KS
Kansas Governor
Tue, Nov 3 · Governor Laura Kelly Democratic since Jan 2019
Cindy HolscherDemocraticAge 57 · 6 years in politicsTy MastersonRepublicanAge 57 · 18 years in politics
Cindy Holscher 47.1Ty Masterson 49.7
Average of 5 polls, Sep 22 to Oct 28, from VoteHub · how it’s calculated
Newest poll
Newest · Emerson College, field dates Oct 26 to Oct 28, released Oct 30, 800 likely votersPolls fetched Oct 30, 2:02 a.m. ET, from VoteHub
Polls over time
6 polls, through Election Day Nov 3Each dot is one published poll. The thick line is the 7-week average, not a forecast. How it’s calculated. All polls. Polls fetched Oct 30, 2:02 a.m. ET, from VoteHub.
The polls in this chart (6)
3 polls released in the last 14 days · latest results range from 44–51% (D) and 45–52.5% (R) (newest 5 polls on the chart)
Each dot is a poll with both names, 6 of the 6 for this race. Dots and lines follow the field end date. The table adds the day each poll was released.
| Pollster | Field dates | Released | Sample | Holscher | Masterson |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emerson College | Oct 26 to Oct 28 | Oct 30 | 800 likely voters | 47.5 | 52.5 |
| The Washington Post/George Mason University School of Policy and Government | Oct 22 to Oct 26 | Oct 30 | 801 likely voters | 51 | 45 |
| CNN/SSRS | Oct 20 to Oct 26 | Oct 29 | 838 likely voters | 45 | 50 |
| The New York Times/Siena University | Sep 22 to Sep 30 | Oct 4 | 605 likely voters | 44 | 49 |
| Wedgewood Polls | Sep 22 to Sep 24 | Sep 25 | 500 likely voters | 48 | 52 |
| Emerson College | Sep 15 to Sep 16 | Sep 18 | 750 likely voters | 44 | 51 |
Side by side
Holscher left, Masterson right- Donor-based spectrum
- LiberalCentristConservativeHolscherMasterson
- Record
- 4-0
- 6-0
- Years in politics
- 6
- 18
- Age on Election Day
- 57
- 57
How these are counted
The spectrum is a published research score, not our rating. How this works. Record is wins and losses in the races in our results files, the same count as each profile.
What changed in this race
Newest firstNEW POLLKansas Governor
Kansas Governor: Ty Masterson 52.5, Cindy Holscher 47.5
Emerson College, Oct 26 to Oct 28, 800 likely voters · via VoteHub (CC BY 4.0)
NEW POLLKansas Governor
Kansas Governor: Cindy Holscher 51, Ty Masterson 45
The Washington Post/George Mason University School of Policy and Government, Oct 22 to Oct 26, 801 likely voters · via VoteHub (CC BY 4.0)
More about this race
Candidates on the ballot
- Cindy HolscherDemocraticwith KC Ohaebosim
- Ty MastersonRepublicanwith Jeffrey Klemp
Party nominees only, not the certified ballot.
Source: sos.ks.gov, dated Oct 28
Vote in Kansas
Trouble voting? Election Protection hotline: 866-OUR-VOTE. A nonpartisan coalition of civil-rights and voting-rights groups, not a government service. 866ourvote.org
History (5 elections for this seat)
- Votes for listed candidates
- 1,008,998
- Election day
- November 8, 2022
Governor, Kansas, 2022, every candidate Candidate Party Votes and share Share DemocraticLaura KellyWon(incumbent) Democratic 499,84949.5% RepublicanDerek Schmidt Republican 477,59147.3% IndependentDennis Pyle Independent 20,4522.0% LibertarianSeth Cordell Libertarian 11,1061.1% - Votes for listed candidates
- 1,054,630
- Election day
- November 6, 2018
Governor, Kansas, 2018, every candidate Candidate Party Votes and share Share DemocraticLaura KellyWon Democratic 506,50948.0% RepublicanKris W. Kobach Republican 453,03043.0% IndependentGreg Orman Independent 68,4986.5% LibertarianJeff Caldwell Libertarian 20,0091.9% IndependentRick Kloos Independent 6,5840.6% - Votes for listed candidates
- 869,502
- Election day
- November 4, 2014
Governor, Kansas, 2014, every candidate Candidate Party Votes and share Share RepublicanSam BrownbackWon(incumbent) Republican 433,19649.8% DemocraticPaul Davis Democratic 401,10046.1% LibertarianKeen A. Umbehr Libertarian 35,2064.0% - Votes for listed candidates
- 838,783
- Election day
- November 2, 2010
Governor, Kansas, 2010, every candidate Candidate Party Votes and share Share RepublicanSam BrownbackWon Republican 530,76063.3% DemocraticTom Holland II Democratic 270,16632.2% LibertarianAndrew P. Gray Libertarian 22,4602.7% OtherKen Cannon Reform 15,3971.8% - Votes for listed candidates
- 849,696
- Election day
- November 7, 2006
Governor, Kansas, 2006, every candidate Candidate Party Votes and share Share DemocraticKathleen Gilligan SebeliusWon(incumbent) Democratic 491,99357.9% RepublicanJim Barnett Republican 343,58640.4% LibertarianCarl Kramer Libertarian 8,8961.0% OtherRichard Lee Ranzau Reform 5,2210.6%
All rows: Cha, Kuriwaki and Snyder, Candidates in American General Elections, version 3.1 (2006-2023 governor rows), retrieved Oct 28, 2026
Governor races before 2006 are not loaded yet.
Data notes (16)
- Source priority per race: (1) a state election office's own certified results parsed in scripts/data/gov_results.py (NJ Division of Elections PDFs, Virginia Department of Elections, the Civera ElectionStats databases run by CT, VA, VT, CO, NY, NM and SC, the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, the NC State Board of Elections archive); (2) the open Cha/Kuriwaki/Snyder 'Candidates in American General Elections' file (Harvard Dataverse, CC0), which copies each state's statement of vote; (3) OpenElections county files and the 2020 Dataverse official-results tables, used only to add named candidates the Dataverse file omitted and to add the write-in count; (4) MEDSL precinct sums, used the same way and only when their Democratic and Republican totals agree with the Dataverse rows to 0.3 percent. Each race's source is listed in web/data/sources/gov-results.json.
- total is the sum of the candidate rows in the file, and pct is votes divided by that total, rounded to one decimal. Blank, void, over and under votes are never in total. Write-in votes are in total as a 'Write-ins' row (writein: true) wherever a source reports them: the official databases, OpenElections, and MEDSL precinct returns. The Dataverse file leaves write-ins out, so MEDSL's write-in sum is added when MEDSL's count for every named candidate equals the Dataverse count exactly (for example AK 2022, 784 write-ins, and AL 2022, 9,432, both matching the state's statement of vote). Each race's source ids are in the race's source and sourceAlso fields and in the gov-results-<st> entry of sources.json.
- 151 races not taken from a state's own results file have no write-in row. Either the state counted no write-ins, or the sources on file leave them out (MEDSL's precinct sums did not match every named candidate exactly, or MEDSL has no file for that year); where they were left out, total is short by the write-ins and pct can run slightly above the state's printed percentage: AK 2006, AK 2010, AK 2014, AL 2006, AL 2010, AL 2014, AL 2018, AR 2006, AR 2014, AR 2018, AR 2022, AZ 2002, AZ 2014, AZ 2022, CA 2014, CA 2018, CA 2022, DE 2008, DE 2012, DE 2016, DE 2020, DE 2024, GA 2014, GA 2018, HI 2006, HI 2010, HI 2014, HI 2018, HI 2022, IA 2006, IA 2010, IA 2014, ID 1998, ID 2006, ID 2010, ID 2022, IL 2010, IL 2014, IL 2018, IN 2004, IN 2008, IN 2012, IN 2016, IN 2020, KS 2006, KS 2010, KS 2014, KS 2018, KS 2022, KY 2007, KY 2011, KY 2015, KY 2019, LA 2007, LA 2011, LA 2015, LA 2019, LA 2023, MD 2006, MD 2014, MD 2022, ME 2006, ME 2010, ME 2014, ME 2022, MI 2006, MI 2010, MI 2014, MI 2022, MN 2006, MN 2010, MN 2014, MO 2020, MS 2007, MS 2011, MS 2015, MS 2019, MS 2023, MT 2000, MT 2004, MT 2008, MT 2012, MT 2016, MT 2020, MT 2024, ND 2008, NE 2006, NE 2010, NE 2014, NE 2018, NE 2022, NH 2008, NH 2010, NH 2012, NH 2014, NH 2024, NM 2010, NV 2006, NV 2010, NV 2014, NV 2018, NV 2022, OH 2014, OH 2018, OK 2006, OK 2010, OK 2014, OK 2018, OK 2022, OR 2006, OR 2010, OR 2014, OR 2018, OR 2022, PA 2002, PA 2006, PA 2010, PA 2014, PA 2018, PA 2022, RI 2006, RI 2010, RI 2014, SC 2006, SD 2006, SD 2010, SD 2014, SD 2018, SD 2022, TX 2014, TX 2018, TX 2022, UT 2008, UT 2010, UT 2012, UT 2020, WA 2008, WA 2012, WA 2016, WI 2006, WI 2010, WI 2014, WI 2018, WV 2008, WV 2011, WV 2012, WV 2016, WV 2020, WV 2024, WY 2002, WY 2006.
- party is D, R, I, L, G, O or N from the party label in the source; party_label keeps the source's wording. The Dataverse file prints short labels (Lbt, Grn, Const, DFL, NPA); those are expanded to Libertarian, Green, Constitution, Democratic-Farmer-Labor and No Party Affiliation. Fusion candidates (NY, CT, SC, and the Democratic-Progressive line in VT) are one candidate with all of their ballot lines added together.
- Names: the Dataverse file stores 'LAST, FIRST MIDDLE (NICKNAME), SUFFIX'; the display name uses the nickname when there is one (Josh Shapiro, Bob Riley) and otherwise the given names. All-caps source names were title-cased by rule and can be wrong for internal capitals (DiGiulio, DeWine). Official lists that print only surnames (NJ 1997; MA tickets from 2010 on) take the full name from the Dataverse row of the same race where the surname and party match, otherwise stay surname-only.
- incumbent is true or false only for races built from the Dataverse file (it carries an incumbency code; code 3, a governor who succeeded to the office, is treated as incumbent). It is null for official-source races and for candidates added from OpenElections or MEDSL.
- Louisiana uses an open primary with a runoff. One race per election is stored: the round that decided it (the October primary when someone won more than 50 percent, otherwise the November runoff, marked runoff:true). Exact dates for those rounds come from the Dataverse/official files where present and are set in the script otherwise (LA_DATES); check them before showing a date.
- Recall elections (Wisconsin June 2012, California September 2021) are not included. Only regular and special general elections for the office are stored; primaries and runoff primaries are not.
- scripts/data/federal_results.py, if it is re-run, rewrites every web/data/results/governor/{ST}.json to []. Run scripts/data/gov_results.py after it, or remove build_governor() from that script.
- KS: No governor general-election result in this file for 4 of 9 expected election years between 1990 and 2025: 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002. No open or official bulk source was found and parsed for them yet; they are gaps, not zeroes.
- 2006: built from the Dataverse candidates file only; no second source agreed with it at candidate level, so a minor-party candidate who is missing from that file would be missing here too
- 2010: built from the Dataverse candidates file only; no second source agreed with it at candidate level, so a minor-party candidate who is missing from that file would be missing here too
- 2014: built from the Dataverse candidates file only; no second source agreed with it at candidate level, so a minor-party candidate who is missing from that file would be missing here too
- Candidate name is the sitting governor's officials-file spelling for 16 rows (the race's winner, same state, race within the governor's tenure, same surname and a compatible first name). Text encoding and casing are repaired by scripts/data/names.py.
- Governor races earlier than the first year listed are not loaded yet for 50 states (AK from 2006; AL from 2006; AR from 2002; AZ from 2002; CA from 2002; CO from 1990; CT from 1990; DE from 2008; FL from 1990; GA from 2002; HI from 2006; IA from 2002; ID from 1994; IL from 2006; IN from 2004; KS from 2006; KY from 2007; LA from 2007; MA from 1990; MD from 2006; ME from 2006; MI from 2006; MN from 2006; MO from 2008; MS from 2007; MT from 2000; NC from 1992; ND from 2008; NE from 2006; NH from 2006; NJ from 1993; NM from 2002; NV from 2006; NY from 1994; OH from 2002; OK from 2006; OR from 2006; PA from 2002; RI from 2006; SC from 2006; SD from 2006; TN from 2002; TX from 1994; UT from 2008; VA from 1993; VT from 1990; WA from 2008; WI from 2006; WV from 2000; WY from 2002). The sources on file start later; nothing was filled in from memory. Each governor page says so under History.
- 1 duplicate candidate rows merged: a 0-vote placeholder row beside the real row is dropped. governor/CO 2022 Paul Noël Fiorino
Download and cite
Cite this page
Election Wrld. (2026). Governor of Kansas. https://www.electionwrld.com/ks/governor. Retrieved October 30, 2026.
Sources
Sources
- Used for
- web/data/officials/governors.json (name, party, start date)
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Retrieved
- October 28, 2026
- Link
- https://query.wikidata.org/sparql
- Used for
- Federal general-election date rule (cited; text not downloaded)
- License
- US government work, public domain
- Retrieved
- October 28, 2026
- Link
- https://uscode.house.gov/
- Used for
- Governor candidate rows 2006-2023 (data file id 10626651, sha256 1fa9698b3eb4883aa645f32048939ace5d4787a433d35a5ca82b92ebf361923d). Version 3.1 is used instead of the later version 4.1 because 4.1 drops many minor-party rows.
- License
- CC0 1.0
- Retrieved
- October 28, 2026
- Link
- https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/DGDRDT
- Used for
- Governor candidate rows for 2024 where no official file was parsed (data file id 13461690, sha256 abf13d31e8ab3c8ba897a003e9f59865175e1fb0a95b1da35134f9699ddd56f5).
- License
- CC0 1.0
- Retrieved
- October 28, 2026
- Link
- https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/DGDRDT
- Used for
- County-level governor rows used to add named candidates and write-in counts missing from the Dataverse file (files in data/raw/gov-results/openelections/ and openelections_pre2006/).
- License
- No license is stated in the OpenElections repositories. OpenElections says its data is free for anyone to use. Written permission requested (docs/PERMISSION-REQUESTS.md). No CC0 claim.
- Retrieved
- October 28, 2026
- Link
- https://github.com/openelections
DataState data (JSON)Sources: Cha, Kuriwaki and Snyder, Candidates in American General Elections, version 3.1 (2006-2023 governor rows), VoteHub polls (CC BY 4.0), DIME (ODC-BY)Data as of Oct 28, 2026