State Sen. Ethan Corson, a member of the Jewish community, announced that he is seeking the Kansas Democratic Party’s nomination for governor. Corson will compete for the party’s nomination against state Sen. Cindy Holscher.
Since his election in 2020, Corson has been involved or supported several state government initiatives combating antisemitism, most recently being among the 39 senators voting yea on SB 44 in March. SB 44 includes that “antisemitism and antisemitic acts are against the public policy of the state, including, but not limited to, the purposes of public educational institutions and law enforcement agencies.”
Additionally, Corson voted for Kansas to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in 2022 and to declare May Jewish American Heritage Month in 2023. In January of 2024, Corson was one of 17 senators who sponsored SR 1729, a resolution expressing support for Israel and condemnation of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel.
Corson is a Johnson County native and became a bar mitzvah at Congregation Beth Shalom in 1995. He graduated from Shawnee Mission South High School and went to Garden City Community College before attending Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and earning a law degree.
Corson practiced law for seven years in Washington, D.C. before entering government. In Washington, he served as a senior advisor to then-U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and later as chief of staff of the International Trade Administration.
After returning to Kansas, he served as the executive director of the Kansas Democratic Party from 2017 to 2019. He was elected as state senator in 2020 representing the seventh district.
Corson and his wife, Jenna Brofsky, live with their two sons in Fairway, Kansas.
