Gubernatorial candidates Republican Sen. President Ty Masterson and Democrat Sen. Cindy Holscher, and U.S. Senate candidates incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Marshall and Democrat Pastor Adam Hamilton participated in their first major debates at the Kansas State Fair on Saturday.
Zach Boblitt, Kansas Public Radio’s statehouse reporter, described the audience at the event in Hutchinson, Kansas, as vocal and raucous.
“You can just walk in there with a beer and a corn dog and start screaming at a candidate that you don't like, or screaming for a candidate that you do like,” Boblitt said.
Masterson and Holscher were asked about lowering property taxes, helping the agriculture industry, and building data centers. But their answers were laced with name calling and attacks.
“They did answer some of the questions, but a lot of answers quickly devolved, turning into arguments over each other's records,” Boblitt told KCUR’s Up To Date. “Masterson repeatedly called Holscher a liberal, a socialist, a leftist, while Holscher repeatedly tied Masterson to the Brownback era."
While the gubernatorial candidates appeared to have fairly equal support among audience members, the crowd for the U.S. Senate debate weighed heavily in favor of political newcomer Adam Hamilton.
Hamilton supporters shouted down Marshall multiple times — to the point where the incumbent had to pause before responding.
The two debated whether they support the president’s promise of $5000 dividend checks if Republicans can hold control of congress in November, and how policies enacted by the Trump administration including tariffs, the war with Iran affect Kansans.
Boblitt said some attendees left the debates unsure of who they would vote for in November.
“There was another Republican I talked to who's a precinct committeeman, and he didn't know,” Boblitt said. “He's a devout Christian man, and he said that he likes Hamilton's religious writings and believes he would possibly support Hamilton over Marshall because of that.”
- Zach Boblitt, statehouse bureau chief, Kansas Public Radio
