To the editor:

This coming November, citizens in the United States will exercise their most important right by going to the polls and voting for their representatives in government. Like most Kansans, come November, I’ll be voting for the person whom I feel can best represent me and the concerns of my state rather than for a party. I grew up in rural Kansas and have spent most of my life here, so I know that, for the most part, people in Kansas are level-headed and practical and will vote for the people they believe care about Kansas as their representatives at all levels of government. After all, Kansans elected Laura Kelly twice, first as a rejection to the Brownback “experiment” that was so harmful to our state, and then again to say “no” to Chris Kobach, a Brownback acolyte. She’s not been perfect, but she has done an admirable job bringing the state back and putting us on solid footing again. Kansas made the right choice there.

Like other states, Kansas has just two senators who are tasked with seeing to our state’s needs and well-being at the national level. One of those senators, Roger Marshall, will be on the ballot this November. I pay attention to what our representatives are saying (or not saying) and doing (or not doing) in their roles as our federal voice, and there is overwhelming evidence that, not only is Roger Marshall not looking out for the best interests of Kansas and its people, but he is also not particularly interested in doing so. Rather, Marshall seems to be interested in positioning himself among the prosperous and powerful representing their interests at the expense of ours.

I plan to write a series of letters that lay out the actions taken and not taken by Roger Marshall, the statements made and the held silences through which he has communicated his allegiance, not to Kansas and regular Kansans, but to the wealthy, with whom he is so enamored, and their interests. 

To this end, I must start with the most obvious evidence that Marshall is not representing the interests of Kansas; he does not live here. He does show up in the state now and then to do a few photo ops, but he is not from Kansas any more. Shortly after being sworn in as a senator in 2021, Marshall sold his 5-bedroom, 4-bath house in Great Bend and purchased a house in Sarasota, Florida, which is now valued at $1.2 million. His Kansas voter registration lists the address of a 1-bedroom, 1-bath cabin in Stafford County as his home. Admittedly, I don’t have information detailing how much time he actually spends at his humble Kansas cabin, but common sense would lead most to the conclusion that his home is in Florida, not Kansas.

But what about his actions and statements regarding issues important to Kansas, like, say, supporting farm families? In October, President Trump announced that he would open up trade with Argentinian beef producers to lower the price of beef for U.S. consumers. This hasty response to unfavorable polls failed to take into account its impacts on the domestic beef producer. According to the Kansas Ag Connection, Kansas produces about 11% of the nation’s domestic beef. This decision hit Kansas beef producers’ profit hard and the action was sharply criticized by Jerry Moran, our other senator. What did Marshall have to say? Very little. In one interview on RFD TV he framed “Argentina [as] a blip,” and condescended to those upset by the action by saying “Everyone should take a breath.” He did, however, stop short of suggesting we breathe in that fresh salt air.

There is much more to come regarding Roger Marshall and his lack of interest in Kansas. Representation matters, and Roger Marshall does not represent Kansas.

Mary Casey

Tecumseh