Republican Senate President Ty Masterson snared another endorsement from a labor union on Tuesday as the general election starts to unfold.
IBEW Local 124, representing skilled electrical workers across eastern Kansas and the Kansas City region, announced its support for Masterson and his running mate, Republican state Sen. Jeff Klemp, in the governor’s race.
It was the third endorsement that Masterson has secured from a labor union.
He’s already been endorsed by the transportation division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, also known as SMART TD.
And he’s had the support of the Kansas State Council of Fire Fighters since the primary.
Local 124 said its endorsement “reflects a focus on workforce development, skilled trades and creating opportunities for Kansans to build careers and raise families in their communities.”
“The endorsement marks a significant shift from a union that has supported Democratic candidates for governor in previous elections and comes as the Masterson-Klemp campaign builds a broad coalition of Kansans focused on economic opportunity, workforce development and a stronger Kansas,” the union said.
The electrical workers union didn’t say anything about Holscher’s position on data centers, which have caused a rift between her and organized labor that started in the primary and is lingering into the general election
She has proposed a moratorium on data centers while safeguards are developed, while Masterson has said decisions about data centers should be left to local governments.
Masterson said he wants to write state regulations — plus some other measures — into law that would keep data centers from passing their costs on to Kansas consumers.
The Holscher campaign turned to a comment that it has used previously against Masterson, noting that she has 100% score from the AFL-CIO while the Senate president only had a 6% score.
“He’s voted against workplace safety rules, against the right to organize, against raising the minimum wage, against paid sick leave — and that’s just this legislative session. Their records speak for themselves,” said campaign spokesperson, Riley Osen.
During a debate on Monday sponsored by the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association, Holscher addressed data centers without raising the prospect of imposing a moratorium.
“There is a big push on them right now,” Holscher said of data centers.
“We have data centers out there and we can continue to have more data centers built, but we have to have those guardrails in terms of making sure there isn’t excessive water usage or energy usage, which makes consumers’ bills go up and your bills, too.
“We want to make sure we have those appropriate guardrails.”
The IBEW endorsement came about 10 days after the transportation workers endorsed Masterson.
The endorsement from the transportation workers was seen as pivotal because of the potential for opening the door to more endorsements from other labor unions and potentially complicate Holscher’s ability to raise money for the general election.
The Republican Governors Association’s political action committee has already booked about $8 million in broadcast ad time for the governor’s race, according to ad tracking service, AdImpact.
The RGA dropped its second ad last week against Holscher that focused on a property tax vote from 2025, a bill that Holscher has described as a “gimmick” because she said it wouldn’t lower property taxes.
So far, there’s been no sign of either Holscher or the Democratic Governors Association booking any ad time for the general election.
There also has been no public indication of what role the left-leaning Kansas Values Institute will play in the governor’s race after going to bat for Gov. Laura Kelly in 2022.
The governor has endorsed Holscher but seemed to stop short of saying she would use her national connections to help raise money.
“I think that the Holscher campaign is perfectly capable of making those kinds of calls and garnering that kind of support,” said Kelly, who has a political action committee that recently raised $250,000 from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
“I am committed to doing everything that I can to elect a Democratic governor, but also let’s not forget that we’ve got an attorney general race, an insurance commissioner race and state treasurer race and secretary of state,” the governor told reporters following the primary election,” Kelly told reporters recently.
“We got some other races that we’ll also be focused on.”
