Democrat Cindy Holscher is projected to become the next governor of Kansas, marking the first time the state will have two women governors back-to-back, according to Decision Desk HQ. 

In addition to the governorship, Democrats will also hold a Senate seat in Kansas — the first time that’s happened since the 1930s — as the blue wave that overtook the country this Election Day washes over the state. With Holscher’s victory, Democrats have now won three straight gubernatorial elections in Kansas, which has not happened since 1974.

But the race was extremely close and wasn’t called until Wednesday. The Democratic state senator defeated Republican state Senate President Ty Masterson. Holscher will replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.

Holscher ran on “common sense and lower costs” — a winning message that defined several major races this election cycle, including Methodist megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton, who broke a nearly century-long record of Republicans controlling Senate seats in Kansas, and James Talarico in Texas, the first Democrat to represent the state in the Senate since 1994. 

Holscher, who grew up on a farm and comes from a union and military family, focused her campaign on bringing down the cost of living for Kansas, expanding Medicaid and making college more affordable. 

While in the state Senate, she had supported tax incentives for data center developers. But in this election cycle, she shifted her position on an issue that has been particularly motivating for women voters in rural parts of the country.  

“What’s changed my position are the voters, the people across the state, as well as new information,” she told the Johnson County Post in September. “We have seen these hyperscale data centers come into communities that suck up our water, that jack up utility rates and don’t bring the promised jobs. So, I issued the call for the moratorium — a pause — so that we can all get on the same page. Essentially, let’s take a deep breath and focus on how this really should look.” 

Holscher has pushed back against claims she was the most radical candidate in Kansas history. Every race she’s won for state House and Senate seats has been in red districts, she said. 

“The fact of the matter is, the things I support — Medicaid expansion, access to affordable housing, access to affordable childcare, lowering property taxes, legalization of cannabis and public school funding — those are all things supported by a large majority of Kansans,” she said. “I’m standing with the people and where they are, and that’s very mainstream.”

Now, she adds her gubernatorial win to the list of races she’s won with Republican support. 

“I can’t be very extreme if Republicans keep electing me,” she said in late September. “It’s Republicans who have been helping elect me to office every single election cycle that I have run.” 

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley speaks to reporters at the governor’s ham breakfast at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia on Aug. 15 , 2024 (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent)

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley on Monday blamed Republican election losses on his party abandoning working Americans, criticizing cuts to Medicaid that he voted to approve last year.

The Missouri Republican also called for what he described as a “historic response” to last week’s election: a one-hour gathering for fasting and prayer at the U.S. Capitol next month.

Hawley’s comments came as Democrats prepared to take control of both chambers of Congress and Senate Republicans confronted growing pressure to reconsider their leadership and legislative priorities.

“When you abandon pro-lifers, when you abandon the needy, when you abandon the poor, when you abandon working people, the American people might have something to say about that,” Hawley told reporters at the Capitol, according to CNN.

Hawley pointed to a Congress that he said had neglected working families while pursuing other priorities.

“When you cut Medicaid but you fund data centers, when you cut rural hospital funding, then you fund Planned Parenthood, when you let the cost of healthcare for working people go through the roof but you can’t do anything for them on other issues of affordability from fertilizer to gas and everything else — yeah, you know what? The American public doesn’t like that very much,” he told reporters, according to Punchbowl News.

But Hawley was among the Republicans who voted in July 2025 for President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending law, which the Congressional Budget Office estimated would reduce federal Medicaid spending by nearly $1 trillion over a decade.

The legislation passed the Senate on a 50-50 tie broken by Vice President JD Vance, with Hawley voting in favor.

Before the vote, Hawley had been one of the most vocal Republican critics of the proposed Medicaid reductions. In a May 2025 New York Times opinion column, he called cutting health coverage for working people “morally wrong and politically suicidal” and warned of the consequences for Missouri families and rural hospitals.

He ultimately supported the legislation after negotiators included a $50 billion rural health fund and delayed certain reductions in Medicaid funding mechanisms. Hawley argued those changes would help protect Missouri hospitals and pledged to fight the remaining cuts before they took effect.

Two weeks after his vote, Hawley introduced legislation to reverse some of the Medicaid reductions and expand the rural health fund to $100 billion. The measure was referred to the Senate Finance Committee, where it has remained without further action.

The election results have renewed debate among Republicans about the party’s direction following a year in which they controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress.

Democrats captured the U.S. House and Senate in last Tuesday’s election. In Missouri, Democrats gained 16 seats in the state House and two in the Senate, ending Republican supermajorities in both chambers.

Democrat Fred Wellman also defeated Republican U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner in the 2nd Congressional District, while Missouri voters rejected a congressional redistricting plan championed by Trump. And Missouri voters rejected a proposed constitutional amendment reinstating a ban on abortion that voters repealed in 2024.

Roughly 55% of Missourians rejected the proposed ban last week, preserving abortion rights while also approving a separate constitutional amendment sharply limiting lawmakers’ ability to overturn voter-approved measures.

Hawley’s assessment of the election came amid a growing dispute over Senate Republican leadership elections scheduled for Tuesday.

Several senators, including Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson and Pennsylvania’s Dave McCormick, have called for postponing the vote to allow Republicans more time to examine the reasons behind their losses.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota has indicated that the election should proceed, although Republicans are expected to discuss the results before voting. No challenger to Thune has publicly emerged.

Asked Monday whether Republicans needed a change in leadership, Hawley declined to endorse the current leadership team.

“I’m not going to pledge my vote to leadership,” he told reporters. “I’ll tell you that.”

Hawley offered another response to the election Monday evening, announcing plans to bring Christians together at the Capitol on Dec. 15.

“What happened last Tuesday was shocking and historic,” he wrote on X. “It calls for a historic response. Christians need to gather and seek the Lord.”

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.