President Donald Trump said at an Oct. 19 campaign rally in Kansas that an $8 billion program would help farmers pay for diesel, adding an economic pitch to a closely contested Senate race.
Trump said the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would launch the assistance and credited Republican Sen. Roger Marshall with pressing for it. The Associated Press has reported that rising diesel and other input costs are straining farms during harvest and affecting Republican voter enthusiasm.
Marshall faces Democrat Adam Hamilton in the Nov. 3 election. YouGov surveyed 2,255 likely Kansas voters from Sept. 24 to Oct. 4 and found Hamilton at 48% and Marshall at 45%. The poll had a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.
The race is close despite Trump's substantial victory in Kansas two years ago. Official results from the Kansas secretary of state show he received 57.16% of the state's presidential vote in 2024, compared with 41.04% for the Democratic candidate — a margin of 16.12 percentage points.
At the Park City rally, security removed at least three people who interrupted Trump early in his remarks, the AP reported. Trump urged the crowd to vote to get rid of “idiots like that.”
Nexstar Media Group said it will televise a debate between Marshall and Hamilton on Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. ET.
