President Donald Trump told a rally in Park City, Kansas, on Monday that the rioting in France is what Democratic control would bring to the United States, offering no evidence as he campaigned for Republican Sen. Roger Marshall in a race that has tightened in a state that has not elected a Democratic senator in 94 years.
An Emerson College poll has Marshall trailing Democrat Adam Hamilton by two percentage points, within the margin of error. The same survey found 53% of Kansas voters disapprove of Trump’s performance. Hamilton, the pastor of a Methodist megachurch, is running against Trump’s tariffs and what he calls the president’s “erratic leadership.” Trump carried Kansas by 16 points in 2024, and the last Democrat the state sent to the Senate won in 1932.
The French comparison was new to Trump’s stump speech. French authorities had braced for demonstrations on Saturday, expecting 200 to 300 actions nationwide over fuel costs and frozen public-sector pay and benefits in the draft budget. Reporting gathered by ATN, New York indicates the protests have since turned into riots and looting, some of the worst unrest France has seen in years. Trump told the crowd the scenes are what his opponents, whom he called “Dumocrats,” want for America. He mixed that argument with anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric of the kind he used in his three presidential campaigns. Rights advocates have criticized such language over the years, saying it normalizes discrimination against immigrants and ethnic minorities.
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Trump also said he was in Kansas for Marshall, and he claimed Hamilton wants voters to repent for being born white. Hamilton is a Methodist pastor who says he is running against Trump’s tariff agenda.
Marshall, speaking at the same event, led with cultural issues, including opposition to what he described as radical Islam. He called Hamilton too woke for Kansas because the pastor supports gay pride parades, a line the crowd booed, and he said the state needs someone who can “sort heifers and steers.”
Hamilton answered in a video posted Monday. He welcomed Trump to Kansas and said the president’s supporters have a place in his campaign, adding that he would work with Trump when it makes sense and stand up for Kansans when Washington policies hurt farmers and rural hospitals. His campaign spokesperson, Tyson Brody, called Marshall’s campaign sinking and said Kansans are “crushed by rising gas and diesel prices,” struggling to afford health care and tired of Washington corruption.
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Fuel prices framed the scene outside the arena. Many rallygoers walked more than a mile across Interstate 135 to reach the rural venue, passing a truck stop sign that listed gas at $3.98 and diesel at $5.78. Gas is up about 45% from the average a year ago in Kansas, according to AAA. The Iran war, which began in February, has pushed gasoline and diesel prices higher nationwide.
Monique Mullen, 59, a Republican from Hutchinson who is on disability and cares for her father, said the cost of food has her feeling like she must “search or hunt for food.” Outside the arena, a small group of protesters gathered, among them James Nightingale, a self-described independent and farmer from Halstead. He said Trump’s tariffs have gutted grain markets in his area and that the administration is now bringing in imported beef. Gina Seman, a Trump voter from Towanda, said Republican candidates in Kansas have taken their popularity for granted in the past and that winning office there is never easy. Kansans have elected Democrat Laura Kelly as governor in each of the last two cycles.
The administration has been trying to cushion farmers. Trump said this week that the government will launch an $8 billion support program to offset farmers’ diesel costs; ATN has not reviewed the program’s terms. In December, the administration rolled out $12 billion in aid to struggling farmers, according to published reports at the time.
Trump is deep into a 32-day campaign blitz that has taken him mostly to areas he won handily in previous elections. ATN, New York has gathered that a Republican familiar with his midterm strategy attributes the focus on rural America to internal polling showing soft support among men 55 and younger in rural areas, a bloc central to his 2024 win.
The president’s national standing is weak. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published Monday found 31% of Americans approve of his performance, the lowest reading of his political career. The previous low in that poll was 32%, recorded in September, when only 17% of respondents approved of his handling of the cost of living.
Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate and a 218-214 edge in the House. Democrats need a net gain of four Senate seats to take control of the chamber. Midterm elections are Nov. 3.
