As Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KY) heads into an unexpectedly tight reelection race in a state President Donald Trump won by more than 16 points, a top Trump operative has been dispatched to the Sunflower State out of fear that “losing Kansas could be a domino in costing” the GOP its Senate majority, Axios reported.
Chris Grant, a veteran GOP strategist who was deeply involved in supporting Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, has been tapped to help Marshall’s campaign as its senior adviser just three weeks out from the midterms.
Marshall’s campaign has “increasingly frustrated” Republican operatives as he weathers a wave of negative press, including recent reports that he sued patients over unpaid medical bills and charged them steep interest rates during his years as an OB-GYN.
“[GOP operatives] believe [Marshall’s campaign] hasn't been aggressive enough at a time when soaring fuel prices have particularly hurt farmers in Kansas and elsewhere in the Midwest,” Axios’ report reads.
Marshall will face Democratic Senate nominee Adam Hamilton on Nov. 3, with recent polling showing Hamilton with a slight edge over his Republican opponent. A Democratic-aligned super PAC plans to drop $5 million in support of Hamilton, whereas a GOP-aligned super PAC intends to spend $14 million in defense of Marshall, which includes funds pulled from North Carolina.
In a 544-word Monday post on Truth Social, Trump called Marshall “one of my favorite Senators,” and dismissed reporting about his controversial billing practices while an OB-GYN.
“He is absolutely GREAT, a wonderful person, given a ‘bum rap’ because he was mandated by Law to request money owed from patients,” Trump wrote. “If he didn’t make these requests, he would be breaking the Law, and subject to criminal liability and arrest.”
Trump’s remarks were misleading given that Marshall was scrutinized not for requesting payments, as the president claimed, but for charging patients 18% interest rates, which a recent Kansas City Star report found to be the highest “by far” among the roughly 150 medical practices in the state it reviewed.