Trump Closes Midterm Rally Blitz in Salina With Final Push for Marshall

President Donald Trump closed out his midterm campaign rallies on Sunday night in Salina, Kansas, ending a months long run of appearances with a final appeal for Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, whose race against Democrat Adam Hamilton has tightened in a state that has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932.

Trump took the stage at Salina Regional Airport at about 8:22 p.m. local time, after Air Force One landed at the airport and a program of Kansas Republicans had warmed up the outdoor crowd in a chilly breeze. Reporters for the Topeka Capital-Journal estimated the crowd at a couple thousand people, filling the seats and the standing room. "This is my 30th rally, and I'm closing it down tonight, this is it," Trump said. "I had to come here to make sure that Roger got elected."

A doubleheader to finish

Salina was the second stop of a Sunday doubleheader. Earlier in the day, Trump spoke in Dubuque, Iowa, where he campaigned for Republican Senate nominee Ashley Hinson and spoke for about two hours before flying on to Kansas. House Speaker Mike Johnson told the Iowa crowd to ignore polls showing Republicans behind. The two rallies almost did not happen. The campaign canceled both stops on Thursday in favor of tele-rallies, then restored them on Friday.

Defending Marshall

In Salina, Trump defended Marshall against a New York Times report that the senator, a former obstetrician, had sued hundreds of his patients over medical debt. Trump called the reporting a hoax. "He's too fine a man," he said. "That's why I wanted to come here tonight." A former patient filed a class action lawsuit against Marshall on Oct. 29 accusing him of charging illegal interest rates, the Capital-Journal reported. Marshall has not practiced medicine since he entered the U.S. House in 2017, and the lawsuits at issue are generally at least a decade old.

Trump attacked Hamilton, a megachurch pastor campaigning as a middle of the road Democrat, calling him a "woke pastor" and saying he would be a disaster in the Senate. He also urged the crowd to back state Senate President Ty Masterson in the governor's race and to reelect Attorney General Kris Kobach, who joined Trump on stage briefly. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Sen. Jerry Moran also spoke. Moran said the election is about control of the U.S. Senate. Marshall invoked the late Sen. Bob Dole and urged Kansans to vote on Tuesday.

Pretend I am on the ballot

Trump asked supporters to vote as if his own name were on the ballot. "All I'm asking you to do is one thing: get out and vote because if you do, we're going to have tremendous success," he said. "I really want you to pretend I'm on the ballot." He pointed to his immigration policy, his tariffs and companies investing in the United States as signs of what he called a golden age of America. His critics dispute that claim, and Kansas ranchers have recently pushed back against his plan to import more beef.

Voters decide on Tuesday, Nov. 3, with all 435 U.S. House seats and 35 Senate seats on the ballot. The results will decide which party controls Congress for Trump's final two years in office. The Kansas Senate race is one Republicans expected to hold with ease until polls tightened in the final weeks of the campaign.