June 12, 2026
THE SUNFLOWER STATE CIRCUS
Your weekly briefing on the chaotic, extreme, and out-of-touch Republican primary for Kansas Governor
Welcome back to The Sunflower State Circus — now going weekly, because the Republican primary for Kansas governor is generating more material than a biweekly schedule can handle.
This week: a debate that was more brawl than substance, new inflation numbers that should embarrass every Republican on the stage, and a field united on exactly the wrong things.
Let's get into it.
THE DEBATE: ANGRY ELVES, BROWNBACK'S GHOST, AND A CROWD THAT STARTED LAUGHING
Four Republicans took the stage Friday night at Johnson County Community College. Here are the lowlights:
Masterson called Sarnecki "an angry elf" and "all hat, no cattle." Sarnecki called Masterson a career politician bought and paid for by lobbyists. For an hour, two men who want to run Kansas couldn't stop fighting each other long enough to talk about Kansas.
Masterson mentioned his Trump endorsement so many times that by the seventh invocation, even the Republican crowd was laughing at him.
Before the debate, a Masterson surrogate offered Sarnecki the lieutenant governor slot to get him out of the race. Sarnecki said no — and told the whole audience about it from the stage. They applauded.
Vicki Schmidt refused to pay the $10,000 debate entry fee and skipped the debate entirely.
Masterson’s Brownback Legacy
Sarnecki hit Masterson for signing off on Brownback's 2015 budget — the one that blew a $900 million hole in state finances.
Masterson voted for the original experiment, spent years defending it as the finances collapsed, and called the rollback bill "a piece of garbage."
When the legislature overrode Brownback's veto, Masterson was one of the last men standing with the governor.
WHERE THIS FIELD ACTUALLY STANDS
On the issues that matter to Kansas families, this field is unified — in the wrong direction.
Medicaid expansion: Kansas is one of only ten states that still hasn't expanded Medicaid, leaving an estimated 150,000 Kansans without coverage. Expansion would unlock $700 million in annual federal funding and could save 59 rural hospitals on the brink of closing. Masterson has been its loudest opponent for years, and no candidate in this race will break from that position.
Public education: O'Hara wants to abolish the Kansas State Department of Education entirely, Schwab has said he may have to cut school funding, Masterson has spent years pushing a voucher program that would drain hundreds of millions from public schools into private and religious institutions with zero public accountability.
Tariffs and agriculture: Trump's tariffs are crushing Kansas farmers — evaporating markets, tanking commodity prices, and not one candidate in this race has said a critical word about it.
INFLATION WATCH: THE BILL KEEPS COMING DUE
This week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released May inflation numbers. They are not good:
Inflation rose 4.2 percent over the past 12 months — the highest reading in three years.
Energy is up 23.5 percent year over year.
Food prices are up 3.1 percent.
The Iran War has pushed gas near $4 a gallon in Kansas and diesel approaching $5.
Not one Republican running for governor has said a critical word about any of it — and Masterson spent Friday night invoking Trump's endorsement at every turn. He owns this record now.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Eight weeks from the August 4 primary, and the field is united on exactly the wrong things: blocking Medicaid, defunding public schools, and silence on the tariffs crushing Kansas farmers.
The circus rolls on – we’ll see you next week.
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