Senate President Ty Masterson listens during a hearing on Oct. 2, 2024. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)
Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab made the headlines he expected from announcing his run for governor 22 months before the 2026 general election.
But the instant I heard about his announcement, my thoughts turned to the man whose ambitions for the job have been gossiped about for years: Senate President Ty Masterson. As a high-profile, sharply dressed Republican from outside Wichita, Masterson has the ambition and connections necessary to mount a run.
But will he?
I reached out to Masterson’s spokesman, Mike Pirner, and asked directly. He responded quickly with an artful dodge.
“President Masterson is honored to be part of the discussion regarding the governor’s race, but it is way too premature to be talking about that with the session kicking off,” Pirner said. “We have a lot of work to do in the next 90 days.”
Once we make it through the next three months, though, anything could happen.
Incoming House Minority Leader Brandon Woodard voiced the commonly held assumption in his Kansas Reflector podcast interview with me this month: “Realistically, the senate president is exploring a campaign for governor. When we’ve seen folks like that run for statewide office, they usually use their legislative chamber as a vehicle to push for issues that they want to talk about on the campaign trail.”
Schwab has the benefit of leading a state agency. He’s directly elected by the public and can set his own agenda without wrangling an unruly bunch of lawmakers.
That has put him in a commanding position, leveling robust defenses of the state’s elections processes and shutting down conspiracy theorists. I’ve praised him in past columns (while occasionally sounding a skeptical note). In his announcement, he was able to highlight the Kansas public’s apparent enemy No. 1 — property taxes — without having to do anything.
Masterson will have to deliver this upcoming session. That means collaborating not only with his fellow senators, but also with House Speaker Dan Hawkins and Gov. Laura Kelly. Good luck!
Woodard highlighted potential conflicts in his conversation with me.
“Speaker Hawkins is well aware that if the pendulum swings too far to the right, it will swing right back,” he said. “And so I think that we will be able to work together on issues Kansans care about, and we’ll be able to stop some of the more extreme legislation coming from the Senate.”
That quote suggests the obvious dynamic of a potential Schwab-Masterson battle for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. Both men can only be described as rock-ribbed conservatives. But Schwab’s willingness to tell the truth in the face of lies may leave him open to criticisms of mushy moderation. (Such was the suggestion of my pal Joel Mathis in his Kansas City Star column this week.)
A potential path for Masterson, then, would be to consolidate conservatives through legislation on hot-button social issues, along with slashing government spending and taxes. Although I wonder if Masterson’s usually upbeat, deal-making persona limits such demagoguery.
Other Republicans could step up as well.
I have no idea if Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt wants to run, but she smoked her opposition in the 2022 election with 63% of the vote. U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran might have had enough of Washington, D.C. Surely Hawkins has given the matter some thought. And hey, I heard former U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner was back in Kansas.
I won’t even delve into the Democratic side of the column right now. Kelly would be formidable if state law permitted her to run again, but she will instead cede the stage to a new generation. Those battles will come and deserve another column.
Masterson has big decisions to make, and soon. The session that begins Monday will offer politicians, journalists, pundits and everyday Kansans a prime opportunity to judge which way he’s leaning.
Heck, we can even imagine how he would govern the state.
Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.