The Republican primary for Kansas governor escalated on Tuesday with three new outside groups entering the race, including one affiliated with the conservative-leaning Club for Growth and a political action committee associated with Senate President Ty Masterson.
A third group called the Farmers First Fund was incorporated in Alexandria, Virginia, last April and listed no officers nor directors. It is expected to come into the race backing Masterson. There were no other details about group available Tuesday.
The three groups booked a little more than $1 million combined, which would bring spending in the Republican gubernatorial primary on broadcast to about $6.4 million, according to the national ad tracking firm AdImpact.
Additionally, Johnson County businessman Philip Sarnecki has upped his broadcast spending by about $137,000 for a new ad as of Tuesday afternoon, according to AdImpact. He has now spent or booked about $1.3 million in broadcast advertising.
All of those figures reflect a snapshot in time and can change.
The largest spend Tuesday came from the School Freedom Fund, which is affiliated with the conservative-leaning Club for Growth. It booked about $749,000 in the Kansas City, Topeka and Wichita markets, according to AdImpact.
There’s no creative available for the spend, so it was hard to get a fix on who it might support or oppose in the race. The first ads could come as early as Wednesday morning.
The School Freedom Fund is a federal political action committee that was sitting on a nest egg of about $9 million at the end of May.
In February, the School Freedom Fund received a $5 million contribution from Jeff Yass, cofounder of Susquehanna International Group, one of Wall Street’s largest and most successful trading firms. Yass gave $10 million to the fund in 2025.
Forbes reported that Susquehanna has invested in hundreds of private companies around the globe, including TikTok parent ByteDance.
Yass is an ardent supporter of school vouchers and other school-choice initiatives.
The Washington Post reported that since 2015, Yass has given more than $350 million to political campaigns, including tens of millions in 2025. The Post reported he was the sixth-largest donor between 2015 and 2024, ahead of Elon Musk and behind George Soros.
In an interview with the The Post, Yass likened spending for candidates who support vouchers to helping children and families who need a benefactor to beat back teacher unions.
“They needed a philanthropist,” he said in that interview. “I felt it was my role to be that philanthropist.”
The Farmers First Fund has booked about $234,000 for the campaign, according to AdImpact. About $128,000 is booked for Wichita and another $106,000 in targeted for Joplin.
Meanwhile, the Take Back Kansas Action political action committee has booked about $105,000 with about $59,400 going to the Wichita/Hutchinson market and about $45,700 going to Topeka.
The PAC raised one contribution last year, $50,000 from the GOPAC Election Fund.
Out of the roughly $6.35 million that has been booked or spent in the Republican primary for governor so far, about $2.6 million has gone to the Wichita/Hutchinson market, about $1.6 million has been targeted for Kansas City, $1.3 million is being funneled into Topeka, and $364,220 has gone to the Pittsburg/Joplin market.
Here’s the latest ad from the political action committee supporting Masteron and Sarnecki’s latest ad.
Take Back PAC ad
New Sarnecki ad
