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The Senate Leadership Fund is redirecting nearly $8.2 million in advertising from North Carolina to Kansas, where Republican candidate Marshall is leading Democratic incumbent Amanda Marshall's campaign in the final month before the midterm elections. The shift reflects mounting concern among Republican strategists about the unexpectedly competitive nature of Kansas and their effort to protect their Senate majority.
Independent journalism is facing unprecedented pressure. As newsrooms shrink, accountability disappears with them. Your membership keeps fearless, reader-funded reporting alive. ’ top campaign spending organization is pulling back in North Carolina and pouring money into Kansas, a striking shift that shows how the party’s plan to keep its majority has turned into an increasingly defensive fight ahead of November’s midterms.
The decision by the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with top Senate Republicans, was disclosed Friday by four people with direct knowledge of the situation who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal strategy.
“I am worried about him,” Trump told reporters Friday as he was departing for a campaign rally in Alabama. “I hope he wins. ” FILE - North Carolina Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley listens as President Donald Trump speaks, Sept. 16, 2026, in Gastonia, N.C. The moves offer a stark sign of how dramatically the Senate map has shifted just a month before midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
Republicans entered the cycle believing they had more opportunities to flip Democratic-held seats than they had incumbents at serious risk. Now they are dumping money into states where Trump won comfortably two years ago. The Senate Leadership Fund has reserved nearly $8.2 million in advertising to support Marshall over the next month, according to AdImpact, a significant investment in a state Trump won by nearly 16 percentage points in the last presidential election.
Marshall has reserved another $2.3 million and is supported by another $500,000 from other groups. By comparison, Hamilton has reserved just $590,000 in advertising, and he’s receiving only a little more than $556,000 in outside help.defeated Trump for president.
However, higher fuel costs and other economic concerns have made the state more competitive than Republicans had expected.
“Kansas farmers — including Republicans — are devastated by the war in Iran driving up diesel prices,” said Jeanna Repass, chair of the Kansas Former Kansas Gov. Mike Hayden, a Republican, announced Friday that he was endorsing Hamilton. He is the second Republican former governor of Kansas to back the Democrat, after Bill Graves endorsed Hamilton on Sept. 23. Marshall’s campaign did not provide comment directly responding to the new spending on his behalf.
Sen. Tim Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, acknowledged Wednesday that “Kansas is a very competitive state. ” He said he expects Marshall to win but it will be “closer than I want it to be. ”A Democrat hasn’t won a Senate race in Kansas since 1932 and hasn’t come within 10 points since 1974.
Last week in Topeka, scores of people packed into a coffee shop to see Hamilton. Dozens more waited outside on the sidewalk. Ryan Verthein, a 40-year-old Topeka resident who repairs guitars and vintage electronics, plans to support Hamilton and considers himself a Democrat after years as an unaffiliated voter. The Rev.
Adam Hamilton, senior pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, smiles as he speaks to a reporter after delivering his remarks announcing his run for U.S. Senate at Harmon Park on Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Prairie Village, Kan. “The negativity in Republican campaigning has done really well for them the past many years,” he said.
Ellen Johnson, 42, the lead organizer for Indivisible Topeka, a group involved in anti-Trump rallies, tends to like more progressive candidates than Hamilton, but he won her over. Democratic state Rep. Alexis Simmons of Topeka said she believes that Hamilton can win, saying “my skepticism is gone. ” She was energized by what she saw as a strong performance during Hamilton’s debate with Marshall on Sept. 12 at the Kansas State Fair.
“He’s responsive to the public and has done a good job of reflecting Kansas values of hard work, humility and kindness in his policies,” she said. The Senate Leadership Fund had planned to spend $18 million in North Carolina over the next month, according to reservations tracked by AdImpact. The group has already spent about $32 million there.were “a very inexpensive price to pay” for preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Though gas prices are near historic highs, they remain below the nationwide record set in 2022. Trump won North Carolina by just over 3 percentage points in 2024. Republicans have held both of the state’s Senate seats since 2015, even as Cooper won two terms as governor and served from 2017 to 2025. Jeff Allen, campaign manager for Cooper, said in a statement that they remain focused on “building a campaign to earn every vote.
”“We feel confident we have the resources to highlight Career Politician Roy Cooper’s 40 Years of Failures and win in November,” campaign spokesman DJ Griffin said in a statement.. Although Republicans were eager to dislodge Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff this year, they’re despairing about the chances of their nominee in the race, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins.
Winning the Senate majority could still prove difficult for Democrats. They would need to defeat multiple Republican incumbents in states like Ohio, Maine and Alaska, and there are some concerns that Democrats couldThe party is also facing a tidal wave of Republican cash, much of it connected to Trump’s deep-pocketed political organization. Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa, and Cappelletti reported from Washington. Steve Peoples in New York and Lisa Mascaro and Collin Binkley in Washington contributed to this report.
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