GOP Senate super PAC reserves $9.8 million for Kansas

Kansas advertising reservation

The Senate Leadership Fund, Senate Republicans’ main super PAC, had reserved in Kansas advertising as of Oct. 2, AdImpact data cited by CBS News show. The commitment directs Republican resources toward the state in the final weeks before the midterm elections. Republicans can lose as many as three Senate seats and retain their majority.

The group spent in Kansas in 2020, when Republican Roger Marshall first won the seat. Marshall is now seeking to remain in office against Democrat Adam Hamilton, a pastor who is seeking to become Kansas’ first Democratic senator since 1932.

Campaign ads and the North Carolina shift

Marshall’s campaign released an ad accusing Hamilton of covering up child abuse at the church where Hamilton serves as senior pastor. Hamilton denied the allegation and said the church investigated claims involving a youth retreat volunteer more than 20 years ago, contacted police and barred the volunteer from church programs. A Kansas City Star review of court records supported Hamilton’s description of those steps.

The Senate Leadership Fund has spent more than this year in North Carolina, federal campaign finance filings show, but has paused future advertising there. That contest is between Democrat Roy Cooper, a former two-term governor, and Republican Michael Whatley, a former Republican National Committee chair. President Donald Trump held a rally for Whatley and said he was worried about the candidate’s chances. Cooper’s campaign manager described North Carolina as evenly divided and said the campaign was working to earn every vote.