KANSAS – Kansas Senator and gubernatorial candidate Ethan Corson recently sat down with Ad Astra Radio’s Rob Mackey to reflect on a year of campaigning, the priorities he’s hearing from voters, and his vision for the state’s future. In a conversation that ranged from rural healthcare to the future of AI data centers in the Sunflower State, Ethan Corson emphasized a message of unity and practical problem-solving.
After logging over 26,000 miles across the state in the past year, Ethan Corson says the issues on Kansans’ minds aren’t as divided as some might believe.
“By far the best part of this has been traveling around the state talking to Kansans,” Corson shared. “The thing that I always tell people is that I think we sometimes have a perception that, you know, what is this part of the state focused on, what is that part of the state focused on. By and large, candidates want the same things.
Those “same things” include access to health care, good public schools, and local economic opportunity. “They want to make sure their kids go to a great public school. … They want to make sure their kid can stay and grow and thrive in their community, and that there’s good-paying jobs and career opportunities,” Ethan Corson explained.
Health care remains a central topic. As one of the few states yet to expand Medicaid, Corson says the consequences, especially for rural communities, are dire.
“I am, as long as I have breath in my body, never going to give up the fight for Medicaid expansion. We are now one of only 10 states in the country that hasn’t expanded Medicaid. … We have left $7 billion, billion with a B, in Kansas taxpayer dollars in Washington,” he stated.
He recalled visiting Kansas hospitals: “We have more rural hospitals at a high risk of closure than any other state in the country. … Our state’s failure to expand Medicaid has made it more difficult for these healthcare facilities to provide the care that Kansans need”.
Before entering state politics, Corson served in senior roles at the U.S. Department of Commerce. “I think that’s where I really developed the kind of leadership and executive experience that one needs to be governor,” he said. With an annual budget of over $500 million and 2,200 employees worldwide, Corson emphasizes hands-on management, not just policy debates: “Being a governor is very different than being a legislator … It is about really leading, managing, and making sure that government is delivering results for Kansans”.
With the rise of AI and data centers, he pledges to protect communities’ interests: “We need a state law that says before you can even break ground on a data center, you have to have a decommissioning agreement in place … It is the company’s responsibility to tear it down, not the community’s”.
Corson is the first candidate in the race to openly support both recreational and medical marijuana legalization: “We are forfeiting a lot of revenue that we could capture as a state … we have an opportunity to relieve the suffering of Kansans, which is something we should always be striving to do”.
For Corson, this campaign is personal. “I grew up in Kansas. … When I think of Kansas, I think about a place that really invested in me as a young person and gave me tremendous opportunities to do things beyond my wildest imagination,” he said.
Listen to Ethan Corson’s Full Interview on the Ad Astra Radio Podcast Page.
