FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 1, 2026
Contact:
Hans Torgerson
hans@kansasdems.org
NEW: SARNECKI'S PRIVATE JET CRISSCROSSED THE COUNTRY ALL PRIMARY LONG — HE WON'T SAY WHO WAS ON BOARD
Dozens of hours spent in the air, from Aspen to Washington to the California coast — and a campaign that refuses to explain who was flying, who paid, and what it had to do with his bid for governor.
TOPEKA — A new Kansas City Star investigation reveals that Republican gubernatorial candidate Philip Sarnecki's private jet logged dozens of hours in the air during the primary — while his campaign refuses to say who has been flying it, who has been paying, or how much of it was campaign business.
Flight records show Sarnecki's private jet bouncing coast to coast since June: Aspen, Dallas, Austin, Washington, D.C., Texarkana, Charleston, and a same-day round trip to Santa Rosa, California — roughly 3,000 miles in under 12 hours.
Sarnecki’s campaign declined to answer specific questions, but his own finance filings tell a different story. After his jet flew to Aspen on July 20 and back to Wichita on July 22, Sarnecki reported loaning his campaign $3,663 for out-of-pocket travel, plus $81 in travel meals at the St. Regis Aspen. Two days after a Kansas City-to-Dallas flight, he reported another $5,551 travel loan.
Statement from Hans Torgerson, Spokesperson for the Kansas Democratic Party:
“Sarnecki asks Kansans to believe he's the outsider who can't be bought — but he won't tell them the basics about his own operation. He won't say how often he's been out of state on campaign business, who has been borrowing his jet while he was back in Kansas, or who is paying for any of it.”
Read the full story:
The Kansas City Star: "Sarnecki wants to sell Kansas' private jet. His own plane raises campaign questions"
By Matthew Kelly
July 31, 2026
Sarnecki’s campaign declined to answer specific questions about the candidate’s personal plane, a Cessna Citation XLS, which public flight records show has logged dozens of hours in the air since June during the closing stretch of the primary
The only explanation the campaign provided about the jet’s activity was to say most of the flights in recent months have been handled through a third-party charter company that rents the plane out to travelers with Sarnecki’s permission.
On several instances, the plane left the metro area for multiple days at a time, including one excursion from July 2-5 with flights to Texarkana, Washington, D.C., back to Texarkana, and Charleston, South Carolina before returning to Kansas City.
On June 28, the plane flew from the Kansas City area to Santa Rosa, California, and back within 12 hours — a roughly 3,000-mile round trip.
His most recent campaign finance filing with the Kansas Secretary of State suggests at least some of the flights were related to Sarnecki’s bid to overcome President Donald Trump’s endorsement of rival Ty Masterson and secure the Republican nomination.
The flight and campaign finance records raise questions about how often Sarnecki has traveled out of state on campaign business and who has borrowed his jet while he was in Kansas.