Top 5 Kansas news stories
November 2 2026
Trump Rallies for Marshall in Salina
Kobach Alleges Voter Fraud in Wichita
Former Patient Sues Marshall Over Medical Debt Interest
Hamilton Needs GOP Crossover Votes, Analysis Finds
Appeals Court Upholds Cozy Inn's Mural Win
Trump Rallies for Marshall in Salina
SALINA, Kan. — President Donald Trump held his final in-person rally of the 2026 midterms in Salina on Nov. 1, urging support for U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall as Republicans defend the seat against Democrat Adam Hamilton. Originally scheduled for Saturday, the visit was canceled Thursday and reinstated Friday, replacing plans for a telephone rally. A Republican Party spokesperson said 2,500 seats were filled inside and estimated another 1,500 people watched outside. Recent polls have shown Marshall and Hamilton statistically tied or Hamilton ahead.
Trump also backed Republican gubernatorial candidate Ty Masterson, criticized Hamilton and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cindy Holscher over their National Rifle Association ratings, and promoted manufacturing investments in Kansas. Marshall, Attorney General Kris Kobach and Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined Trump onstage. Sen. Jerry Moran urged attendees to vote Republican and emphasized control of the Senate, but did not explicitly endorse individual candidates in his remarks. Trump repeatedly urged supporters to vote Nov. 3, closing his visit with an appeal for Marshall and other Republicans.
Greg Loving
Kobach Alleges Voter Fraud in Wichita
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach sent Bluestem Kansas a cease-and-desist letter Oct. 31 after his office said a voter reported that a canvasser identifying with the civic engagement group offered a $5 gift card in connection with voting in the Nov. 3 election. Kobach said paying people to vote violates Kansas election-bribery law and federal law covering elections with federal candidates, including this year's Kansas Senate race and all four U.S. House contests. The letter demands preservation of emails, text messages, canvassing scripts, training materials and payment records, and investigators asked anyone offered gift cards, cash or other incentives to contact the attorney general's office. The action comes during both parties' final door-to-door turnout efforts, which may encourage voting but may not pay people to vote. President Donald Trump amplified the accusation on social media, writing, “We have photographic evidence.” No charges had been announced in the cited reports, the allegation had not been tested in court, and Bluestem had not responded to KCTV5's request for comment.
KCTV5 · WIBW · Kansas Attorney General · Trump/Truth Social
Former Patient Sues Marshall Over Medical Debt Interest
GREAT BEND, Kan. — Former patient Meischa Zimmerman filed a proposed class-action lawsuit Oct. 29 in Barton County District Court against U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall and his former practice, Heartland Regional OBGYN, alleging its 18% annual interest on unpaid bills exceeds Kansas' general 15% limit. Zimmerman says the practice sued her over a $3,596 bill for her child's 2009 delivery plus interest; the suit alleges usury, unjust enrichment and breach of fiduciary duty, seeks repayment, damages and a jury trial, and challenges billing that local attorney Kent Roth of Ellinwood described as predatory toward low-income patients. The New York Times previously reported that Marshall and the practice sued more than 700 patients, which Marshall called a “hit job” while defending common business practices; a collections lawyer told the newspaper that Marshall set the interest rate but did not decide on arrest warrants. Zimmerman also appears in an ad for Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton that Marshall's lawyers called defamatory in September, saying her arrest concerned a missed court appearance rather than a missed payment, while Hamilton's campaign stood by the ad. The Times reported Nov. 1 that Marshall made a video rebuttal to the medical-debt criticism against advisers' guidance, according to reporter Shane Goldmacher's public summary. Marshall declined initial comment on the lawsuit and referred questions to his communications team, which had not immediately responded, and no court had ruled on the claims in the cited coverage.
Kansas Reflector · KWCH · The New York Times
Hamilton Needs GOP Crossover Votes, Analysis Finds
Republican crossover support is central to Democrat Adam Hamilton's bid to defeat U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall on Nov. 3, according to a Citizen Journal analysis estimating he needs roughly one in six Republicans if he holds 90% of Democrats, wins unaffiliated voters 2-to-1 and turnout mirrors party registration. The Kansas secretary of state's Oct. 1 registration report, the latest monthly report available, lists 901,822 Republicans, 521,669 Democrats and 578,791 unaffiliated voters, representing 44.5%, 25.7% and 28.5% of 2,027,520 registered voters. The state's latest advance-voting report, dated Oct. 30, shows 375,937 ballots voted, including 303,878 in person and 72,059 returned by mail, approaching the 386,729 advance ballots cast throughout the 2022 midterm election. The final Emerson-KSN poll, released Oct. 30 after surveying 800 likely voters Oct. 26-28, put Hamilton ahead of Marshall 49%-45%, with Libertarian David Graham at 3% and 3% undecided; for governor, Republican Ty Masterson led Democrat Cindy Holscher 50%-46%, with 4% undecided. In 2022, Democrat Laura Kelly won the governor's race 49.5%-47.3% while Republican Jerry Moran won the Senate race 60%-37%, but Marshall's 11.4-point victory in 2020 followed polls showing a much closer contest. The survey's reported credibility interval was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, and its results estimate voter sentiment rather than election outcomes; registration and advance-ballot counts do not reveal candidate choices, and in-person advance voting ends at noon Nov. 2.
Greg Loving
Emerson College Polling · KSN
Appeals Court Upholds Cozy Inn's Mural Win
SALINA, Kan. — A panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Oct. 30 upheld a ruling that Salina violated the First Amendment by ordering the Cozy Inn, a downtown hamburger stand, to stop painting a UFO-themed mural on its building. The panel found the city's sign code failed intermediate scrutiny, a test requiring restrictions on speech to closely serve important government interests, because Salina lacked evidence that regulated signs posed greater risks to traffic safety, appearance or property values than unregulated murals. The decision affirms U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse's November 2025 summary judgment, issued without a trial, but leaves in place the denial of a permanent injunction against enforcement of the entire sign code against the restaurant. The Kansas Justice Institute, which represented the Cozy Inn, urged cities to “quit playing art critic” and said Salina could seek further review, including at the U.S. Supreme Court; the city had not responded in initial reports. Salina had spent more than $500,000 on litigation by November 2025, according to KSAL, and national groups including the Institute for Justice filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the restaurant. Many Salina residents oppose spending taxpayer money to fight a local restaurant over its mural, according to former Mayor Jon Blanchard.
10th Circuit · KWCH · KSAL · Salina Post · Kansas Public Radio
Sources
- Citizen Journal
- KCTV5 / WIBW / Kansas Attorney General / Trump/Truth Social / MarketTrace transcript
- Kansas Reflector / KWCH / The New York Times, Sept. 8 / The New York Times, Nov. 1 / Shane Goldmacher's summary
- Citizen Journal / Kansas Secretary of State registration report / Kansas Secretary of State advance voting / Emerson College Polling / KSN
- 10th Circuit opinion / KWCH / KSAL / KSAL litigation costs / Salina Post / Kansas Public Radio
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