Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) left onlookers dumbfounded on Sunday after the Kansas Republican presented a closing argument to voters, one that drew a spotlight on his controversial billing practices as an OB-GYN.
“Holy Streisand Effect. I’d say he should fire his campaign staff but apparently he doesn’t have any,” quipped Shawn Phetteplace, a Wisconsin-based political strategist and organizer, referencing the phenomenon in which attempts to conceal information often end up drawing greater attention to it.
Marshall, who’s been trailing his Democratic opponent in recent polls, has faced growing scrutiny for his billing practices as an OB-GYN. A recent report from The New York Times found that Marshall sued more than 700 patients for debts during his 25 years as an obstetrician, leading to at least 81 of his former patients getting arrested.
Marshall charged “by far,” the Kansas City Star found after reviewing roughly 150 Kansas medical practices, the highest annual interest rate for unpaid medical bills in the state.
Marshall’s opponent, Democrat Adam Hamilton, has highlighted Marshall’s billing practices in his campaign ads, leading Marshall to send Hamilton a cease-and-desist letter. Hamilton has stood behind the ads and refused to stop airing them.
In an apparent attempt to dispel the allegations against him, Marshall, in a pre-recorded video shared by Kansas radio host Pete Mundo on Saturday, pushed back against Hamilton’s ads.
“To ensure that 40,000 Kansans would still have access to care, we did have to keep the lights on, so we occasionally handed some accounts over to collection agencies, just like nearly every private medical practice does,” Marshall is heard saying.
For Marshall to bring up the scandal himself in the closing days of his reelection campaign, countless critics said, was astounding.
“Can’t remember seeing a politician be on their heels to this extent in a final ad before Election Day,” wrote Drop Site News reporter Julian Andreone.
Broadcasting executive Derrick Brown called Marshall’s video a “concession speech,” and sarcastically wished the Kansas Republican a happy “retirement back in Florida,” referencing Marshall’s extensive property ownership in the Sunshine State.
Reacting to the video, pollster Adam Carlson dubbed Marshall’s campaign “the worst campaign of any Republican Senate candidate this cycle” — “by far,” and journalist Chuck Todd described the video as a “rough way to close out a campaign.”
“You can feel the flop sweat through the screen,” quipped The Bulwark founder Sarah Longwell.
Democratic strategist Christopher Hale also joined the pile-on.
“Dr. Roger Marshall’s closing argument is sixty seconds of him explaining why sending single mothers to collections at 18% interest on their medical bills was actually fine,” Hale wrote.
*I only referred a few of my poor patients to collection agencies* is a rough close — Bill Scher (@billscher) November 1, 2026
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