Final campaign attacks target church cases and Marshall’s patient suits
Spending in the Kansas Senate contest topped $108 million, easily a record for any race in the state. According to AdImpact, Democrats committed $64 million to television and digital advertising, while Republicans separately dedicated about $44 million. Marshall proved to be a lackluster fundraiser, but the overall spending broke the Kansas record.
In the campaign’s final weeks, Republicans not only portrayed Hamilton as too “woke” for Kansas but focused heavily on two cases of alleged sexual abuse of teenage boys by an adult leader at annual camps for Hamilton’s church, one in 2005 and the other in 2006. Hamilton’s campaign, meanwhile, hammered Marshall over how his medical practice pursued unpaid patient bills before he won a U.S. House seat in 2016. Both parties poured money into personal attacks as the race entered election day.
The church investigated the first incident in 2005 but did not report it to law enforcement because the victims could not positively identify the perpetrator, and the man returned for the 2006 camp. The second incident was reported to law enforcement. The church turned over its records on the first case, but the local prosecutor did not pursue criminal charges.
The church changed its child-protection policies and, since the 2005 case, has required all incidents to be reported to law enforcement. Hamilton acknowledged that it was a mistake for the church not to report the first incident in 2005 and for him not to personally check that the man had not returned in 2006. One of the Hamilton campaign’s last television spots featured the sister of one of the 2005 victims calling Republican claims about the cases “absolute lies.”
Marshall uses “Doc” on his stationery. The New York Times reported that Marshall and his practice sued more than 700 patients during his decades-long medical career. In 81 cases, patients were arrested for missing court dates, and two experts called the tactics extreme, according to the report. During a televised debate, Marshall called the attacks a “gross mischaracterization” of his professional record.
Democrats entered Tuesday’s election hoping that dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump and the appeal of Hamilton’s well-funded campaign to middle-of-the-road voters would oust Marshall and end a 94-year streak of losing Senate races. The unusually competitive contest in a state Trump carried easily in his three races for president reflected Republicans’ nationwide challenges with inflation and unhappiness over the Iran war, and it bolstered Democrats’ hopes of winning the Senate majority in Washington.
Democrats last won a Kansas Senate race in 1932, making the party’s losing streak the longest current Senate losing streak in the country. The last truly close contest came in 1974, when Bob Dole won a second term by less than 2 percentage points after the Watergate scandal forced President Richard Nixon from office.
Trump’s drop in popularity nationally boosted Democrats’ hopes, and the party hoped to take advantage of a recent shift in Kansas politics. Although the state is often viewed as ruby red, a sizable bloc of moderate voters has regularly swung governor races to Democrats. Suburbs near Kansas City, Missouri, have become increasingly blue, making it easier for Democrats to win statewide races by carrying the state’s most populous counties. The party has also fielded well-funded candidates in races that looked like tossups before, only to see Republican-leaning voters who flirted with leaving the party drift back by Election Day.
Hamilton brought a friendly, centrist persona and a knack for fundraising to the race. As founder of the 25,000-member Church of the Resurrection in the Kansas City area, the nation’s largest United Methodist congregation, he tapped into voters’ frustration with rising prices, particularly for diesel that fuels the state’s agricultural economy. His message focused on those costs, while the Iran war continued for a ninth month despite Trump’s promises of a quick resolution and formed part of the national political environment.
Hamilton accused Marshall of abandoning Kansas to live in Florida. Marshall said he bought his vacation home so he could spend time with family and sold it in October. The retired obstetrician remained closely aligned with Trump, defended the war, insisted the economy was strong and continued backing Trump’s tariffs.
In previous years, Kansas Republicans kept their seats by arguing that electing a Democrat would put or leave liberal Democrats in control in Washington. Hamilton said he opposed retaining New York’s Charles Schumer as the Senate’s Democratic leader, but Marshall argued that a Hamilton victory still would put “big-government socialists” in control. Hamilton described himself as “independent-minded” and distanced himself from democratic socialists who have been gaining influence on the left. He said their movement “is not going to fly” in Kansas, positioning himself as a potential moderate counterweight in Washington.
At an event in Topeka, Hamilton criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement but stopped short of calling for the agency to be abolished, as many progressives have done. “They were formed to make sure that people didn’t fly airplanes into buildings again,” he said, referencing the 9/11 terror attacks. “If they stick to what they were created for, I’m grateful for them.” His criticism of the agency, like his positioning against Schumer, illustrated the balance he sought as he courted independent and Republican voters.