Republicans launched what a Democratic pollster called a “rescue mission” to save Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) in deep-red Kansas.
The Senate Leadership Fund, the top super PAC for Senate Republicans, is pulling back from North Carolina’s Senate race and putting seven figures into Kansas, Semafor first reported Friday. The New York Times also reported that the group is canceling all the ads it still had booked in North Carolina, including $18 million in broadcast and cable time for the final month.
“Inevitable,” political analyst Chris Cillizza wrote on X. “Triage begins in earnest.”
“One of the bigger developments on the Senate map: Dems now favored for first flip of cycle,” Times national political correspondent Shane Goldmacher, who co-wrote the report, posted on X.
The North Carolina seat belongs to retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), according to the Times, and Republicans can lose up to three of their 53 seats while keeping the majority, Semafor reported.
“This is why the biggest GOP super PAC is moving money to Kansas senate race for a Roger Marshall rescue mission,” Democratic pollster John Anzalone, who has polled for former President Joe Biden, pointed out in a post on X.
Anzalone shared a poll showing Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton, the pastor of the largest United Methodist congregation in the country, leading Marshall 47% to 43%, with a third candidate, David Graham, at 5%. He did not say who conducted the poll.
“Five independent race raters have shifted this race multiple times towards Hamilton. In the last two weeks, two major pollsters show Hamilton leading… Marshall by 2 points,” Hamilton’s campaign wrote in a memo posted by reporter Scott MacFarlane.
Kansas has not sent a Democrat to the Senate in nearly a century, but the Cook Political Report recently moved the race from likely Republican to lean Republican, Fox News reported Thursday.
“Listen, I think if you look at Kansas, it’s a very competitive state, more competitive than I’d like to see it. But the fact of the matter is that we’re gonna win in Kansas,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who leads Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, said, according to Fox News.
Fox News called the race a “midterm headache” for the Republicans.
“Voters are turning on this guy quicker than cider,” longtime Marshall adviser Brent Robertson told Fox News Digital of Hamilton before the super PAC’s move was reported.
“This race is real. Marshall has called for backup,” Democratic strategist Guy Cecil, a former executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, wrote on X Friday.
“Now the chief @GOP senate SuperPac is retreating from NC after spending $30 million there to try and buck up Sen. Roger Marshall in Kansas, a state Trump carried by 16% two years ago,” David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, wrote on X.
“Tells you everything you need to know about where things are going,” he added.
“This likely means Republicans think Kansas Democrat Adam Hamilton could beat incumbent Republican Roger Marshall,” Headquarters, the relaunched X account of former Vice President Kamala Harris, posted.
Marshall, a former obstetrician who has aligned himself with President Donald Trump, recently got reinforcements when Vice President JD Vance rallied for him, according to Fox News.
“Let’s stand for Doc Marshall and send the crazy people packing, ladies and gentlemen,” Vance said, according to the outlet.
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