Vance Rallies in Topeka as Kansas Senate Race Tightens

Vice President JD Vance campaigned in Topeka on Monday evening for Senator Roger Marshall, bringing the Trump administration's closing midterm push to a Kansas Senate race that has tightened far beyond what either party expected in a state this Republican.

Vance spoke at HME Inc., a metal fabrication business in Topeka, after Air Force Two landed at Forbes Field at about 4:39 p.m. local time. Several hundred people filled roughly 400 seats and standing room at the plant, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal, which covered the rally live. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum spoke before Vance and told the crowd that Marshall was one of the vice president's favorite people in the Senate.

It was Vance's second Kansas trip in two months. He visited a metal fabrication facility in Olathe last month, and President Donald Trump spoke near Wichita last week in support of Marshall. The repeat visits from the top of the ticket point to a close race between Marshall and his Democratic challenger, the Rev. Adam Hamilton, a United Methodist pastor. Kansas has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932, and the Cook Political Report has rated the contest a tossup.

An appeal to undecided voters

Vance tied Marshall directly to the administration's tax agenda. "Because of Roger Marshall, we cut taxes on overtime. Because of Roger Marshall, we cut taxes on tips. And because of Roger Marshall, we cut taxes on Social Security," he said, according to Kansas Public Radio.

He also addressed voters who have not made up their minds. "I want to speak mostly to the undecided voters. You'll hear a lot of people say that gas prices are too high. And I understand that. It is true," Vance said. He blamed Democratic environmental policies for limiting American energy production and did not mention the war in Iran or the Strait of Hormuz.

Two protesters interrupted the speech in its opening minutes and were removed. Vance answered them from the stage, and the crowd responded with chants of "USA," the Capital-Journal reported.

Control of the Senate

Marshall told the crowd that Democrats were turning out strongly in early voting and urged Republicans to match that enthusiasm. "Control of the Senate goes through Kansas," he said, a line he also used in a recent debate with Hamilton. Marshall argued that electing Hamilton would make New York Senator Chuck Schumer the Senate leader, and said Hamilton's campaign was funded by Schumer.

Hamilton has said he would not support Schumer for a leadership position if elected, and he has called border policy under President Joe Biden a disaster. In a statement before the rally, Hamilton said he expected attacks and invited Vance to visit his congregation, the Church of the Resurrection in the Kansas City area. "Our congregation is roughly equal parts Republicans, Democrats, and independents. We sit in the same pews and worship together every Sunday," Hamilton said.

Marshall also repeated the campaign's claim that Hamilton split the United Methodist Church. Church members told the Kansas News Service that Hamilton is influential in the denomination but did not have an outsized role in its policies, which were set by hundreds of delegates, and Hamilton has called the attacks on his faith sad and pathetic.

The midterm elections are on November 3. Republicans are fighting to keep control of Congress, and the Kansas race, in a state Trump carried comfortably, has become one of the seats both parties are watching on election night.