Democratic state Sen. Ethan Corson took on a more assertive tone Thursday in a debate featuring the three Democratic candidates for governor as he questioned Sen. Cindy Holscher’s claims about helping elect him to office, her differing positions on the Chiefs and shifting views on data centers.
The debate, held by KCUR and hosted by “Up to Date’s” Steve Kraske, also gave Overland Park Mayor Curt Skoog one of his first major platforms to introduce himself to voters after entering the Kansas governor’s race June 1, the last day to file for public office.
Corson poked at Holscher several times during the nearly hourlong debate, which was held at the new farmers market pavilion that just opened in downtown Overland Park, a location that Kraske said was a coincidence since the event had already been planned.
Meanwhile, Holscher took subtle shots at Corson’s endorsements, including those from labor unions that she suggested were somehow done differently this year than they have been done in the past while touting the fact she’s a union member and comes from a union family.
Holscher said she has worked to put a structure in place to elect more Democrats, saying that she’s helped increase the number of Democrats elected to the Legislature from Johnson County to 17 from five.
“Helped these guys get elected in their offices as Democrats,” Holscher said, alluding to Skoog and Corson.
Corson immediately interjected.
“Sen. Holscher has never knocked a door for me, never made a phone call for me, never contributed to my campaign,” he said.
“I’m just not sure why she’s taking credit for the hard work that myself and so many of our volunteers did to become the first Democrat ever elected from my district,” he said.
Holscher responded, “I absolutely have knocked doors in your district. I absolutely have.”
The issue then turned to data centers and the 20-year sales tax exemption they received from the Legislature in 2025.
Both Holscher and Corson supported the exemption, although she’s been an outspoken opponent of them during the campaign.
“What’s been, I think, surprising is that Sen. Holscher and I both voted for an incentive package to attract data centers to Kansas,” Corson said. “That was the goal of it.”
“Now, I guess Sen. Holscher has completely changed her position on that, and I’m just unclear why that it is,” he said.
Holscher, who supports a moratorium on data centers, said if she had the information about the facilities then that she has today, she would not have voted for the incentives.
“I will not dig in on a vote if the information is different later,” she said. “I will take that new information and make choices accordingly.”
Asked if she regretted that vote, Holscher said, “I probably would have voted differently if we had that information.”
As she campaigns across the state, Holscher said she’s “hearing all about data centers.”
“People do not support these. They are very worried about the effects to their community, the loss of water, the jacking up of their utility rates,” she said.
Asked how she would approach the issue as governor, Holscher cited her support for a moratorium on data centers until certain guardrails are adopted. “We’re looking for the protections to be put in place.”
Corson stood by his support for the data center incentives, saying it gives communities across Kansas the ability to make economic development decisions on what’s best suited for them.
“This is not a decision that should be made in Topeka. I think this is a decision for local communities,” he said.
“There will be local communities that decide that they do want a data center and the jobs that come with it,” he said. “And when they do that, I’m going to help that community make it as beneficial as possible.
“At the same time, if a community says that they don’t want a data center, I will absolutely respect that,” he said.
Corson called for regulations of data centers, such as a state law requiring them to have decommissioning agreements in place so local governments don’t have to pick up those costs and enforcing rules requiring the facilities to pay for all of the energy they consume.
He also said data centers should have community benefit agreements with local governments. He also proposed a state law requiring data centers to have systems in place to ensure efficient water use.
Skoog said decisions about data centers should be made at the local level, calling them a type of “infrastructure” for the future.
“There are benefits to data centers,” he said.
“You can look at the city of De Soto and how much money they are going to receive to reduce property taxes to pay for additional amenities within that city that would not have happened without one of their data center projects.
“Each city needs to evaluate that on their own. What is the balance?” he said.
“Our job at the state level is to accept parameters that say we need economic growth, we need jobs, we need private investment across the state so our kids and grandkids can have a place to stay and work in their hometown and community,” he said.
The candidates disagreed on the deal to bring the Chiefs to Kansas, including one bill that authorized the tax incentives for the $3 billion stadium in Kansas City and another bill that created the sports authority to oversee the stadium.
Holscher, who supported the incentives for the Chiefs but not the sport authority, called the Chiefs deal a “big gamble.”
“So many breaks in this bill for corporations and billionaires, not working families,” she said. “I’m tired of that.”
Skoog said he was excited to have Chiefs in Kansas, calling it a “great win” that would bring jobs and revenue to the state, using that as a jumping-off point to discuss how his city makes decisions about economic development incentives, especially those used to foster development in downtown Overland Park where new project revenue was used to help pay for the new construction.
“We have used incentives to get these buildings built. But all of those incentives are based on the revenue generated from the project,”
He added, “Incentives are a key tool to grow the state of Kansas,” he said.
Corson was supportive of the Chiefs deal.
“When I have a chance as governor to create 21,000 good-paying construction jobs for Kansas families that are going to allow Kansas families to support their families and raise them in a middle-class quality of life, I’m going to swing at that pitch every single time,” Corson said.
He then turned his attention to Holscher, highlighting her vote for the incentives used for the project but then voting against the authority that will oversee the stadium and provides for representation from Olathe and Kansas City on the panel.
“The whole purpose of this package was to bring the Chiefs over to Kansas,” Corson said. “Sen. Holscher voted for it, and now the Chiefs came to Kansas. I don’t know what she expected to happen.”
“What really is surprising is that she didn’t support the sports authority legislation, the purpose of which was to give control to the local units, to give the mayor of Wyandotte and the mayor of Olathe a vote in the future of these projects,” he said.
“She voted against giving them that voice,” he said. “I’m just confused by that.”
Holscher called the stadium project a “cannibalization of revenue.”
“Revenue that would have gone to our schools and highways will go to pay towards a stadium. I mean, that’s what we’ve seen in other projects similar across the U.S. And that’s what economists tell us. And that typically, the payoff that is forecasted isn’t there.”
Holscher characterized the incentives bill as an approach to “explore” whether Kansas could attract a professional sports team.
“I am always going to seek economic opportunity for our state,” she said.
The incentives bill was very specific in how it allowed for the construction of a major sports complex, including a stadium of not less than 30,000 seats for only an NFL team or a Major League Baseball team in a state neighboring Kansas.
They would have to invest at least $1 billion in each stadium project. The bill allowed sales tax revenue, or STAR, bonds to cover up to 70% of stadium costs, up from the current level of 50% that’s now allowed for those types of projects.
The bill also extended the amount of time it would take to repay the bonds issued for the project to 30 years from 20 years. The bill also would allow for a separate location such as a practice facility to be included in the district where revenues would be funneled to pay for a stadium.
The sports authority bill was different, Holscher said, although it would have never been necessary without the incentives package.
“That bill had problems,” Holscher said of the sports authority bill. “That bill did not have protections for unions and our labor workers. That needed to be added. I had an amendment to do that.
“Once that stadium is built, there are no protections there in terms of the workers who are hired later,” she said.
In discussing his support for the Chiefs, Corson cited it as one reason that he has support from 19 labor unions because he fights for workers and jobs.
“This year, things were done differently in terms of those endorsements,” Holscher said.
“Normally, there’s a process, normally there’s an interview paperwork process. There wasn’t this year, and I think people should be curious about that.”
Ty Dragoo is chair of the Working Kansas Alliance, a coalition of labor unions across the state of Kansas.
“We rely heavily on legislative action,” Dragoo said in a statement after the debate.
“We look at the way they conduct themselves, the issues they stand for when it comes to jobs, their ability to work cohesively in that body and across the aisle to find agreement to bring jobs to Kansas.
“When you have a candidate that flip flops, says and votes for one thing and then turns around and says they didn’t vote for an issue or they don’t support it and they continue to do the back and forth, the interview process becomes really easy,” he said.
“You either support building things in Kansas and support bringing jobs to Kansas or you don’t.
“Let’s be crystal clear, this is a once in a generation jobs opportunity. Our northstar as a union is to fight for Kansas workers and good-paying jobs. When a candidate doesn’t support that it becomes extremely easy not to support them,” he said.
