The primary elections took place on August 4, 2026.
Democrat Cindy Holscher was declared the winner on November 12, 2026, over Republican Ty Masterson. Holscher's victory was the first time a party won the governorship for the third consecutive time since 1970 when Democratic governor Robert Docking won his third of four two-year terms. It was also the first time that Kansas elected a governor of the same party as the outgoing governor since 1964, and the first time the Democrats have accomplished this. Holscher was the first Kansas gubernatorial candidate to receive over 50% of the vote since Republican Sam Brownback in 2010, and the first Democrat to do so since 2006.
Incumbent Democratic governor Laura Kelly was term-limited and ineligible to seek a third consecutive term. Kansas was one of five Democratic-held governorships up for election in states Donald Trump carried in the 2024 presidential election. Of these five, Kansas was the only state that Trump won by a double-digit margin, 57 percent to 41 percent. All five were successfully defended by the Democrats.
Background
Kansas has a long tradition of ticket-splitting at the gubernatorial level as compared to presidential winners. Despite the state's consistent majority support for Republican presidential nominees, Democratic candidates won the governor's office in most of the years since the late 1960s, reflecting a pattern of voters distinguishing between state executive and federal races.
This competitive tradition continued in the 2018 election, when Laura Kelly, a Kansas State Senator, won the open governor's seat in a favorable national environment during the 2018 midterms, and benefited from widespread dissatisfaction with the outgoing administration of Sam Brownback, who had resigned in January 2018 after being confirmed by the Senate as United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, having been nominated for that position in July 2017. Kelly won re-election in 2022 on the strength of her own personal popularity, with the negative reaction to the overturning of Roe v. Wade providing additional tailwind, amplified by the presence of an abortion referendum on the ballot a few months prior.
Since her re-election, Kelly saw a continued rise in personal popularity, and as of 2024 ranks among the ten most popular governors in the country, which some commentators attributed to her frequent use of her veto powers and extensive travel across the state.
While Democratic candidates have remained competitive at the gubernatorial level, winning most of the elections, the Republican Party historically dominated Kansas in federal and legislative politics. After the 2024 elections, Republicans maintained their 3–1 majority in Kansas's U.S. House delegation. Kansas had been represented in the U.S. Senate exclusively by Republicans from 1939 until Adam Hamilton's victory in the concurrent election in 2026. Both chambers of the Kansas Legislature also had Republican supermajorities. Since 1957, neither major political party has held the Kansas governor's office for longer than two consecutive terms, reflecting the ongoing competitiveness of the state's executive elections.
Democratic primary
Candidates
Nominee
- Cindy Holscher, state senator from the 8th district (2021–present)
- Running mate: KC Ohaebosim, state representative from the 89th district (2017–present)
Eliminated in primary
- Ethan Corson, state senator from the 7th district (2021–present)
- Running mate: Renee Duxler, president and CEO of the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce (2023–present)
- Curt Skoog, mayor of Overland Park (2021–present)
- Running mate: Jennifer Bacani McKenny, physician
Withdrawn
- Marty Tuley, teacher (failed to find running mate)
Declined
- Matt All, president and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas (2018–present)
- Dinah Sykes, minority leader of the Kansas Senate (2021–present) (running for insurance commissioner)
- David Toland, lieutenant governor of Kansas (2021–present) (endorsed Corson)
Endorsements
Ethan Corson
Declined to endorse
Republican primary
Candidates
Nominee
- Ty Masterson, president of the Kansas Senate (2021–present) from the 16th district (2009–present)
- Running mate: Jeff Klemp, state senator from the 5th district (2025–present)
Eliminated in primary
- Charlotte O'Hara, former Johnson County commissioner (2021–2025) and former state representative from the 17th district (2011–2013)
- Running mate: Michelle Dombrosky, member of the Kansas State Board of Education
- Nick Reinecker, restaurant manager and husband of Katy Reinecker
- Running mate: Katy Reinecker, restaurant manager and wife of Nick Reinecker
- Stacy Rogers, consignment sale business owner
- Running mate: Michael Smith, former mayor of Lansing
- Philip Sarnecki, financial services executive
- Running mate: Joy Eakins, former Wichita Schools board member (2013–2018)
- Vicki Schmidt, Kansas insurance commissioner (2019–present)
- Running mate: Joe Newland, president of the Kansas Farm Bureau (2022–present)
- Scott Schwab, Kansas secretary of state (2019–present)
- Running mate: Ken Rahjes, state representative from the 110th district (2016–present) (previously ran for secretary of state)
Withdrawn
- Jeff Colyer, former governor (2018–2019) (endorsed Masterson)
- Joy Eakins, former Wichita Schools board member (2013–2018) (unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor with Sarnecki)
Declined
- Ron Estes, U.S. representatives from KS-04 (2017–present)
- Jake LaTurner, U.S. representatives from KS-02 (2021–2025)
- Dayton Moore, former Kansas City Royals executive (2006–2022)
- Ken Rahjes, state representative from the 110th district (2016–present)
- Jon Rolph, member of the Kansas Board of Regents (2019–present)
Endorsements
Philip Sarnecki
- Mark Steffen, former SD-34 (2021–2025) (previously endorsed Colyer)
General election
Post-primary endorsements
Ty Masterson (R)