Kansas voters face a governor’s race shaped by two costly fights involving corporate development and public money. Democrat Cindy Holscher and MAGA Republican Ty Masterson, both state senators, are sparring over data centers, the Kansas City Chiefs stadium agreement, and the fiscal legacy of former Gov. Sam Brownback.

Emporia has become a center of resistance to data centers. Before commissioners voted on zoning for a 1,000 acre hyperscale facility, residents protested that the proposal had developed for months outside public view, and police removed a local high school physics teacher after he reacted during the meeting.

Commissioners approved the zoning plan despite the opposition, and one commissioner now faces a recall petition. Voters will likely decide in November whether to ban “high impact” data centers, while a proposed two million square foot Google facility has generated similar resistance in Barber County.

The Barber County agreement includes $320 million in revenue over 20 years, hundreds of permanent jobs, and promises to replenish water in the drought stricken county. Even so, residents have pushed back, reflecting broader concerns about how giant technology projects affect water supplies, energy systems, and local control.

Kansas also committed $2.7 billion in public funds toward a new $3 billion Kansas City Chiefs stadium. The money will primarily come through STAR bonds issued within a development district spanning two counties and 300 square miles, while team owner Clark Hunt will contribute $1.8 billion and collect 100% of stadium revenue.

“That’s a lot of money for a pretty conservative population to swallow,” said Michael A. Smith, a Kansas state and local government expert at Emporia State University. “Even if they don’t pay it directly, they certainly will pay it indirectly.”

The data center controversy offers Holscher a potent issue against Masterson, the state Senate president. During the Kansas State Fair debate, she responded to his attacks by declaring, “I won’t put data centers across the state to suck up your water,” and, “Ty is going to put a data center in every corner and every cornfield.”

Masterson has received contributions from AI sector political action committees and promoted a Kansas ratepayer protection pledge covering water standards and technology companies’ power costs. One week after the state fair debate, he declined two scheduled debates sponsored by local media outlets.

Earlier this year, both candidates supported generous 20 year state and local tax exemptions for data center developers. Holscher has since called for a statewide moratorium on what her campaign calls “new giant corporate data centers,” citing feedback gathered during 80 town halls across Kansas.

Holscher is not completely opposed to data centers when the host community wants them. She favors stronger requirements involving transparency, water and energy usage, and union labor, presenting a populist challenge to corporate projects rather than the radical agenda Masterson repeatedly tries to pin on her.

Economists have also criticized the Chiefs agreement, noting its extraordinary public subsidies and the temporary, low paying nature of many stadium jobs. Geoffrey Propheter of the University of Colorado Denver has said the deal is unlikely to produce the millions in tax revenue Masterson has promoted.

“Ultimately, I believe billionaires should pay for their own stadiums, not the Kansas taxpayers,” Holscher told the Prospect. She said the agreement is finished and she would not reverse it, but added, “But I’m going to work as governor to make sure every promise materializes.”

Holscher has repeatedly linked Masterson to the “failed Brownback experiment.” During Brownback’s two terms, Masterson chaired the state Senate’s Ways and Means Committee and served as the primary architect of a deficit spending plan that depleted the general fund, consumed money from other departments, and produced hundreds of millions of dollars in deficits.

Brownback entered office in 2011 amid conservative Republican anti tax fervor and sought to eliminate the state income tax. Critical services deteriorated as his popularity collapsed, and Brownback left office one year before his term ended to serve as President Trump’s ambassador at large for international religious freedom.

Kansas again faces fiscal pressure after Republican lawmakers enacted additional tax cuts over the past five years. The latest measure, enacted after lawmakers overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto, established a 4% flat personal and corporate tax projected to cost the state more than $1 billion annually.

An Emerson College Polling and Nexstar Media survey of 750 likely voters found Holscher trailing by 6 percentage points. Her path resembles Kelly’s victories in 2018 and 2022: dominate the largest counties while capturing some rural support, then turn Masterson’s Brownback record into a warning Kansas voters cannot ignore.