Witch hunts are back en vogue with Kansas Republicans—literally.
Ty Masterson, the Republican candidate in the Kansas gubernatorial race, accused his Democratic opponent Cindy Holscher of being an actual witch capable of “demonic” magic while speaking at the Praise Chapel in Wichita on Sunday.
Masterson introduced the dubious portion of his pseudo-sermon by suggesting that God wanted him to run for Kansas’s top political office.
“God’s armies are out there in this,” Masteron said. “What we’re fighting right now is a spiritual battle that I’ve never seen before, in [this] state, in this politics.”
“Evil is maturing with the brotherhood, and it is rising to a level that is just in your face,” Masterson continued as a pianist played a contemplative melody beside him. “Really my race and the U.S. senate race with Roger Marshall versus [Adam] Hamilton. Those are spiritual battles.”
“Like I said, my opponent, she didn’t even hide it,” Masteron added. “She talked—they had witch—I mean, they’re doing like witchcraft spells on TikTok so she can win the governorship. I mean, they’re like. It’s like demonic stuff that they’re doing, right? Just in your face that way.”
The state senator had seemingly drawn his conclusions from a series of playful TikTok videos posted by Holscher’s 20-year-old daughter, Maddie, who had shared clips of her and her mom brushing their teeth set to a song from the Wicked soundtrack.
“Casting a spell so my mom wins Kansas Governor except she’s so done with me,” Maddie Holscher captioned one clip from April in which she waves her arms around her mother.
The unserious memes offered voters a fun porthole into the Democratic candidate’s family life. In May, Holscher said that the “goofy” videos her daughter makes “mean a lot” to her, and encouraged people to check them out.
The younger Holscher responded to the Republican backlash on Tuesday, facetiously declaring alongside a childhood Halloween picture that “unfortunately the allegations are true.” In the image, Holscher and her sibling are dressed up as witches, wands at the ready. “I’ve been practicing since elementary school… and I guess my sister has been, too.”
Masterson is obviously grasping at straws to dismantle Holscher’s odds. Republicans have recently ramped up spending in the Sunflower State, throwing millions of dollars at Masterson’s campaign to gain an advantage in the governor race. As of late last month, the GOP had spent $16.6 million on broadcast and digital expenditures in the race, compared to $4.7 million spent by Democrats, according to the Sunflower State Journal.
You can watch the video below. The portion discussing witchcraft starts at the 35:45 mark.