Marshall says Trump dropping Kansas rally because he is ‘doing so well in the polls’

Republican senator Roger Marshall said he believed Donald Trump had cancelled a planned Saturday rally in Salina, Kansas, because Marshall was “doing so well in the polls” and the president had better places to spend his time. Marshall also said he was unsure of the reason. Trump said Marshall was doing well, while the Republican National Committee said replacing in-person events in Kansas and Iowa with telephone rallies would let Trump reach voters in more states before the 3 November midterm elections.

The polling available when Marshall spoke gave a less comfortable picture of his re-election race against Democrat Adam Hamilton. An Emerson College survey put Hamilton ahead by 49% to 45%, although a poll is a snapshot rather than an election result. The cancellation was also short-lived: Trump’s campaign subsequently announced that he would hold a Kansas rally on Sunday instead. Marshall’s explanation therefore describes his reaction to the original cancellation, not the final campaign schedule.