By TONY GUERRERO
Hays Post
Sen. Ethan Corson, D-Fairway, was in Hays Saturday campaigning for governor in 2026.
Corson stopped by the Eagle Media Center for an interview with Hays Post before joining other candidates on stage at Democracy Fest on Saturday.
"The first issue I'm going to tackle as governor is the affordability crisis in Kansas," Corson said.
Corson said Kansas has become too expensive for many residents, a concern that first motivated him to run for the state Senate. He said the state has drifted from being a place where people could once afford a middle-class lifestyle and retire comfortably.
Corson said he worked across party lines on the Senate Tax Committee to eliminate taxes on Social Security, lower property taxes and expand the senior property tax freeze program.
"We need to have a child tax credit for our working Kansas families to keep more money in their pockets so they can pay for things like child care," Corson said.
Corson said there is a need to double the 20-mill property tax exemption to $150,000 in assessed value, eliminate taxes on tips, and raise the minimum wage to $15 and index it to the cost of living.
"Hard work is a Kansas value, but I don't think anybody who works full time should be living in poverty," he said.
Education
Corson said K-12 education is a core Kansas value and emphasized the next governor will need to reauthorize or create a new school funding formula before the current one expires at the end of 2026.
"I'm going to veto any bill that I don't think fully funds our schools and does it in an adequate and equitable way, including making sure rural schools are taken care of," he said.
Corson said the state faces a teacher shortage that is expected to worsen, attributing it to low pay and a lack of incentives for younger generations to enter the profession as many current educators near retirement.
Corson also said he supports fully funding special education. Hays school district officials have lobbied for more state funding. Hays USD 489 saw a cost increase of almost $822,000 for special education for the 2025-26 school year.
"I think that the approach that Gov. Laura Kelly has laid out is the right one to get us to that 92% which is what state law requires. We haven't met that since 2011," he said.
Water
Corson said Kansas is decades behind on long-term water preservation but recognizes Gov. Kelly’s efforts to secure additional resources for water projects. He noted bipartisan progress on water issues in the Legislature and voiced support for establishing a dedicated task force.
"What I want to do as governor is figure out a dedicated funding stream for water so we can make progress on implementing those recommendations of the task force," Corson said.
Corson said he was not aware of the R9 Ranch project.
Health care and mental health
Corson said Kansas has 100 rural hospitals, with 67 at high risk of closing. He said he was disappointed over recent federal legislation that included cuts to Medicaid and rural health care.
"I want to do everything I can to keep our hospitals open," he said. "I want to have a task force that looks at rural health care to come up with specific recommendations of what we can do along those lines to make sure that we are trying to protect our hospitals."
Corson said he met with community health center leaders in southwest Kansas to discuss their challenges, noting that many stem, to some extent, from the state’s failure to expand Medicaid.
Corson said there is a shortage of mental health beds and pledged to increase funding to expand capacity. He said the state has fallen behind in addressing the issue and is now trying to catch up.
"We have moved the ball forward in that direction over the past several years, but we haven't gone far enough and fast enough. There's still a lot of work that needs to be done," Corson said.