From the Alvin and Rosalie Sara Check studio PBS Kansas Presents Kansas Week.

Hundreds of poll monitors fanned out across Kansas as election integrity comes under a national spotlight.

Can we trust the vote to be fair?

Meanwhile, Sedgwick County voters shatter midterm records in a massive early voting surge.

Is this good or bad for the incumbents who must defend the rising cost of food, housing and gas?

And it's back on less than 24 hours after canceling his weekend rally in Salina.

President Trump has reversed course again and now says he'll calm.

What's behind this indecision and last minute scrambling?

Is it good news or bad news for embattled Senator Roger Marshall, who is fighting for his political life?

That's what we're talking about right now on Kansas Week.

Hello and welcome once again to Kansas Week.

What a week.

It's it's been.

I'm Jared Cirillo.

It was on then off and now it's on again.

President Donald Trump says he will come to Salina for a rally this weekend.

After all, just hours after canceling it.

The Salina Airport Authority has confirmed Kake news that the event is officially set for Sunday afternoon.

The president's in-person appearance was initially scrapped in favor of a blitz of nationwide phone rallies.

Well, now, campaign planners have rearranged his schedule to do both.

On Sunday, Trump will fly back to back rallies in Iowa and Kansas, both states featuring high stakes battles that could decide control of the U.S.

Senate.

Here in Kansas, incumbent Republican Roger Marshall remains in a surprise dead heat against opponent Democrat Adam Hamilton, a race that nobody expected would be in play in this traditional Republican stronghold.

Crews are back at work, setting up a stage and bleachers between two massive hangars at the Salina Airport.

Trump is now scheduled to take the stage at 2 p.m.

on Sunday, and here to discuss this and some of the other big election issues as November 3rd draws near.

In Sedgwick County, Republican Chair John Witmer.

Sedgwick County Commissioner Jim Howell, state Representative Henry Helguson and the former director of the Elliott School of Communications at WSU, Jeff Jarman.

Thanks for all of you for joining us.

I'll start with the Sedgwick County chair of the Republican Party here.

What's what's going on here?

Tell us, why is this off and on again?

Well, let me correct something you just said.

The president doesn't go on ATS at two.

The doors open at two.

The program starts at 430.

The president's scheduled to go on at six, right about the time a fourth quarter should start in the Chiefs Broncos game.

So, just to give you, timing on the, rough time of the afternoon to see who Republicans feel is more important.

You know, it'll be an entertaining afternoon, for sure.

I've already done two of these, so I'm.

You know, I get to stay away from this.

I'll be watching the Chiefs and the Broncos game, but it'll be entertaining.

The last time we had 12,000 tickets go out for a 50, a 6500 seat arena.

This was even smaller, so I guarantee it'll sell out regardless of whether the Chiefs are playing the Broncos.

But but any any any, word on why this has happened.

Do you know why hasn't it canceled?

Yes, because the recent polling has doc up by three.

CNN poll has him up by one.

So I think they really felt confident that it's probably well in hand.

Over the last four days, our when I say our Republican voter turnout over the last four days, we've now outpaced Democrats every day consistently, including today.

The polling is now catching up.

We are now outpacing Democrats every day.

So I think they're seeing a trend.

Don't knock wood.

The trend needs to continue.

So I think they're seeing good numbers.

That being said, nobody brings out Republican voters like Donald Trump.

So if he's willing to take the time.

Hey, bring it on.

It's good for us.

So the chairman says nobody brings out Republican voters like Donald Trump.

But Donald Trump's numbers right here in Kansas are 15 points lower in the last time in the Re.

This is a terrible look for Roger Marshall.

I mean, the fact that the president abandoned him and then had to come back.

The RNC put out a press release that said he he that Marshall is so far ahead, we don't have to go there and to reverse course 24 hours later suggests that he is not that far ahead.

Kind of like a guy in a bow tie.

You see?

Nobody.

Yeah, but.

Well, I mean, let's be.

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

Let Jeff response flame the RNC press release and how this is an about face on that.

I think it speaks to the fact that I have a theory that he's in, that Marshall is in trouble in this state.

What's your theory?

Here he is.

My with my initial response.

And again, I didn't know that there was, you know, about this, John, I trust your numbers are probably right.

But my my my reaction when I first heard he canceled it was they probably just said that it's a lost cause.

We're not spending more time in Kansas.

That Roger's basically got to lose and audiences and spend their time and money someplace else.

I think the response to that was that, again, the president says that's not true.

It was for other reasons.

And I'm going to prove it to you.

I'm going to come to Kansas anyway.

So I think it just it just settles a false narrative that there was a presumption even on my part.

I thought, well, this is not look.

This does not look good for Roger.

And, the president wouldn't wouldn't cancel this if it was, if it was, something that might really help Roger, he wouldn't have canceled.

But if it's a lost cause, and I see why he wants to go to spin that also be pulling money.

We've seen that in in the Carolinas, where if when trust me, when the RNC sees a loss in South Carolina.

Exactly.

No doubt this was a loss.

They'd be pulling money.

They wouldn't put money.

Yeah.

I think the difference is whether this state is in play.

And what's the play?

Right.

It's in play.

And that's because Marshall is so far behind where Trump was.

Sure.

Yeah.

And that's and that's why Trump has to come back.

Because to your point, he's got to try to whip up votes that don't appear to be there right now.

Henry Helguson, let me let you in here.

Always a level head.

Thank you for coming on again.

What are your thoughts on this?

I think we have rhetoric from both sides, from all the parties, and nobody knows what the heck is going on.

It's.

It's too close to call.

I made the joke.

You know, this is a joke.

You know, he probably couldn't arrange the tea time previously.

And so that's why all this got scheduled around?

Yeah, he said he was going back to Florida.

Well, we weren't anti-tax doing a rally, but I think it's too close to call.

The Democrats I talked to say, oh, we're going to we're ahead and we're going to win the Republicans, say the same thing.

I think we won't know until Tuesday.

Late, late in the night.

It may be it may be a late night in this round Tuesday.

We may know if we don't know until we've got that CNN poll, that CNN poll that came out yesterday.

Who wants to talk on that?

49% for Hamilton, 45% for Marshall.

I don't really know much about the poll, but I've also heard some people spitball that.

That wasn't really a, trustworthy poll.

There were some things wrong with the way it was doubling the numbers.

The Washington Post.

At the end of the day, I guess you just you know, we all know this.

You can't put too much credit into these polls anyway, even from two years ago or four years ago, these polls have been wrong.

And I think when you're talking about 2 or 3 points, frankly, I think it's just too close to really know what's going to happen.

Yeah.

All right.

We'll move on.

Early voting across Sedgwick County is shattering midterm records, according to county election officials.

Voters are turning out in unprecedented force ahead of Election Day.

Election Commissioner Laura Rainwater here in Sedgwick County, says efforts to make casting a ballot more accessible are paying off, with voters steadily streaming through the polling sites.

The historic surge is fueled by a high stakes ballot packed with marquee contests.

Kansans are deciding an open governor's race.

Of course, the heated Senate showdown that we just talked about, critical congressional battles and the controversial Wichita Public Schools bond proposal.

Voters on both sides of the aisle say the pressure is on.

Democrats are reporting heading to the polls over issues like health care access.

While Republicans are turning out in support of the country's current direction.

With intense enthusiasm driving both sides, local officials expect that energy to run full throttle all the way through election night.

Commissioner, how you study these elections?

When I was running for election myself, you were a very good friend to me.

You study these elections in and out.

What's going on?

I do love the data.

And, actually, Laura Rainwater is correct that, the numbers are very impressive.

Now, I've.

When I've noticed on this particular races, the Democrats came out very strong at the beginning and their participation is is tapering off over the last two days, especially.

And Republicans have started to show up at the polls.

And so what we saw even 3 or 4 days ago has largely reversed course.

I would say both trend lines have almost basically swapped positions right now.

I just pulled these numbers as I was walking into the studio today.

But right now it's almost even if you were to add the Democrats and unaffiliated voters together.

And I'm going to ignore the libertarians and the United Kansas because they're very small numbers anyway, just compare the Democrats and the unaffiliated together as a, as a joint, collection, if you will compare that to the Republicans, it's almost even right now says essentially 49% to 49%.

That bodes well for Republicans, because, again, the unaffiliated, they're not going to vote for the Democrat candidates.

I would argue that, majority of Democrats will vote for the Democrat candidates.

I think the majority of Republicans will vote for Republican candidates, unaffiliated or the other.

The race really, I think, since for the most part and the fact that that the adyen and the DS and used together, it's really not a huge majority at this point, in fact, there's really not a majority at all.

I think what we're seeing right now is that last couple of days, Republicans are starting to pull ahead.

And we also I saw a poll just the other piece of data just the other day that about 72% of Republicans will vote, basically for the last couple days of the election.

In other words, maybe on Saturday and maybe on Tuesday.

But like 72% of Republicans really haven't even voted yet.

They're going to vote.

So I think this is looking good for Republicans right now.

And I think this is actually quite good to see the numbers and representative Helguson, that has seemed to be the trend that early voting has typically cited for Democrats in this state.

Agree.

Disagree.

Yeah, I agree, I think I think there's been a push, by Democrats to vote early and keep track.

But I do disagree with my good friend Jim that we see more and more Republicans that are unhappy and are shifting and splitting their tickets or voting for the Democrats, because the Democrats are speaking to the issues that are in everybody's back pocket.

High gas prices, food costs, going out, the tariffs.

I think this is going to be an unusual well, I can identify this is an unusual election.

And, you know, so I don't know if we can track like we normally would, I think there's it's great to see the number of people interested and out voting, and we should be very appreciative of that.

John Whitmer, what's fueling this surge?

Is it is it the actual issues?

Is it the divisiveness?

What is I think I think Henry's right in some ways.

There is some issues of the divisiveness and the issues.

He's he's a perfect example of, unfortunately, where we are in today's state of affairs.

He's Henry is an absolute sweet, gem of a person.

Yes.

Gems, a good word.

And a cat.

And a casualty of what we've seen often.

Too often.

And why I think, we're not going to see, the shift right now, because his district's a perfect example of where the Democrat Party is today.

We've got a person that that every Republican in the legislature, I served with, Henry could say, you know what?

We're going to disagree probably 60, 70% of the time.

But I can work with him and he's going to be replaced by a radical socialist.

And that's the that's the direction of their party.

And I think that's what yes, there are some frustrated Republicans out there.

But in the end, they are going to come home because they may have to hold their noses, but they're going to vote for the Republican, because in the end, they don't want the brand.

And Whipple's out there.

And I think that's what you're going to see.

Jeff Jarman, the last word here, spoken like the chairman of the party.

And I've been out door knocking, which, by the way, I apologize for my attire, but that's what we're hearing at the door.

To come back to the question about early voter turnout and what this means, really, over the last several election cycles, what we have seen is a shift towards really not, election day, but the election deadline.

And that's because there's so much early voting that's possible for people, makes it easy to vote, and it makes the campaigns have to work so much more strategically because they know they've got to work for basically three weeks to turn out to turn out the vote.

It's not a turn out to vote on one day.

It's a different campaign.

It's totally different campaign right now.

And so, the much larger interesting question is how campaigns have to work to energize people over a three week period to get them to the polls on one of the days to vote.

And, and then we'll see whether or not people vote and hold their nose and hands.

Right.

But I will tell you, working on a campaign, a few and no one right now working on a campaign, I can tell you what we are seeing is exactly what Henry said.

But with Republicans, I can tell you there's Jim's right.

There's a massive amount of Republicans that are telling us, I am absolutely going to vote, but I vote on Election Day.

Yeah.

In fact, I would tell you, the majority of races, I think, in Sedgwick County are safe.

There's only one race right now that I think is I think there's I said there's one representative race right now, which is a little bit dicey.

We'll see how that one goes.

But really, the rest of the ballot in Sedgwick County is pretty much predictable, with the exception of us, the US Senate.

And that's the one that doesn't we don't know what that's going to.

I got to ask you which one you think's dicey, then.

District 88, Sandy Packard is a little tight.

Oh, yeah.

Okay, I would agree with that.

All right.

But quickly, we're going to turn out in droves.

Okay?

I think she wins with razor thin races on the ballot.

We just talked about one.

Kansas is now under a national magnifying glass for election interference.

The ACLU has flagged Kansas as one of its most closely watched states in the entire country this cycle.

Organizers say dead heat races are prime targets, because casting doubt on even a handful of ballots can derail an election outcome.

To counter that threat, the group has trained more than 300 poll monitors across the state.

Meanwhile, federal law enforcement is on high alert.

The U.S.

Attorney's Office in Kansas has issued its own warning, promising to shield voters from fraud, intimidation and illegal ballots.

Officials are urging voters to report any suspicious activity directly to federal authorities and even call 911 immediately if they encounter intimidation or violence at the polls.

Jeff Jarman, what are your thoughts on this?

This is not something that we have seen a lot of violence and intimidation at the polls.

It's not it is not the norm for us.

Is it a dog whistle?

It is.

And one of the ways, you know, it's a dog whistle is that the attorney general's office invokes fraud and illegal votes as opposed to intimidation or what the real interference claims are.

And that's how you get that.

This is probably a, you know, a story that's looking for legs, not a story with legs.

I think the much the much more interesting question in our state and in many states is about, voter disenfranchisement and the number of people who have lost the ability to vote, not whether people are going to the polls and are intimidated to cast their vote.

Interesting.

John Whitmer, what's your response?

I don't believe anybody has lost the ability to vote.

But frankly, if anyone's really concerned, I think they should.

ACLU should be sending their folks up to Alaska, where you've got the Democrat Party actively recruiting another Dan Sullivan to run against the legitimate Dan Sullivan that happened here in Kansas City, Ron Estus running against a Ron Estes, he still won the real world test is still we're looking for fraud.

Go to Alaska.

We're flying here.

I think this is again, like you said, I think this a whole lot to do about nothing.

Go ahead.

In regards, have done dirty tricks over the years.

Now the fact you know, we accept that and we also have laws that keep it within within range that works.

That's acceptable.

So yeah, nobody needs to go to Alaska.

Nobody needs to come to Kansas.

I agree with you.

I don't think that there's a story, you know, occasionally there's going to be something, but most.

Look, I'm a big fan of Kansans.

I think we are fair.

We're honest, and we allow people we want people to go out and vote, even if it's for the Republicans or the Democrats or socialist and is maybe is is maybe the ACLU just chasing Kansas because of what's going on in this cycle with the Hamilton and and Marshall race, because it's it's obviously making national headlines.

And the ACLU wants to be here and out in front of it there.

This is much ado about nothing, in my opinion.

I can't speak for the rest of the statement, but I'm very, very familiar with our election equipment in Sedgwick County, and and I, I'm I'm so impressed with the security that it provides.

It's designed to be audited.

We have audit processes both before and after the election as part of the part of the overall process.

I have seen some voter intimidation from the left.

Again, people who are kind of scary, people trying to maybe try to scare people from entering, not having to walk through a what appears to be a line of intimidation.

When you walk into the poll site.

I have seen that, but it's been basically my opinion on the left, and the ACLU typically seems to be supportive of the left left ideology.

So in terms of the Republicans doing that type of behavior, I've never seen it.

I've never, never witnessed it anywhere.

And we support the rule of law.

We have great police force.

I just don't think there's an issue in Sedgwick County.

I'll be surprised if that appears anywhere in Kansas.

Honestly.

Jeff Jarman, do you agree you're you're coming from face you faced intimidation.

Did you report it?

Yeah, we have seen it.

Yeah.

It has happened.

And people genuinely couldn't vote because no I didn't say they couldn't vote, but they were intimidated when they walked past people outside who were didn't like what they were, you know, having to walk out of polling protesters.

Yeah.

It's been a protesters or a I mean, I just find it hard to believe that there that there's that we don't have a, you know, video cued up of intimidation go down on a Saturday.

We're a Maga hat and see how they treat you.

So that's you.

But that's, that's that's not a polling place.

That's not a that's a different situation though, isn't it?

I mean, if the ACLU is looking for something to protest, go talk to the girls who are right now trying to defend their right to compete in women's sports, how come the ACLU is defending them?

That kind of a change, a subject?

I think it's a good treatment point.

Well, except it's it's so far afield of the issue at hand.

And is it is, I think the ACLU.

My point is the ACLU has better fish to fry.

Do they, Jeff.

You know, I, I'm, I am more optimistic and I, that we do not have problems of voter intimidation in this state.

I do agree.

We have a good infrastructure.

I trust our election officials in this county and in this state, and across the country.

And I don't I think the there are issues where intimidation happens.

I have not ever seen it in Kansas.

And I hope we do not see it in any last the last word, Henry, I agree with you.

And if there's ever a case where you see individuals on the far left doing that, give me a call, because I'll be one of the first ones to step out and tell them to get out of here anyway.

Good.

Well, thank you for that service.

It's been a long time.

I spent it maybe more than a decade ago since I saw this.

And we're me just a few people.

But my point is, I do think it has happened.

It can happen.

I think the Republicans, when they do peaceful, pro-peace, peaceful protests, they're law abiding and they pick up the litter.

They're not yelling at people, they're not being ugly.

And as John said, you go downtown, see what happens at the protest.

There ain't no there's bloody heads are holding up.

It's just it's an entirely different feeling.

And that's the same type of people who, again, might if, if this happens at all in Kansas, that's the group I'd be worried about.

All right.

Our last story today, outgoing Governor Laura Kelly remains the most popular politician in Kansas right now.

But with Election Day closing in, support for Washington leaders is crumbling.

That's according to a new statewide Kansas Speaks survey that was released by Fort Hays State University.

The numbers are showing nearly 47% of Kansans approve of Laura Kelly's job performance as she prepares to leave office in January.

That makes her a rare outlier in a cynical electorate.

Approval for incumbent Senator Roger Marshall, however, has plummeted to 26%.

Support for President Donald Trump has even dropped ten points.

Maybe even more than that, down to 33%, with more than 20% of Republicans reporting dissatisfaction.

Political scientists say deep distrust in national politics is fueling voter fatigue.

And across the state, voters rank the squeeze of the economy and the cost of living as their top concern.

Heading into Election Day.

But haven't we been talking about voter fatigue for about 10 or 15, maybe even 20 years now?

Apathy, voter fatigue and apathy.

Are you looking at me?

You know, it just kind of see how like, the same old story.

But, I mean, we've been very divisive obviously, in the last couple of election cycles.

But look, look, we're divisive.

But let me go back to the topic and, of whether or not Governor Kelly is popular.

Governor Kelly is very popular with a segment of the population, Democrats, independents.

A lot of things happened.

Many things happened because the legislature put on boundaries or restrictions with the governor.

And we had more money coming in than we knew what to do with.

But we've also created problems that have not been addressed that the Republican leadership has been fighting with the governor, about which they don't see which the Democrat leadership have been fighting with the governor about.

And, you know, it's a powder keg, and it's going to blow up in the next couple of years.

And people don't realize that, yes, there's there's room for support for what she's done.

But there's a lot of problems out there that people don't know about.

Jim Howell, Commissioner, the Kansas Speak Survey, you know, I they ask the question like, do you really like Trump right now?

I'm surprised that that high of a number actually, the end of the day, given Trump versus Harris or Trump versus Biden right this minute, Trump would still win at the end of the day, given that choice, Trump would win that race today.

When you ask someone, do you like someone or you don't like someone, I'm not surprised.

The number is quite a bit lower, but that's really not the same thing.

Lori Kelly, I would I would give her a little bit of credit.

She is popular and, I think people do have short memories, though.

You know, we were one of the, the first states to to basically do mask mandates and gallery limits, all things we got involved in, in Covid.

Some people thought she was right, but there's often people were really upset and some of the same people maybe I've forgotten how they felt back in 2020, the end of the day.

You know, she is, she's very political.

I think people I don't think people realize how political she actually is.

She in public, she comes across as being like a, like a grandmother and kind of sweet and everything, but but she's very politically active, and I think she's quite far left.

She's not left as, as Cindy Hauser, however.

So we'll see, you know, again, if, if they really like Laura Kelly, you think they might say, well, let's have City Hall move this forward.

I think she I think Cindy is going to lose pretty badly in this race.

So the commissioner says that, the governor is pretty left, but she's played the middle of the road card very well in the public.

She she has whether she is or isn't, she's played that card.

Well, she, she has played that card well.

And I think the last couple of, constitutional amendment votes have shown how a middle of the road approach, has kept her, you know, at least somewhat popular.

I think the really interesting thing in the poll survey, in the, in the data is not just what her, approval rating is, but what Trump and, Marshall's approval rating is.

And I think the reason why the state is competitive for the first time in more than 90 years, I mean, we've had races that sounded like they might be competitive in August and September and October, but I you know, Marshall's approval rating being so low is the reason why, for the first time in more than 90 years, Kansas might elect a Democrat to the US Senate.

John Whitmer, last word on the Kansas speaks.

Well, I'll remind you, Laura Kelly never once got more than 50% of the vote.

So she's not that popular.

Look, even by their own metrics, and I had to pull them and analyze them to get these numbers.

But even by their own admission, the Kansas Speak survey weighs for partizanship, which means they by definition, they adjust the surveys or this is their terminology, they adjust the survey's raw results, quote, using official voter registration data so that the registered proportion of registered Republicans and unaffiliated voters are measured and weighted to affect the actual results.

In other words, they undervalue Republicans when they take these data numbers.

So the survey results are weighted to affect political party affiliation.

They undervalue Republicans when they take this survey data.

20s response 20s.

So a total percent of those surveyed get weighted.

So they reflect the actual percentages in the state.

There's not a single Republican that looks at these numbers and bites.

That's okay.

But don't misstate what weighting means.

It's such a disservice to people that that statistically misleads people by this survey.

That's okay.

That's okay.

Our methodology, we're going to have to end it.

We're going to have to end it.

On that note, with with just a few minutes left, Representative Helguson, I wanted to thank you for your service.

Yes, you are ending your term as you have.

You lost your election and we are very sorry to hear to see you leave the state House.

You have been a gem for this state and we all appreciate your time.

Thank you.

That's a wrap for this week.

Thanks to all of you for joining us.

We'll see you next week.

For.