Army vet launches Senate challenge to Roger Marshall, decries U.S. ‘forever wars’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Army veteran Noah Taylor enters 2026 Senate primary to challenge Roger Marshall
- Taylor criticizes U.S. ‘forever wars’ and opposes blank checks for Israel
- Campaign stresses local economic, water and anti-establishment concerns
The field of Democratic candidates vying for a shot to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall swelled to eight last week with the addition of Army veteran Noah Taylor of Kechi.
Taylor, who was deployed in Afghanistan as an active duty infantry soldier from 2011 to 2012, told The Star he had been weighing a run for about a year when the U.S. launched its war with Iran. That made the decision easy, he said.
“First and foremost, I’m an infantry grunt, so when I look at what’s going on with Iran, I know what these forever wars are going to cost us — both from a personal level, and from a larger scale,” Taylor, 34, said in an interview.
“I’m running for Senate because I think members of Congress have deserted regular Kansans while a few at the top profit, and now our sons and daughters are being used as bargaining chips,” he said.
Marshall, a physician who served in the Army Reserve from 1984-1991, has positioned himself as a close ally of President Donald Trump and a supporter of the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran.
Taylor said that if elected, he would take a nuanced view on U.S. military aid and involvement in foreign conflicts.
“I don’t believe in sending a blank check to (Israeli Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu,” Taylor said. “As for Ukraine, I believe we need to support our allies and I stand with them.”
Taylor, who served as a counterintelligence analyst with the Army Reserve while completing his communications degree at Wichita State University, said his goal is to “land a few black eyes on a system that works great for the Epstein class but not so much for the rest of us.”
“We’re just squeezed by grocery bills, healthcare costs and tariffs, and then now they want us to face down another forever war, so I can’t take it lying down anymore,” Taylor said.
Noah Taylor’s background and priorities
Taylor grew up in El Dorado. He and his business partner, an Air Force veteran, run a marketing company geared towards promoting small businesses in south central Kansas. Taylor is also the co-founder of Leading Kansas, a nonpartisan activist group that bills itself as a protector of constitutional rights and individual liberties against government overreach.
Kansas last elected a Democratic senator in 1932.
Taylor joins a primary field that includes retired corporate executive Sandy Spidel Neumann, real estate developer Erik Murray, former Biden USDA official Christy Davis, attorney Anne Parelkar, former federal prosecutor Jason Hart, state Sen. Patrick Schmidt and Michael Soetaert of Wellington.
Additionally, U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids has repeatedly said she won’t count out a 2026 Senate bid, and popular Leawood megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton has launched a listening tour to explore a potential run as an independent.
“When I look at the current field, I think every single one of them would be better than Roger Marshall. Let’s be frank about that,” Taylor said.
“Roger Marshall right now refuses to even hold public meetings. He’s not even doing the most basic, fundamental duty of his job, which is listening to the American people, listening to Kansas,” he added.
Taylor’s late entrance to the race ahead of the August primary means he will have limited time to fundraise and build his profile. He said his campaign war chest isn’t his top priority.
“I’m a political outsider. I’m not somebody who has been within the system, is backed by large money,” he said.
“I’m a regular Kansan who’s concerned about gas prices, who knows when my Dillon’s on 37th and Woodlawn discounts the food because it’s Sunday at 8:30 . . . because that’s what I’ve had to do to fight against these grocery prices,” he said.
Taylor said partisan squabbling has decentered issues that will shape Kansas’ long-term sustainability, including the state’s dwindling water supply.
“When we talk about the Ogallala Aquifer, we’ve talked with farmers who have had to drill their wells down deeper and deeper,” Taylor said. “We talk about runoff from pesticides, and all of these things are issues that need to be addressed and they need to be talked about, and the problem that we’re facing is that we’re too busy bickering amongst ourselves.”
This story was originally published March 22, 2026 at 7:00 AM.
