GOP Not Giving Sen. Marshall Financial Advantage in Kansas Reelection Bid

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — At 94 years, the Kansas Republican Party’s streak of single-party dominance in Senate races is the nation’s longest, because even in the toughest years, disaffected Republican-leaning voters routinely returned to the party fold before Election Day.

But Republicans fear this year will be different, putting the race between Republican Sen. Roger Marshall and Democrat Adam Hamilton on track to become the costliest in state history.

Hamilton, founder and senior pastor of the nation’s largest United Methodist church, has raised significantly more money than Marshall, who is seeking his second term. Hamilton’s candidacy — and voter disapproval of the way President Donald Trump handled the economy — have upended GOP hopes of Marshall winning as the GOP tries to maintain its Senate majority.

Kansas, which Trump won in three presidential elections, is an unlikely battleground for the Senate. Republicans money redirected of the North Carolina Senate race to help Marshall, and Trump flew to Kansas this week to organize a gathering for him, calling Marshall “one of our country’s greatest senators.” Vice President JD Vance plans to hold a rally next week in Topeka after headlining one in suburban Kansas City in September.

Loyal Republican Party voters sensed a serious threat even before Trump announced his rally.

In Topeka, Julie Adamson, 81, prayed for the election, but she also knocked on doors in Marshall, about 200 by her count. She said that if Hamilton wins and Democrats control the Senate, “we’ll see, ‘impeach,’ impeach Trump.’”

“And nothing will be done for our country,” she added.

A formidable candidate has emerged in a difficult year for the GOP

Before entering the race, Hamilton already had public prominence in vote-rich suburbs by building his Kansas City-area Church of the Resurrection into a 25,000-member congregation. Practicing Protestants also knew him as the author of several dozen books, and he honed his speaking skills through weekly sermons.

Hamilton positioned himself as a moderate and pushed prices up, especially for fuel, a key question. In a debate Wednesday, he and Marshall endorsed banning transgender girls and women on women’s sports teams. Hamilton called on local officials to make such decisions, but suggested Marshall and other Republicans were intimidating transgender people by bringing the issue to the forefront in campaigns.

Marshall, a mostly retired doctor, describes Hamilton as too liberal — even radical — for a state where fewer than 26 percent of the 2 million registered voters are Democrats, while more than 44 percent are Republicans.

During Wednesday’s debate, Marshall repeatedly said that a Hamilton victory would put Democrats in charge of the Senate and that Hamilton would vote with liberal Democrats.

“We need to remind everyone that control of the Senate runs through Kansas,” he said.

There are signs that voter enthusiasm is waning. with the Democrats as advance voting has increased in the United States compared to the last half-year. In Kansas, it more than doubled over the same period.

Amanda Chavez Thomson, co-owner of a small home restoration company, said she believes change has been needed “for a while.”

“I think we finally have a candidate who can give us that energy and momentum that we need from people who may be hesitant or may not have voted in the past,” she said.

Fundraising emerges as a major concern for Republicans

Since the state’s August primary, Republican groups have pledged to spend more than $26 million on television and digital advertising to boost Marshall, more than they spent in his first run in 2020, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact. Including Marshall’s campaign, the GOP’s total ad spending would exceed $32 million.

But Hamilton and Democratic groups have pledged to spend more than $38 million together, according to AdImpact. Total ad spending — involving more than 40 groups outside of campaigns — would be about $71 million, a record for Kansas.

Perhaps one reason the Republican Party is pushing funds toward Marshall is that the outgoing president has proven to be a poor fundraiser. Between the state’s August primary and Thursday, Hamilton collected more than 10,000 contributions from Kansas residents, while raising $8 million across the United States, according to online campaign finance reports. Marshall has about 200 contributions from Kansans while raising a total of $905,000.

“People are shouting, saying, ‘Come on, Roger Marshall, speak for us,'” Hamilton said during Wednesday night’s debate.

Marshall talks about liberal Democrats and “conscience”

Marshall’s campaign and Republican groups attempted to damage Hamilton’s public image by attacking the way he led his church and using excerpts from his own sermons to portray him as too “woke.” At the Trump rally, Marshall called Hamilton “the most radical liberal Democrat to ever win a Senate primary in Kansas history.”

But such attacks do not resonate with at least some disgruntled Republicans. Don Hineman, a western Kansas rancher and former Republican majority leader in the House of Representatives, said he’s tired of the term “woke” being a slur.

Hineman, who joined the Republicans for Hamilton group, added that no one “is more ‘woke’ than Jesus Christ.”

Democrats countered with television ads about Marshall’s pursuit of unpaid bills from patients at the obstetrician’s practice he abandoned a decade ago. Online state court records show that from 1996 to 2016, Marshall or his firm filed at least 700 debt collection lawsuits, sometimes 10 or more per day.

The New York Times first reported the extent of the dispute. It says in 81 cases patients were arrested for missing a court date and cites two experts who called Marshall’s tactics extreme. During Wednesday’s debate, Marshall said he faced a “gross and misinterpretation” of his actions.

History and loyalty have been key assets for the Kansas GOP

Democrats can hold out hope for a victory in Hamilton because the state has sizable blocs of moderate and independent Republican voters who have regularly swung elections toward their candidates for governor and who protected the right to abortion in a statewide vote in 2022.

Yet Republicans still have two key assets: Kansas’ political history and the loyalty that even disaffected Republican-leaning voters show to the party.

Not only have Democrats lost every Senate election in Kansas since 1932, but no Democrat has come within 10 points of victory since 1974. In 2014 and 2020, races considered toss-ups in mid-October failed and Marshall’s predecessor, Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, won.

Leroy Towns, a former chief of staff to Roberts, said that in 2014, many Republicans who considered voting against Roberts “just couldn’t do it.” Towns – who switched parties because of Trump – supports Hamilton.

Towns thinks Hamilton will win, but added, “Republican influence at the end of an election is really, really strong in this state.” »

___ Cappelletti reported from Washington. Nicholas Ingram in Topeka, Kansas contributed reporting.