Kansas state Sen. Cindy Holscher (D) was projected to win the state’s gubernatorial race, according to Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ), keeping the office in Democratic hands and denying Republicans one of their best pickup opportunities this year.
Holscher defeated Republican Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, who had President Trump’s endorsement, to succeed term-limited Gov. Laura Kelly (D). She notched just more than 50 percent of the vote, while her opponent garnered 49. 6 percent as of Wednesday afternoon.
Her victory extends Democrats’ hold on the governor’s mansion in a state Trump carried by roughly 16 points in 2024. Kansas has repeatedly elected Democratic governors, including Kelly, who won competitive races in 2018 and 2022.
Unfortunately, the Kansas legislature is still controlled by republicans, including a supermajority in the Senate (which from what I could find only had one seat up this year–not sure how that works) BUT they no longer hold a supermajority in the House, where Dems flipped 20 seats!
How does their veto override work? (Assuming they have one).
I suppose a government that’s paralyzed by gridlock is still preferable to what the past couple years has been.
It requires a 2/3 majority in both the House and Senate and yes, gridlock would be better than some of the crap they passed by overriding the veto (more restrictions on voting and abortions, anti-trans SB244 bathroom and driver’s license laws, a pay raise for themselves, etc). Not that successful vetoes on stuff like that means there has to be gridlock on regular business though.