In November 2018 Starovoyt appointed his predecessor, Alexander Mikhailov, to the Federation Council after incumbent Senator Vitaly Bogdanov stepped down.

[2] Starovoyt, officially an Independent, was nominated for a full term by United Russia in the 2019 gubernatorial elections.

Roman Starovoyt overwhelmingly won the September 2019 election with 81.07% of the vote, as his nearest challenger, Vladimir Firsov (CPRF), received just 5.65%.

[9] On May 15 President Vladimir Putin appointed Smirnov as acting Governor of Kursk Oblast.

Each candidate in order to be registered is required to collect at least 6% of signatures of members and heads of municipalities.