Iola native David Toland, the state’s secretary of commerce and lieutenant governor, will not run for governor in 2026.
The Kansas Reflector reported Tuesday that Toland ruled out a run for governor and any other elective offices.
There had been speculation he would seek the Democratic nomination for governor, which made him a regular target of Republicans, the Reflector reported.
“I’m especially proud of our administration’s economic record, where we’ve completely energized our state’s economic trajectory,” Toland told the Reflector.
“I believe my highest order of service to Kansas is to remain focused on our economy, not on politics,” Toland said.
Toland’s comments came the same day that State Sen. Ethan Corson, D-Fairway, said he, too, would seek the Democratic nomination.
Corson is an attorney first elected to the State Senate in 2020, the Reflector reported.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, nearing the end of her second four-year term, is ineligible to run for a third term.
The open contest for governor in Kansas created a logjam of Republican candidates, including Secretary of State Scott Schwab, Senate President Ty Masterson, Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt and former Gov. Jeff Colyer.
Eleven candidates — eight Republicans and three Democrats — are in the running.
TOLAND was appointed commerce secretary in 2019, and kept that job even after being appointed lieutenant governor in 2021.
