Angry crowd protests at Roger Marshall’s Overland Park office. Here’s what to know
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- A handful of protestors delivered 3,800 signed petitions to Sen. Marshall’s office.
- Signatures include residents from 100 of Kansas’s 105 counties, according to organizer.
- Marshall has heckled at an Oakley town hall last year.
A handful of protestors delivered 3,800 signed petitions to Sen. Roger Marshall’s Overland Park office, demanding that he host town halls across the state.
Marshall, a Kansas Republican, hasn’t hosted a town hall open to the public since March of last year, when a hostile crowd jeered at Marshall until he left 15 minutes before the event’s scheduled end.
The petition gathering process was conducted by Prairie Progress Civic Action, an organization calling for more direct communication between elected officials and constituents.
“It was inspired by the fact that he ran out of Oakley over a year ago. To our knowledge, he has not done a public event with constituents since, and we would like to see that form of civic engagement be brought back,” said Jess Cooney, an organizer for Prairie Progress Civic Action.
Cooney said the batch of 3,800 signatures spans across Kansas, and includes people who live in 100 of Kansas’s 105 counties.
Other protestors said they weren’t happy with Marshall’s overall constituency service. Michelle Bridges of Kansas City, Kansas, said she’s tried to reach Marshall’s staff over the phone and at his Kansas City office, but found it to be empty.
“As a constituent and as a voter, that is incredibly frustrating to me, especially since Wyandotte is the most diverse county in the state and one of the most populous, and he seems to have just given up on us,” Bridges said.
Marshall hasn’t hosted a town hall since the Oakley event, but has travelled the state. In February, he launched the “4 Corners, 50 Counties” tour, where he travelled around the state meeting with more curated community groups to tout the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
His announcement said he’d visit factories, small businesses, restaurants, senior centers and community gathering places on the tour.
“This is a tour about making sure every corner of Kansas is heard, and every community sees the impact of this historic tax relief,” Marshall said in a statement after the tour launched.
The petition delivery was a tamer affair than in Wichita, where police received a call from the senator’s office and dispatched a bomb squad to examine the boxes of petitions. Cooney said Prairie Progress scheduled their visit beforehand at both locations and remained peaceful throughout.
“It turned into a whole big thing, so I definitely don’t want that to happen here. We are here peacefully delivering our petitions and that is it,” Cooney said.
