Vance Backs Marshall as Trump Plans Salina Rally

Kansans Sour on Economy, Marshall and Trump

Donors Keep Sternberg Museum Open

Kobach Says Accessible Phone Storage Violates School Ban

Pro-Data Center Super PAC Backs Masterson for Governor

Vance Backs Marshall as Trump Plans Salina Rally

TOPEKA, Kan. — Vice President JD Vance rallied for Republican Sen. Roger Marshall on Monday, Oct. 26, at Topeka steel fabricator HME Inc., his second Kansas campaign stop for Marshall since mid-September. Vance portrayed Democrat Adam Hamilton as an ally of Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and the “radical left,” crediting Marshall with tax cuts on tips and overtime and expanded American oil production; Marshall urged Republicans to match Democratic enthusiasm. Hamilton, a Leawood Methodist pastor, visited Pratt, Dodge City and Liberal on his 10-day “Leading From the Middle” bus tour, focusing on gas and grocery prices and arguing that visits by Vance and President Donald Trump remind voters whose policies he blames for those costs. The Republican National Committee announced Monday that Trump would rally in Salina on Saturday, Oct. 31, following his Oct. 19 Park City appearance, though a venue had not been announced. WIBW described Vance’s Topeka appearance as the second of three presidential or vice presidential Kansas visits this month, unusual attention for a Senate seat Republicans have held since the 1930s and a race that could affect Senate control. Kansas last elected a Democratic senator in 1932, but an Oct. 13-14 InsiderAdvantage poll put Marshall at 48% and Hamilton at 47%; Libertarian David Graham is also on the Nov. 3 ballot, and the election remains undecided.

KWCH · Kansas Reflector · KSN · WIBW · RealClearPolling

Kansans Sour on Economy, Marshall and Trump

HAYS, Kan. — Fort Hays State University’s Docking Institute released its annual Kansas Speaks survey Monday, Oct. 26, finding that 20.4% of respondents rated the state economy excellent or very good, down from 27.7% last year, while 48.6% said it was worsening, up from 36.1%. Nationally, 13.1% rated the economy excellent or very good and 63.5% said it was worsening. Term-limited Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, who is not on the ballot, led officials’ ratings at 46.9% satisfied, essentially unchanged from 47% last year, while 29.1% were dissatisfied; Republican Sen. Roger Marshall’s satisfaction rating fell from 34% to 26.1% and President Donald Trump’s from 43.5% to 32.9% over the same period. Support reached 68% for expanding Medicaid, the government health coverage program for low-income people, 69% for paid family and medical leave, 65% for legal medical marijuana and about 58% for recreational marijuana; on data centers, 60.9% of respondents were extremely or definitely concerned about energy use, 55.3% about water use and 52.7% about the artificial intelligence they enable. The Republican-led Legislature has not approved Medicaid expansion despite similar support in previous Kansas Speaks surveys, leaving a gap between respondents’ preferences and state policy as Kansans prepare to choose a governor and senator Nov. 3. The weighted online survey of 603 adults, conducted Sept. 23-Oct. 16, measures adult residents’ views rather than likely voters’ preferences and does not forecast the election.

FHSU · Kansas Reflector

Donors Keep Sternberg Museum Open

HAYS, Kan. — Fort Hays State University said Monday, Oct. 26, that the Sternberg Museum of Natural History would remain open after its Save Sternberg campaign reached $1 million, averting a planned Dec. 18 closure. The Bob and Pat Schmidt Foundation is matching eligible individual and business gifts dollar for dollar up to $1 million through Dec. 31, potentially bringing total support to $2 million. The university announced the closure last month after a $2.4 million recurring state funding cut under the 2026 Legislature’s reductions to the state university system; the museum costs about $1.3 million annually to operate and generates roughly $470,000. President Tisa Mason said the university would develop a sustainable, appropriately scaled business plan, while staff review collections and consider moving some specimens to reduce costs. Schmidt Foundation President Gary Shorman described the match as a bridge to that plan, making the private support a temporary response to a continuing operating gap. The museum houses the “fish-within-a-fish” fossil, a prehistoric predatory fish preserved with a smaller fish inside it, and collections used for university research and teaching whose long-term support depends on the new operating plan.

KWCH · KSN · FHSU

Kobach Says Accessible Phone Storage Violates School Ban

TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach says schools cannot satisfy the state’s cellphone law by storing phones in backpacks or lockers students can access during the school day, according to a nonbinding opinion reported Monday, Oct. 26, by the Kansas News Service. House Bill 2299, known as “Bell to Bell, No Cell,” was signed by Gov. Laura Kelly on March 19 and took effect July 1, requiring phones to be turned off and securely stored away from students in an inaccessible location. The interpretation conflicts with statements by bipartisan sponsors Sen. Chase Blasi, an Andale Republican, and Sen. Dinah Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat, who said a powered-off phone in a backpack would comply. Leah Fliter of the Kansas Association of School Boards said the opinion affirmed its guidance, although some districts, including Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools, have allowed elementary students to keep phones in backpacks. The opinion provides legal guidance that courts may find persuasive, rather than a binding court order requiring districts to change their policies. Because the law provides no storage funding, districts relying on accessible backpacks or lockers may face midyear costs for lockable pouches or other storage that keeps devices inaccessible.

Kansas News Service · Kansas Reflector · KCTV5 · Kansas Attorney General

Pro-Data Center Super PAC Backs Masterson for Governor

TOPEKA, Kan. — Building the Future, a super PAC promoting data center development, is spending more than $1.5 million supporting Republican Ty Masterson for governor, NBC News reported Monday, Oct. 26, citing a person familiar with the spending. An offshoot of the pro-AI super PAC Leading the Future, the group also backs a Republican in South Carolina’s Senate race; super PACs may raise and spend unlimited sums independently of candidates’ campaigns. Masterson, the Kansas Senate president, opposes data center moratoriums and defends a 2025 law he supported exempting data center investments from sales tax; he had not commented when NBC’s report appeared. Democratic opponent and state Sen. Cindy Holscher has called Masterson a “stooge for Big Tech” and supports a statewide moratorium and tighter data center development rules. Kansas has nearly 40 data centers and more proposed, and NBC described the contest, rated Lean Republican by the Cook Political Report, as one of Republicans’ few opportunities to flip a Democratic-held governorship. The spending brings outside money promoting data center development into a race where power use, water use and tax breaks have become central issues in the final week.

NBC News · FEC

Sources

1. KWCH / Kansas Reflector / KWCH / KSN / KWCH / WIBW / RealClearPolling
2. FHSU / Kansas Speaks Report / Kansas Reflector / 2025 Kansas Speaks Report
3. KWCH / KSN / FHSU / KSN
4. Kansas News Service/KPR / Kansas Reflector / KCTV5 / Kansas Attorney General Opinion 2026-11
5. NBC News / NBC News via Yahoo / FEC

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