Complete cleaned transcript of the Hamilton-Marshall 2026 U.S. Senate debate for Kansas. October 21, 2026.
Moderator (John Holt):
Hello and welcome to debate night in Kansas. We are asking the questions of the U.S. Senate candidates tonight. I’m John Holt, and I’ll be your moderator, and we welcome you in from Kansas City. With a reminder that this debate is being broadcast live on Nexstar stations across the state, from the Kansas City metro to Topeka to Southeast Kansas, Wichita, and Western Kansas.
Here are tonight’s rules before we get started. Each candidate will have 60 seconds to answer a question. Follow-ups get 30 seconds, which will allow for up to 30 seconds for rebuttals. Candidates, when your time is up, you’ll hear this bell. You will also each get 30 seconds for a closing statement.
Announcer:
Now, live from the Fox 4 studios in Kansas City and your local election headquarters, this is debate night in Kansas.
Moderator:
Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Marshall, thanks for being with us tonight. We really appreciate it. Very important conversation ahead tonight. We’re going to get to some specific issues, but let’s begin with those attack ads we’ve all been subjected to, and we’re going to see if we, through your participation, can help us get to what’s true.
Mr. Marshall, you’re accused of suing patients. Mr. Hamilton, your church, once again, coming under some scrutiny for accusations of pedophile at one of your summer camps.
Mr. Marshall, by virtue of a card draw, you’ll get the first question, and it begins with that New York Times review of court records, and it found that you and your medical practice sued more than 700 patients over unpaid bills, with annual interest charges of 18%. Missed court dates because of the debt led to some arrests.
Now, you’ve talked a lot about the free care that you practice and hospital provided in Great Bend, but at the Kansas State Fair, you also defended those collections.
Roger Marshall:
Every year we gave away three to four million dollars of charity. But we also had a business. We had three hundred employees. We had a mortgage payment, we had electric, so we had just like every other business, we had to-the common business practice at the end of the day turned some people to collections as well. That would be true for every hospital and every doctor. But again, emphasis, only one out of five people we gave free care to as well.
Moderator:
Now, whatever that common business practice was, these were your patients. What responsibility do you personally take for how those debts were collected? You have sixty seconds.
Roger Marshall:
Yeah, John, I think that this couldn’t be further from the truth. I think we need to remind everybody that control the Senate goes through Kansas, and that’s why this is so important. So my opponent’s going to say anything he can to lie to get into that office and give control to Chuck Schumer. So these were blatant lies.
Look, I went to Great Bend, Kansas, because I wanted to take care of patients. It was a mission field. One out of five patients we took care of received free care, millions of dollars of free care. Nothing can be further from the truth.
Look, the Kansas Bill of Rights clearly says you cannot be arrested or thrown in jail because of indebtedness. So this particular patient actually had legal issues in three different counties. She had missed sixteen court dates, and I’m sorry about that. We did everything possible to keep them from going to collections. It was a very, very rare situation, but once it was turned over, it was the same process that KU Med Center would do, Via Christi in Wichita. Once we sent them to collections, it was out of our hands, but we did everything possible to take good care of people. Even surrounding cities sent people to us by the busload because they knew I would take care of them for free.
Moderator:
Let me ask a quick follow-up there, and it really goes back to my original question. Did you put limits on your lawyers on what they could do in terms of collecting, and did you ever intervene to stop a collection? Thirty seconds.
Roger Marshall:
Yeah. You know, I think there were sure times when the collections people would come to me and say, “Hey, we think you should do something on this one,” but we already wrote off many, many bills as well. Generally speaking, once it was turned over to collections, it was done. And again, that’s the same practice of KU Med Center, of St. Luke’s, of Via Christi as well. We did the same, followed the same procedures as every other doctor. This was such a small fraction of people that ever went. This is such a gross mischaracterization of the compassion and love and care that the other doctors and the nurses and I gave. Patient after patient, we gave free care to, we wrote off bills. All they had to do was in some way stay in communication with our office, and they would have never been sent to collections.
Moderator:
Thank you, sir. Your turn, Mr. Hamilton, to address one of the attack ads that’s leveled at you. Parents entrusted your church to take care of their children. In 2005, two boys reported inappropriate touching at your church camp. Now, you said the church investigated internally, but the findings were inconclusive, and authorities were not contacted. You recently told CNN this:
Adam Hamilton (clip):
It’s not a tragedy in that situation. Absolutely. Like, we should have called the police immediately, but that was not our policies 21 years ago.
Moderator:
Yet that same volunteer was allowed to return as a camp leader the following year. More allegations surfaced against him. This time, of course, the church did contact the authorities. So my question for you is, obviously, it’s your responsibility to take care of these kids. Why not override that policy back in 2005, when you had to know that police or law enforcement are better at investigating these kinds of things than staff? You have 60 seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
That’s a great question. And the reality is that we did change our policy after that. So this was very important. We made sure that the police found out later. When they did, they investigated, they found the same thing. It was inconclusive. There was uncertainty. And as a result of that, they refused to press charges as well.
I will tell you that ultimately, we helped get this man put behind bars, and the policies that we developed are used by 10,000 churches across America. When the Kansas City Star investigated what Roger Marshall said about this, the Kansas City Star said his allegations are false and misleading. Every journalist who looked into this said the same thing.
Moderator:
Let me follow up with this question. Obviously, back in 2005, you had that policy. My question is, what was your role in handling that part of the investigation, and did you sign off on this man going back to the camp in 2006? Thirty seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
That’s a great question. So first of all, others investigated. I was actually preaching that weekend at Church of the Resurrection, and I did not sign off on him going back. I should have checked to make sure that he wasn’t going back. That was a mistake on my part, but I will tell you, when he was investigated the next year, we forbade him from working with youth or children anymore. He left our church angry and upset, and again, we played a critical role several years later in getting him arrested and convicted.
Moderator:
Let’s pick up on an issue now, that’s affordability, and particularly the high cost of fuel. Mr. Hamilton, you’ll start us off with this round. You want to suspend, in fact, we’ve seen a commercial of you suggesting we suspend the gas and diesel federal fuels tax until the war- as I recall, until the Iran war ends. Critics will say that’s fine, but that feeds the highway trust fund with revenue that could impact Kansas road projects, public transportation. So my question, how would you replace that revenue? And you have sixty seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
It’s a great question. So, presuming that I win, and I think we will win, the aim is to end the war as quickly as possible. This is really a short-term solution. It saves thirty cents a gallon for farmers who are paying six dollars and forty cents a gallon for diesel fuel. We’re trying to find some immediate relief, but it’s not a long-term solution. It’s a very short-term stopgap. And my hope is that in January, we’re going to bring a bill to really force the president to bring this war to a conclusion very quickly. Kansans need that. Americans need that. They’re crying out for it. And again, Roger Marshall has failed to support ending the war.
Moderator:
Let’s, Mr. Marshall, on that note, I’ll give you up to thirty seconds to respond on failing to end the war, that comment there.
Roger Marshall:
Look, look, I hate war. I hate war as only a soldier who lived it can. Look, that’s what President Eisenhower said. I want this war to be over as badly as anybody does in America. Look, I served, my brother served, my dad served, my son is serving. I want this war to be over just as soon as possible, but we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. And I don’t think any of the listeners out there want to have a nuclear weapon either. This is why we can’t have a weak Adam Hamilton with the weak Democrat policy who only gives us war through weakness as opposed to peace through strength.
Moderator:
All right, let’s get back to the main question for you. And this is what you said to the Kansas City Star. You said you were sorry fuel prices were rising, but added your national security, yes, is even more important than your pocketbook. You also said you hoped the war would last weeks, not months. Well, here we are six months later, the war’s still very much underway. Have you changed your position on this? Would you now support a moratorium on the federal fuels, gas, and diesel tax? And if so, for how long? You have 60 seconds.
Roger Marshall:
Well, look, I think that some type of a moratorium on the diesel tax as a short-term solution, I’m not opposed to it. But let’s think about what the real problem here is. The real problem with the cost of diesel in particular is, number one, is the Ukraine war. And because of that, diesel production has gone down. But beyond that, why are we dependent upon diesel imports? It’s because of the Green New Deal policy that my opponent supports. His policies would fit in just right with Chuck Schumer. So if I would lose this seat, Adam Hamilton would give control of the Senate to Chuck Schumer, who would go back to his Green New Deal.
Look, we’ve not had a new refinery built since 1978. We’ve lost 90 refineries since 1990. When I was born in El Dorado, we had three refineries. That’s the problem right now is the refining capacity, because of over-regulations created by their Green New Deal and his attacks on American energy, on American agriculture. Diesel prices will never come down. But you know when this war’s over with, that these diesel prices are going to come down along with the gasoline prices, as long as Republicans have control.
Moderator:
Mr. Hamilton, do you support the Green New Deal? I’ll give you thirty seconds to respond.
Adam Hamilton:
No, I don’t support the Green New Deal. Parts of it, yes. But I just want to say, see, he just said that the war in Iran is not the problem. The war in Ukraine is a problem. The Ukrainians trying to defend themselves are the reason why we have record diesel prices. Nobody believes that. This happened in response to the war in Iran that didn’t need to happen, was not a necessary war, and this is why the prices went to record highs, and Roger Marshall supported that. And I support the Ukrainians being able to defend themselves, and this is something that Roger Marshall has waffled on. It’s not okay. We stand by the Ukrainians, but that’s not the reason why we have record diesel prices.
Moderator:
Let me ask you this, a follow-up to both of you. Mr. Hamilton, do you support the President’s agreement with Russia to buy diesel fuel? Up to thirty seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
Yeah, it’s a disaster. Why in the world would we agree to do this with Russia? And many Republicans are saying the same thing. So this is selling out our allies, the Ukrainians, and this is not okay. We should not be doing this.
Moderator:
Mr. Marshall, same question to you. Do you support the deal with Russia to buy diesel fuel to bring prices down in this country?
Roger Marshall:
Yeah, this is why we can’t have a senator like this who’s going to jump to conclusions. Look, it doesn’t sound like a great idea to me, but already today, now we’re seeing folks back at the bargaining table. If this brings Russia to the bargaining table and it ends the war, then I’m all for it right now. Why is Europe continuing to buy natural gas from Russia? Why do we have to have a hundred thousand troops in Europe to protect them? Look, I’m an American-first person. I believe in peace through strength. I believe in secure borders, a strong military, and lower taxes. Every Senate Democrat has voted against every one of those. They voted against secure borders, against military funding, and against lowering your taxes. And you would stand right there beside Chuck Schumer, give him control of the Senate, and go back to those same policies that got us here.
Adam Hamilton:
I’d love fifteen seconds. Yeah, absolutely. So what you said just now is you’re going to sell out our friends in Ukraine. That’s not okay. And by the way, our red wheat in Kansas came from Ukraine, from people who immigrated here. You’re going to sell out Ukraine. That’s just not okay. It’s indecent.
Moderator:
But let’s continue to discuss. Can I respond to that? No, let’s move on to the next question. And we, it’s sort of connected. Many do blame high fuel prices on the war with Iran. Mr. Marshall, you voted no three times to the War Powers Resolution. But as the war with Iran has dragged on, obviously, higher fuel prices, other costs have gone up. And now Iranian proxies are taking aim at Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries. Now, you’ve agreed with the president that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons. So my question to you is, does that mean this war goes on indefinitely? Of course, sixty seconds.
Roger Marshall:
Yeah, of course, I want this war to be over as soon as anybody. I want to talk about national security policy for a second. I’m a Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, peace-through-strength guy. Where the Democrats are, they give us war through weakness. What the hell did Obama respond to Iran? He sent them-and this is the guy here, his big idol, his idol, Barack Hussein Obama-sent $1.7 billion in pallets to Iran. Iran would have had a nuclear weapon by now if we would have used his policies today as well. And then what does Joe Biden do when it comes to national security? He’s so weak when we leave Afghanistan, it opens the door for Putin to invade Ukraine. They give us war through weakness. That’s what this is all about.
Look, as your United States senator, I’m always going to look for the safety of your family first. Look, it was just two years ago that we had wide-open borders, millions of people coming across. Look what’s happening in France right now. Remember what President Reagan said, that freedom is only a generation away from extinction. His open-border policies that he developed with Barack Obama will lead us to that same thing. He worked on immigration policy, amnesty policy with Barack Obama. If he gets control of this seat, he’ll give control of the U.S. Senate to Schumer, which will create open borders and is a threat to our republic.
Moderator:
Thank you, sir. Mr. Hamilton, before we get to that question, I’ll give you thirty seconds to respond.
Adam Hamilton:
So you were pointing at me as though I developed these policies. I just want to remind you I’ve been a pastor for the last thirty-eight years. I have not been a senator. I didn’t develop policies with President Obama or anyone else. And again, failing to answer the question, what we’ve done in Washington, D.C., right now has made the world more dangerous, not more safe, and no one wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon. But the president assured us last year we took care of those capabilities. Then we decided we needed to launch a war, an offensive war, and that violates every principle of international law, and you stand by it.
Moderator:
Let me ask you this question, Mr. Hamilton, which is the main question we’re focusing on here. You do believe it’s time to end the war with Iran.
Adam Hamilton:
Absolutely.
Moderator:
So the concern, according to the Wall Street Journal, it notes that if you do so, it’s quite possible the Iranians will be able to charge tolls through the Strait of Hormuz, raising millions of dollars to build back up their military and perhaps their nuclear weapons. Are you willing to take that risk for the Middle East, Israel in particular, and for U.S. troops who are there? You have 60 seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
What I want to say is, Roger Marshall’s policies and his support have made all of this happen. We are less safe, and we might be in danger of negotiating to get out of there with tolls happening in the Strait of Hormuz. That’s, I’m going to blame that on these guys. And I’m going to say we have to do better. What they did made the world less safe, more difficult to navigate because of their decisions. It was not a decision to go to war in Iran, and we need to get out.
Moderator:
Quick follow-up, are you convinced that Iran did not have access to nuclear weapons in spite of the bombing that the president said? He also on foreign relations says they very much could in short order.
Adam Hamilton:
The president said that we had taken out their capabilities last year, and they were buried underneath rubble. They’ve had the desire for nuclear capabilities for a very long time. No other Republican president supported this course of action other than President Trump, and I just want to say I’m not running against President Trump, I’m running against him, and he supported it again and again and again.
Moderator:
Right. Mr. Marshall, I’ll give you the final word, 15 seconds.
Roger Marshall:
Right. Just want to make sure when he says that we’re not safer, this is the safest this country has been in decades. Look at an American-first senator. Because of secure borders, the murder rates at 100-year low, fentanyl poisoning is coming down, violent crimes are coming down as well. This nation is much safer than when Joe Biden was letting everyone roam the world. Look, again, Afghanistan-leaving Afghanistan led to the Ukraine war, and that gave Putin the open. And we can’t have a country that’s weak, that’s so weak that it leads us to war.
Moderator:
Your time is up. Great discussion of foreign policy there, but let’s focus on something else, artificial intelligence. Before we do, I want to ask each of you, Mr. Hamilton, we’ll start with you. When did you last use artificial intelligence, and what did you use it for? Fifteen seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
Yeah, well, you know, basically every Google search you use, you’re going to get some AI responses to it. It has wonderful and amazing potential, and also a huge and terrible, devastating potential as well.
Moderator:
All right. Mr. Marshall, when did you last use artificial intelligence? What did you use it for? Fifteen seconds.
Roger Marshall:
Oh, gosh, I’m sure it was in the green room, looking up a question to see how long-how long did Barack Obama give before Iran would have nuclear weapons, that within ten years Iran was going to have nuclear weapons with this weak Obama presidency. So I use it every day.
Moderator:
So both of you obviously use it. Now here’s the meat of the question. And we’re not talking data centers here. That’s a separate issue. We’re just talking about the technology that is AI. Mr. Hamilton, should the federal government, should Congress pass regulations that oversee AI capabilities, what would you be able to support if you agree with that concept, and how would you enforce them? Sixty seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
Yeah, I think this is really important, and this is a place, I don’t believe in over-regulation, but I believe there are times we have to regulate. AI is on the cutting edge, and what happens is if people are left to their own devices, they’re going to look at the profit motive before they look at what’s safe and secure for Americans, for the world. We need to do as we did when it came to nuclear, when we developed nuclear power and nuclear weapons. We developed a Nuclear Regulatory Commission. We need to do the same thing with AI, and Congress needs to be involved, but they also need to bring the experts in AI. Congress are not experts in this field. We’ve got to look at how do we take care of this so that we are not jeopardizing the future of our children and our grandchildren. Right now, leaving this to the AI industry on their own is a bad idea.
Moderator:
To clarify, what federal regulations could you support? You clearly do, so which ones?
Adam Hamilton:
You know what, I’m not sure, to be honest, and the reason why I’m not sure is because I don’t think anybody in Congress really fully understands the dangers of AI. I think about bio-weapons in particular, but there’s a whole host of other things. We need the people, and even the people on the frontier of this, are struggling to understand what its dangerous potentials are.
Moderator:
All right, Mr. Marshall, same question for you. Should the federal government regulate AI and its capabilities, what could you support if you agree with that concept, and how would you enforce it? Sixty seconds.
Roger Marshall:
Yeah, I think it’s a light touch, which is what Republicans do. Some type of light touch. I look at this through a lens always first of national security. We cannot let China get ahead of our military. I think that’s number one. Next, we need to demand full transparency. So that’s what my legislation would look like. Demand full transparency, protect our children, protect your privacy. Those would be the guardrails.
But again, I want you to think what Chuck Schumer, what his leadership wants to do. They want some type of a world order on this type of regulatory around AI that the whole world would follow. Do you think that China and Russia will ever follow this? So if we would let my opponent become the senator, it would give control of the Senate to Chuck Schumer, and he would go back to some, to probably the League of Nations attitude of trying to figure out some type of guardrails for this. But first and foremost, we need to make sure that we keep our military strong and ahead, and again, full transparency, we need to know what’s coming down the road, protect our children, protect people’s privacy.
Moderator:
All right, thank you. Can I respond to that? Fifteen seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
He talks about a light touch. This is an existential, potential existential threat to the human race, and I’m not somebody who’s crying wolf, I’m just saying we can’t just go with a light touch and hope everybody does their best. We’ve got to be more involved in that, and this is one place where the federal government needs to be more engaged and involved.
Moderator:
Let’s move now to the next topic, and you sort of touched on it there, the balance of power and who will have control of the Senate, and why this race is critical and why it’s important we’re here tonight. Mr. Marshall, President Trump came to Wichita, Park City, on Monday to support you, campaign for you. Here’s what he told the crowd:
Donald Trump (clip):
And in this election, I’m asking you to pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot. Just pretend.
Moderator:
But our September Emerson Nexstar poll found that 53% of likely Kansas voters disapproved of the job the president was doing. So he’s underwater 13 points, and that’s after he won the state by 16 two years ago. Here’s my question to you. Even so, he was here to support you. Does that mean we should expect that you will support every part of his agenda? 60 seconds.
Roger Marshall:
No, I’ve always-I’ve had multiple times when I’ve objected to the president before. But we, I do want to emphasize, we need the Trump voters to come out, and that would be my appeal tonight to people. If you want the Trump agenda to continue, if you want secure borders, if you want a strong military, if you want lower taxes, and you voted for President Trump, you need to come out because we delivered on those things. Your border’s never been so secure. We’ve taken care of the military, the strongest military in our lives, the working family tax cuts, the largest tax cut in American history. Kansans get to keep two to three thousand dollars more of their own money.
Compare it again to what Adam Hamilton and Chuck Schumer would look like if they would control the Senate. Look, every Senate Democrat voted against funding border security. Every Senate Democrat voted against funding the military. Every Senate Democrat voted against lower taxes. Every Senate Democrat voted against voter ID. Every Senate Democrat on the Ag Committee voted against the farm bill. There’s kind of a ring going here. This guy’s funded by Chuck Schumer. He’ll be beholden to Chuck Schumer forever, and that’s why we need to keep myself in that Senate seat.
Moderator:
All right, very quick follow-up. You said you won’t support all of Mr. Trump’s agenda. Name one thing you won’t support that’s part of his agenda.
Roger Marshall:
Yeah, I think, you know, it’s even just in the past week, what the operation in DHS, the first thing I did when I saw what was going on in southwest Kansas, I picked up the phone, called Secretary Mark Wayne Mullin, said, “Hey, I don’t think this is quite right. What’s going on?” When he tried to import beef, I went against that as well. You know, the interesting thing is, just like with my wife, I can disagree with her. Now my wife is always right, and President Trump is not always right, but I do think that we-it’s great that I have a relationship that I can pick up the phone and discuss with him the pros and cons of what he’s contemplating.
Moderator:
Thank you. Mr. Hamilton, your message is leading from the middle. That’s kind of your campaign theme. But in the past, we’ve done the record search. You’ve donated to far more Democrats than Republicans of late, including Congresswoman Sharice Davids, President Joe Biden, Kamala Harris when she was stepping in, Democrats that many would find liberal. And in a podcast recently addressing white privilege, you said this:
Adam Hamilton (clip):
But I will tell you, I started out with advantages that I didn’t even understand. It gives me advantages that other folks have not had.
Moderator:
And here you are preaching about climate change and cattle:
Adam Hamilton (clip):
Cattle end up producing more carbon dioxide than other crops that we could grow or other forms of food that we could have.
Moderator:
All right, I’m not asking you to relitigate those passages. I think we’ve talked about that. What I want to hear from you is, if you’re leading from the middle and campaigning that way, why should voters trust that you’ll vote that way when many of these themes are all very progressive? You have sixty seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
Yeah. Well, first of all, I am somebody who has led from the middle for thirty-eight years. So I, and my aim is, if I’m elected as a moderate or independent-minded Democrat, I’m going to work across the aisle to try to bring people together to solve problems. And, you know, I do care about these issues, but I will tell you, I also love the beef industry. I’m going to fight for them in Washington, D.C. They’re hurting under the policies that Roger Marshall is supporting. So again and again and again, whether it’s diesel fuel prices, whether it’s the tariffs and the impact tariffs are having on farmers, folks are recognizing it’s what’s happening in the southwest part of the state right now. People are crying out and saying, “Come on, Roger Marshall, speak up for us.” I’m going to speak up for us. He says he speaks up for us, but the president doesn’t seem to listen to what he has to say.
Moderator:
Real quick follow-up, and it’s sort of in the same theme as Mr. Marshall. What progressive policy could you not support?
Adam Hamilton:
Yeah, well, first of all, yeah, absolutely. The Biden policies when it came to the border were a disaster. I believe in strong and secure borders. I think that’s very important. And Biden was a terrible disaster. I’m not somebody who favors the socialist party. I’m somebody who stands in the middle. I’m going to try to work for all Kansans, Republicans, independents, and Democrats. And I got a lot of Trump supporters who are supporting me as well, which has been very exciting. So, yeah, that’s where I’m going to try to lead from. And right now we have two Republican senators working the entire Senate. We need one Republican senator in Jerry Moran and one Democrat working the Democratic side of the aisle.
Moderator:
Let’s move on to another topic that you both have mentioned. No, we’re going to move on. We’re going to move on to tariffs. That’s an important subject. And we’ll ask both of you about appearances in Topeka on Friday. Mr. Hamilton, you said Kansas employers are struggling with the unpredictability of the policy. So my question, as you campaign, you can say that, but give me a specific company or business you spoke to that says, “We’re having to cut back, we’re not hiring, we’re not growing.” You’ve got 60 seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
Sure. So I spoke with folks at Hallmark, with Great Plains Manufacturing, with small manufacturers making parts for the F-15. I spoke with people who are single-proprietor businesses. They all said the same thing. What we need in Washington, D.C., is predictability and order. What we have today is unpredictability, instability, and we have chaos and corruption in Washington, D.C. They say it’s very hard to run a business this way. Every business owner I’ve talked to said the same thing. You can’t run a business when you don’t know what the tariffs are going to be tomorrow or the next day, what tariff’s going to be announced, or how our president, supported by Roger Marshall, is going to alienate our trading partners, including Canada, our number two trading partner. We trade $4 billion worth of goods with Canada every year, and our president, supported by Roger Marshall, although eventually he got around to protesting. You know, calls Bombardier’s airplanes “crummy airplanes.” He slaps another fifty percent tariff on our trading partners. He alienates our allies, and that hurts our businesses in America. This is creating instability, chaos, and corruption.
Moderator:
Mr. Marshall, in Topeka Friday, you also commented, you said, “I think most manufacturing across the state of Kansas is growing because of these tariffs.” Clearly a difference of opinion there. Now I’ll ask you the same question. Could you name a business or two that you spoke to who says, “Yes, these tariffs are helping us. We’re adding people, we’re growing.” You’ve got sixty seconds.
Roger Marshall:
Yeah, Superior Windows in Fort Scott is growing because of the tariffs. Kubota, which you visited in Salina, is growing because of the tariffs. Superior Boiler in Hutchinson is another example. We’re seeing a manufacturing renaissance because we’re bringing these jobs back home. So the tariffs are working. I was tired of seeing jobs leave America. Now, China will be happy with my opponent because he doesn’t care about fighting for these jobs. And even for Canada, are you happy that all these counterfeits coming across the border from Canada? Are you happy with all this aluminum and steel that’s being dumped from China through Canada coming in here and using their tariffs? No, I’m always going to stand up for American jobs. We’ve had a great-our economy is really, really growing right now. We’re going to have a five percent GDP across the country right now. Even last year, Kansas had in the third quarter the leading GDP in the country of over six percent.
You know, when I talk to people across the state of Kansas, and we’ve been over 300 stops the last couple months, what they tell me that they want is a good job, a job that gives them meaning and purpose, and there are good jobs all across the state of Kansas. Look at Boeing, and Wichita is another one. They’re backed up for about three years, Textron growing. Trust me, anyone that’s building A-10s or F-35s, they’re very busy right now.
Moderator:
Thank you. Kind of response. Fifteen seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
So I did talk to one of those manufacturers making parts for the F-15, having to import tariff-laden aluminum. They said that they lost eighty thousand dollars on their last contract. They’re going to lose employees because of that. Great Plains Manufacturing, Kubota, they are charging now two thousand dollars in tariffs for one of their leading pieces of equipment. You have made that possible. Now they’re wondering if they’re going to keep their jobs. I did sit down with them. You say you’ve listened in three hundred campaign stops. You did not listen in three hundred campaign stops. You had three hundred photo ops.
Moderator:
Let’s move on to another issue.
Roger Marshall:
They’re growing. Those companies are growing.
Moderator:
Farming in Kansas. Let’s talk about farmers. Mr. Marshall, you’ve supported crop insurance subsidies and obviously emergency payments to farmers as well. Here’s my question. Should keeping a family farm in business be a long-term commitment for taxpayers, even if that farm needs help year after year after year. At what point do you draw the line for taxpayers to support these farms? Sixty seconds.
Roger Marshall:
Gosh, I want to do everything possible to keep the family farms alive and well, and that’s why with Republican-only votes in the working family tax cuts, we added sixty-five billion dollars to crop insurance. And then we just talk about Title I ARC funding, PLC-I’m sure you can explain that-that we increase those some ten or twenty percent as well. We doubled the death tax exemption. We made permanent the tax breaks on bonus depreciation, interest deductibility as well. So all those are things that will help that family farm stay in business. Couldn’t be prouder of it. Grateful that President Trump is giving us eight billion dollars more for diesel as well. So I want to do everything I can. I grew up on-both of my families had 160-acre farms, and I want to make sure that those family farms are still in business for the next generations.
Moderator:
We all do, but to my question, how long, or is there a line you have to draw on crop subsidies, farm subsidies, and obviously emergency payments are different, but how long should taxpayers be on the hook if these farms can’t sustain and support themselves? Fifteen seconds.
Roger Marshall:
You bet. There’s a reason that Americans pay about a third or half of what other developed nations do for food. A third, a half. It’s because of us making sure that that farmer who can’t get out, get into his crop because there’s water in the field, he can’t go harvest his soybeans or corn right now. So all those subsidies that you’re calling them allow them to plant next year’s crops and creates a stable supply and keeps the price down. So this is more than just for the farmer. This is a national security issue and keeps the cost of groceries down.
Moderator:
Can I ask you a question? No, no. I want you to stick with the question. Which is, as I asked Mr. Marshall, how long do you subsidize family farms? Do federal taxpayers do that? Are there other ways around that, as Mr. Marshall suggested? Where would you draw that line? Sixty seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
So here’s what I’m going to say is when I travel across the state talking to farmers, and I’ve talked to lots of them and actually sat and listened to them, and part of what they say is we don’t want subsidies. We just want to have an even playing field where we have a chance to make a living. And what’s happening today, because of the war in Iran, we have diesel prices record highs. A year ago, $3.40 a gallon. Now six dollars and forty cents a gallon. That’s killing people. Phosphate doubling in price. You have the tariffs which are impacting trade deals. I mean, all of these things are making it harder and harder on Kansas farmers. So we do need protection for Kansas farmers. I will fight for that. But I also want to say that what’s happening in Washington that Roger Marshall’s supporting is hurting Kansas farmers. And they’re crying out and saying, “Look, we don’t want subsidies. What we want is a chance to earn a decent living on our own, and Washington’s making it harder and harder and harder.” That’s not okay.
Moderator:
And again, to my question, where do you draw the line on providing that support that farms that can’t year after year support themselves?
Adam Hamilton:
Yeah. You know what? I’m not sure. I don’t really have an answer to that. I can only say this, that we do need to be able to help our farmers. Our farmers need support. There are times where the weather is going to be impacting their crops, where there’s other unforeseen forces. We’ve got to be able to support our farmers, and that’s critical for America.
Moderator:
Let me ask this question of both of you. Mr. Marshall, we’ll start with you first as a follow-up. Obviously, the biggest holdup right now in the Senate on getting a farm bill, all these food benefits, SNAP, the food stamp, the old food stamp program, is it time to separate SNAP from the farm bill? Thirty seconds.
Roger Marshall:
And I wish we could, but we don’t have the votes to do it, because Senate Democrats are focused on food stamps, and we’ve increased the spending on food stamps from eighty billion a year to a hundred and fifty billion dollars a year. So the Senate Democrats walk in lockstep on the food stamp, and then the Republicans, we’re sitting there fighting for the farmer, and every Senate Democrat’s voting against those right now. So the only way to get a farm bill passed is to bring both of these groups together, otherwise you’ll never get sixty votes in the Senate. And by the way, within this farm bill, there’s a hundred and fifty bills within it, twenty-two of those are mine, they’re all bipartisan bills that help with fertilizer issues, help with environmental issues as well. The only reason that this isn’t passed is because of politics, that the Senate Democrats are not willing to give Republicans a win.
Moderator:
Mr. Hamilton, your thoughts, is it time to separate SNAP from the farm bill?
Adam Hamilton:
No, it’s not. This is really important that we keep those two things together because it was formed to develop, to support both urban poor children, or poor children, really urban or rural, and our farmers. And that is one way, as the senator said, that we get this passed and across the finish line. And, but I do want to remind him as he laments the SNAP benefits, he’s managed to cut SNAP benefits for thousands of children across the state of Kansas. Our greatest Republican senator was Bob Dole. Bob Dole and George McGovern developed the SNAP program, and they did it because they saw a kid who was hungry and didn’t have food to eat at lunch, and the kid said, “I’m ashamed that I can’t, you know, I don’t have lunch.” And they said, “You know, we’re ashamed that we’re letting kids go hungry in our state.” But apparently, our sitting senator is not ashamed of letting kids go hungry.
Moderator:
I’ll let you rebut that, and we’ll give you up to thirty seconds.
Roger Marshall:
Yeah, you know, once upon a time when people were coming off food stamps, it was meant to be a good thing. It meant that they found a job. Look, at least eighty or ninety percent of Kansans support some type of work requirement. And we don’t have very stringent requirements. We’re just asking people that are healthy of working age that don’t have children under the age of fourteen to go try to get a job in just twenty hours a week. That’s all we’re asking. And the food stamp fraud error rate’s gone from like five percent to fifteen percent in Kansas. Kansans don’t want fraud. On the other hand, there’s all these other food programs. Kids today, they get free breakfast, reduced lunches, free dinners at school. The food banks, we’ve increased funding. And like I started this conversation off before, we went from spending eighty billion dollars a year to a hundred- I don’t want any kid to go to bed hungry.
Moderator:
Thank you. Let’s talk about Social Security, older kids, so to speak. You both talk about this at the state fair. It came up there. But in watching that, I didn’t get any specifics on how, because it’s going to come up. 2032, the trust fund is supposed to be out of money and automatic benefit cuts kick in. So let’s start with you, Mr. Hamilton. Would you remove the cap on the payroll tax? I think it’s currently around $184,000. So higher earners pay Social Security tax on all their wages, and would you raise the full retirement age for younger workers, and if so, what age would that be? Sixty seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
Yeah, yeah. So first of all, yes, I would raise the cap. I don’t think that I would take it away entirely, but I would raise the cap. Right now, somebody who’s making a million dollars a year is paying the same amount in FICA tax as somebody who’s making 184,000 a year. I think most people say that’s not right. We need to change that. And what the number is, I’m not sure right now. But what I do believe is we need to bring thoughtful Republicans and Democrats together who are willing to have the courage to say, we got to take a very serious look at this, and we have to work together. We have to stack hands, stop placing blame on the other party, and let’s work together to solve this, because 2032 is just around the corner, and so far, Roger Marshall’s been in Congress for ten years, hasn’t got the job done on this.
Moderator:
What about the retirement age, raising it for younger workers?
Adam Hamilton:
Yeah, I think that’s something we need to look at, but I’m not committing to that right now.
Moderator:
All right. Mr. Marshall, same two questions for you. Would you vote to remove that cap on the payroll tax so that it was applied to wealthier Kansans, higher earners, and would you support raising the retirement age, and if so, for younger workers, at what level would you raise it? Sixty seconds.
Roger Marshall:
Yeah, so I would eliminate the cap altogether. As far as adjusting the age, I think there’s a lot of other things we can try to exhaust first on that side. And there’s four or five knobs here, and you’re right, it will take Republicans and Democrats working together. There’s no easy answer because we have more people retiring than entering the workforce. So that’s one of the problems. Look, a rising tide floats all boats. The first thing we need to do is have a strong economy. Look, we’re expecting a five percent GDP growth this year. That’s what we need. We need to minimize inflation. We need a balanced budget. It’s all these things coming together. But you have to realize what the Democrats want to do, and again, if Chuck Schumer is in control, what he’ll want to do is just borrow more money from your grandchildren. That’s always the Democrats’ plan, either start a new program or just throw more money at the current government program. The Democrats really don’t have solutions. So our solutions are going to be growing the economy, number one. And also there’s a lot of fraud, waste, and abuse. Just yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reporting hundreds of illegal aliens that are getting Social Security benefits. This is something that my opponent has always supported, amnesty and giving illegal immigrants benefits, welfare benefits.
Moderator:
And let me ask you about the retirement age. If I missed that, I apologize. Did you have a retirement age you would set it at for younger workers?
Roger Marshall:
I’m not ready to go there. I think we have to figure out all these other dials. You can’t just play with one dial till you have all the other dials figured out.
Adam Hamilton:
Could I respond to this?
Moderator:
You may, fifteen seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
So first of all, what I suggest that we needed to raise the cap at the state fair debate, you called me a tax-and-spend liberal Democrat, and yet you’re saying the same thing today, which I really appreciate. Thank you.
Moderator:
You want to respond to the amnesty?
Adam Hamilton:
Yeah, I’ll respond to that and say, I have never advocated for-I’m not advocating for people who are undocumented immigrants to be receiving Social Security. He says this over and over and over again, like so many things, just complete falsehoods.
Moderator:
Mr. Marshall, final fifteen seconds on this topic.
Roger Marshall:
Listen, if Republicans are in control of the Senate, we’re going to solve this problem. If Democrats are in control, and again, control of the Senate comes through Kansas, if Democrats are in control, they’ll just punt it on down the road, punt the can down the road, and they’re going to borrow money from your grandchildren.
Moderator:
Thank you. Let’s move on to immigration enforcement, because that’s obviously a topic worth talking about here. Not necessarily citizenship, but enforcement here. When we talk about E-Verify, that is a free online-based system that allows employers to verify eligibility to work. It’s voluntary for the most part around the country. Mr. Marshall, should E-Verify be made a formal requirement, mandatory for businesses to minimize perhaps the kinds of things we saw in Southwest Kansas, those raids here just a couple of weeks ago? You have 60 seconds.
Roger Marshall:
Yeah, I think it’s a good idea. Of course, the devil’s in the details. Can we make it simple enough for that to work? Again, all this discussion starts with the secure borders, and that’s what Republicans will always give you, secure borders. It was just two years ago that millions of people were coming across this country, and we’re still suffering from them. But now that we have secure borders, we can work on fixing this broken immigration system. Look, you know, half of the kids I delivered my last several years of practice, their parents, one of the parents was not documented. So we have to figure this out. It’s not going to be easy, but we’re certainly not going to have amnesty. Now that we have the border secure, we can absolutely have this conversation, but under Democrat control, under Chuck Schumer’s control, we had open borders, and that’s what we’ll go back to if my opponent is elected. We’ll go back to those open borders of Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden.
Moderator:
So I heard you say you would consider a possibility that E-Verify would be mandatory. Mr. Hamilton, what say you about E-Verify? Should it be mandatory to perhaps avoid the kinds of things we saw a couple of weeks ago with that? Sixty seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
Yeah, I’m going to say the same thing. I would want to look at the details. I think that’s important. I do find it interesting, so I’m just curious, with all of those undocumented children that you delivered, did you also call ICE and ask them to be taken away? What did you do with these people? You had compassion for them in delivering these children, but then you support quotas. They’re going to have people taken away. Hutchinson, Kansas, I was there. There was a preschool teacher arrested in front of her children. That’s just not okay. We’ve militarized and politicized ICE as opposed to them doing the important job they’re supposed to do, and that is protecting Americans from dangerous people. He says he spoke to the president after the ICE raids in the southwest part of the state. Nine Republican state legislators also sent a letter to the president saying, this is not okay. This is really harming people in the livestock industry, the dairy industry, and it doesn’t reflect who we are as Americans.
Moderator:
Follow up, if I may, the U.S. attorney for Kansas said those were targeted raids aimed at violent offenders and those who had skipped out on removal. So are you suggesting that we should not be taking care of that?
Adam Hamilton:
I absolutely believe they should be taking care of that. Unfortunately, right now where we are is people are terrified when ICE shows up because they’ve militarized, politicized, and so people don’t show up at work. You have 150 cattle cars coming in every day to the meatpacking plants, and people are not showing up at work. Dairy as well, because they’re terrified. And our people in Kansas are decent people. We don’t want people terrified in our communities.
Moderator:
Thank you, sir. Before we move on, I want to remind folks, you’ll see a QR code on your screen there. You can scan that code. It will provide you a link to take you to our post-debate show, in which we hope both of the candidates will join us briefly when we wrap up here. Let’s move to the Middle East. Mr. Hamilton, you said the U.S. should keep providing Israel with defensive weapons, but not those offensive weapons. In April, your opponent helped make sure Israel was able to buy 12,000 bombs, even though Democrats in the Senate tried to block that sale. Would you have voted to block that sale? And what would Israel have to do different, in your view, in order to receive not just defensive weapons, but offensive weapons? You have 60 seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
Sure. So I’ve been to Israel 12 times. I have been both in Palestine and Israel. I care about people on both sides of this great divide. But I will say, when you see entire cities flattened in Gaza, now we’re not just talking about rooting out Hamas, who needs to be rooted out. They are a terrible, you know, evil entity. They need to be rooted out. But when you talk about dropping bombs on massive population centers and seeing as many as 70, 75,000 people who have been killed, and you’re talking lots of civilians, I think most Americans look at that and go, “Wait, did I do that? Did I provide those weapons?” Now, I believe in providing a strong defense for Israel. They are our allies. But I also don’t believe on our weaponry paid for with our tax money being used-and by the way, they’re buying, but they’re using our aid to buy our weapons and then dropping them on innocent civilians. That’s just not okay. It’s not decent. It’s not who we are as Americans, and so I don’t support that.
Moderator:
Thank you, sir. Mr. Marshall, is there any action by Israel-you do support offensive and defensive weapons-any action by Israel that would cause you to block a sale to that country? Sixty seconds.
Roger Marshall:
No, I’m sure there is, but they’ve not-I’m not sure what it would be, but I’m absolutely that there would be. Look, we need to remember that Israel has been one of America’s greatest allies, that they are the only democracy in a very troubled area, a place that’s been under battle for thousands of years, even before Christ, this place was under siege. I don’t think that we’re going to solve this problem tonight. I think we have to manage it. And I think where we manage it is with making allies, making partners there like we’re doing, and working together. And again, the strong peace through strength, that we have to have a very strong military. It’s just a different world over there. I think, even for someone, a novice, even to start making national security policy without all the details, I think it’s really hard to do that. I think it’s a very challenging place. It’s never been simple. But I want to stay focused on America. I want to make sure that our borders are secure. Let’s take care of things at home first and make this our big priority.
Moderator:
All right, let’s move on to an issue surrounding Title IX. It’s become a cultural issue, in fact. But first, real quick, fifteen-second answer or less. Mr. Marshall, how many genders are there?
Roger Marshall:
Well, there’s two. There’s a boy and there’s a girl. I delivered five thousand of them, and almost half are boys and half are girls.
Moderator:
Mr. Hamilton, I’ll ask you that same question. How many genders are there?
Adam Hamilton:
There are two genders, male and female.
Moderator:
Thank you, sir. Now, Mr. Marshall, you’ve supported making eligibility for girls’ and women’s sports depend on biological sex at birth. Who should verify that, and what should a school be allowed to require as proof of that, and how would you enforce that rule? You have sixty seconds.
Roger Marshall:
Well, we certainly don’t want the federal government to sort this out. I would think that the Kansas Athletic Association can figure this out much better than we can. And if they want to go to the trouble of anatomical examination or checking chromosomes, just by swabbing their cheek, I think if someone’s in question, they could do something as simple as that to check their DNA.
Moderator:
All right, Mr. Hamilton, on October eleventh, you told ABC News this: “I don’t believe that men should be competing in women’s sports.” Your opponent, of course, backed legislation that he says would keep boys out of girls’ sports by basically threatening federal funding under Title IX. Would you vote for that requirement in order to keep men out of, or boys out of girls’ sports, or should local organizations be determining that issue? Sixty seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
Yeah, I think local organizations should be determining that issue. And I want to say, I have a twelve-year-old granddaughter. I don’t want biological men or boys competing against her. That could harm her. It’s not a fair fight. And even though my opponent says the opposite of this over, really ad nauseam about me, but that is my position. But I think it’s more local rather than the federal government getting involved in whether it’s suing schools, school districts, as sometimes they’re inclined to do right now.
Moderator:
Follow-up question. Same subject, Mr. Marshall, would you allow the rule that you support to apply at every age, or would you make exceptions for older student athletes? How would you approach that? Thirty seconds.
Roger Marshall:
Gosh, again, I think we better leave that at the local level. If, certainly before puberty, you could make a case that girls may have even an advantage before puberty. But I think by the time they’re in high school, that boys need to be in boys’ sports, girls in girls’ sports. And again, the Democrat party under Chuck Schumer, that they keep pushing these transgender ideology upon us, and Kansans don’t want that. If he’s elected, Chuck Schumer controls the Senate, and this is exactly what we’re going to get. He’s going to say he’s going to vote against these things, but every Democrat stands up, and when Schumer tells them to jump, they say how high. So why is he going to be any different once he gets to Washington? He can tell us one thing, but let’s see what his actions would be like.
Moderator:
Mr. Hamilton, I’ll allow you to follow up with that, and then you would also answer the question, would you make age difference exceptions? 30 seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
Yeah, I don’t know about age difference exceptions. I need to see more about that. But here’s what I can say is that we’ve heard Chuck Schumer mentioned, I don’t know, 50 times, maybe I’m going to exaggerate, maybe 20 times so far. I find that interesting. I’ve already said I wouldn’t support Chuck Schumer for Senate Majority Leader if the Democrats control the Senate. But here’s what I do want to say is, is my opponent has made this into a big issue. Now, I was taught, and I’ve preached for years, love your neighbors as you love yourself. I know what that looks like. That looks like caring for people who are picked on and bullied. And I feel like my opponent, he’s taken an issue picking on people, bullying people. I don’t think that’s okay. That’s not who we are as Kansans.
Moderator:
Let’s move on now to healthcare, because that’s obviously important to all Kansans. Nationwide, we’re hearing enrollment in the government’s Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare as many refer to it, dropped by nearly 5 million from 2025 to 2026. Just over 36,000 Kansans were among them, dropping their coverage, higher premiums cited as one of the main reasons. According to the KFF Peterson tracker, Kansas rates for premiums are rising by more than seventeen percent, and a key factor is the expiration of those federal tax credits in 2025. Mr. Hamilton, you support extending those tax credits. The Congressional Budget Office, nonpartisan, says that would add three hundred fifty billion dollars to the federal deficit over a ten-year period. How would you make up for that lost revenue? Sixty seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
Sure, absolutely. This is critical. So I was in Hutchinson, Kansas. A woman comes to me and she says, “I’m one of those people who lost my health insurance.” She said, after the subsidies went away, she’s a working person. She’s not on welfare. Twenty-seven hundred dollars a month became her health insurance premium. She said, “I had to decide between my house or my health insurance.” This is just not right. We have to solve health insurance. We’ve got to solve for this, but right now we’ve got an interim period of time where we’ve got to be able to make sure people can afford to buy health insurance. It’s more than thirty-six thousand people have lost health insurance in the state of Kansas. We think today, closer to fifty thousand people when you take the Medicaid folks who lost as a result of Medicaid. And so looking at that and saying, that’s like one in sixty people in the state of Kansas who had health insurance a year and a half ago don’t have it today, when my opponent, Roger Marshall, a doctor, voted to take away those health benefits from people. That’s not okay. We have got to do better than that. So I’m saying we’ve got to roll those subsidies back in, and then we’ve got to bring together Republicans and Democrats to really solve for healthcare long term. Again, my opponent talks about it, hasn’t done it.
Moderator:
With all due respect, you didn’t answer my question, though. If over ten years, three hundred and fifty billion dollars is lost, how do you replace-
Adam Hamilton:
So thirty-five billion dollars a year, I just want to keep in mind, the president offered to pay people, voters, five thousand dollars apiece to re-elect Roger Marshall. That’s not my question. No, no, no, hold on. And he was going to spend a trillion dollars to do that. That was going to cost a trillion dollars. So we’re talking three hundred and fifty billion dollars over ten years in order to help people have their health insurance. Listen, there’s other ways we can cut, but we got to do better by our people.
Moderator:
The follow-up for you would be, do you support Medicare for all, universal health insurance?
Adam Hamilton:
I want universal access to a basic level of healthcare. I don’t believe Medicare for all is going to be the thing that’s going to get that done. But I think everybody in America should have a basic access, and the answer can’t be go to the emergency room, which is, I think, Roger Marshall’s answer. We’ve got to figure out a better way so that every person in America has access to basic levels of healthcare so that they can afford to pay for their treatment, and they aren’t being sued by their doctors when they don’t get paid.
Moderator:
Thank you, sir. Mr. Marshall, you voted for the one big, beautiful bill, which, of course, did not extend those tax credits. They were COVID-19 subsidies. You say you do want affordable access to healthcare as a doctor yourself. So, specifics here. What would you propose to provide that access? How would you pay for it? Sixty seconds.
Roger Marshall:
I’m already doing it. This is something Bernie Sanders and I worked very well together on, that we’ve expanded community health centers, we’ve expanded behavioral health centers. We brought in two hundred and twenty million dollars for a rural health transformation fund. We’ve added one point three billion dollars for Kansas hospitals from a Medicaid provider tax as well, so we’re bringing those monies in. I think we need to look at the real problem here. The Affordable Care Act wasn’t so affordable after all. Listen, it was written by big insurance companies and big hospitals, which are printing money, and that’s why they’re all campaigning against me. Look, the Democrats are bought and paid for by big insurance companies and big hospitals who wrote it. And again, my opponent, that would be his solution as well. And eventually, Bernie Sanders and the Democrats want this Medicare for all, which really turns into Medicaid for all, and your healthcare will be diluted as well.
But instead, I’ve also got my transparency bill that forces healthcare providers to show you the prices up front. For the first time in sixty years, prescription drug prices are coming down again, much because of legislation I wrote or supported as well. So we’re doing it in so many ways, but we cannot continue the Democrat Obama-who was your idol-if you can’t continue his plan.
Moderator:
We’re running out of time. I’d love to respond, though. We’re running out of time. This is so important, John. I understand, but time flies when you’re having fun, right? All right. So we’re going to do a couple quick lightning round questions, just to kind of lighten the mood a bit as we get to your closing statements, all right? We have just enough time here. Mr. Hamilton, what streaming show are you watching right now?
Adam Hamilton:
Oh my gosh, you know, I don’t have time to watch any streaming show. Yeah, I don’t have time to watch any of them during the campaign. Yeah, I’ve enjoyed Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, so I like sci-fi.
Moderator:
Mr. Marshall, what about you?
Roger Marshall:
I don’t even have streaming, I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s the Chiefs for me, and K-State football until KU basketball starts.
Moderator:
Fair enough. One other quick question for both of you. Mr. Marshall, what’s your favorite stretch of Kansas highway?
Roger Marshall:
Oh gosh, I think it’s 177 between Manhattan and Cassoday.
Moderator:
Same question for you.
Adam Hamilton:
Yeah, I think it’s I-35 through the Flint Hills. I’m telling you, I just marvel at it every time I’m there, one of the most beautiful places on God’s green earth.
Moderator:
I agree with both of you. Let’s go to closings now. We appreciate you participating tonight. We did a card draw for closings. Mr. Hamilton gets the first closing, thirty seconds.
Adam Hamilton:
Sure. So if you appreciate having record diesel fuel prices, fifty thousand people in Kansas taken off of healthcare, thousands of children no longer receiving SNAP benefits, if you feel like it’s okay to have ICE arresting people in Southwest Kansas and hurting our livestock industry, if you think the tariffs are good and unpredictability, chaos, and corruption is okay in Washington, then I’d say vote for Roger Marshall. If you want change, then I’d like to ask you to vote for me. Whether you’re Republican, Democrat, or Independent, I will stand up for you, I will fight for you, and I’m going to make sure that in Washington, D.C., we’re acting with decency, compassion, kindness, and we’re doing the right thing for the people in Kansas. Please vote for me. My website’s hamiltonforkansas.com, check it out.
Moderator:
Mr. Marshall, your closing statement, thirty seconds.
Roger Marshall:
Secure borders, stronger military, lower taxes. That’s what Republicans stand for. Secure borders, stronger military, lower taxes. If we would lose this seat, that means Chuck Schumer controls the Senate. That means Elizabeth Warren would control the banking committee. Bernie Sanders would control the healthcare, and Cory Booker would be in charge of the Ag Committee. We can’t have that. That’s not what Kansas needs. We need someone who’s going to stand up, make sure that we have strong jobs, good jobs, and protects our traditional Kansas values. I’m a fifth-generation farm kid who got to live his American dream, delivering a baby most every day for some twenty-five years. Please vote.
Moderator:
Thank you both for being here. Thank you for joining us tonight all across the state of Kansas. Don’t forget to vote and have a great rest of your debate night in Kansas.