Sen. Roger Marshall booed at northwest Kansas town hall

OAKLEY, Kan. (KSNW) - A town hall meeting hosted by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) in rural northwest Kansas Saturday morning included questions and answers, shouting, applause, boos and Marshall leaving the event early.

The meeting at the Logan County Hospital in Oakley started at 9 a.m. and lasted around 40 minutes. A video shared with KSN by one of the people at the event showed that the event was contentious nearly from the start. Marshall's team later told KSN the event was sabotaged by Democrat operatives.

A large group of people crowded into the room, with several standing around the limited chairs. Some wore shirts or carried signs critical of Marshall, the Trump administration, and the Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE). Others wore hats or shirts representing military service. Within the first five minutes of the event, Marshall referenced the crowd.

"A lot of folks have traveled a long way to be here. This is really Oakley's town hall. I'm going to try to focus on their questions," said Marshall.

He got a varied response. Some can be heard saying thank you, others saying he represents the whole state.

"I'm going to say this one time. If you all keep cutting me off, if you're rude, which you're being, I'm going to leave. The people from Oakley don't deserve this," said Marshall. "If you're going to keep interrupting me, we're not going to do this. If you have a question, you can write them down and turn them in; my staff will get them all."

Marshall said he wanted to take on the biggest issue of the last 24 hours, referencing what he called "the blow up yesterday," a heated exchange in the Oval Office between President Donald Trump and Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"I have a deep amount of compassion and empathy from the people of Ukraine," said Marshall. He called Ukraine a "bottomless pit" financially, "throwing good money after bad money." He defended the president's plan, saying, "My goal, I believe President Trump's goal, is to have peace in this situation and avoid World War III."

He answered several questions written on note cards from the crowd. Several times, people called out questions about Elon Musk, DOGE cuts, and the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary. Some questions got responses of "Would you be quiet?" from some, while others cheered.

Marshall spoke about agriculture and defended Trump's support of Kansas farmers and ranchers and said he was prioritizing passing a new Farm Bill. He spoke on cuts to USAID and changes to the Food for Peace Program, which he says is a good program and needs to be managed by the USDA. He referenced the cuts at NOAA, including to National Weather Service meteorologists, saying, "There's some opportunity to make the weather service more efficient." Marshall said he was concerned about the rates of veteran and farmer suicide.

After about 30 minutes, some in the crowd called out more criticisms and questions, Marshall responding at one point, "Do you want to have your own town hall?" Later, calling it "one of the rudest audiences I've ever had," a statement that brought some to applaud and cheer.

When a woman calls out more questions to Marshall, a man can be heard saying, "You're not from Western Kansas."

"Oh, I am. Oh, sir, I am," she responds.

The crowd settled down when a man, identified by High Plains Public Radio as a local, Chuck Nunn, stood up and spoke directly to the senator.

"I want to thank you for coming out here, takes a lot of guts," said Nunn, who identified himself as a dying breed, a conservative Democrat. He went on to say that he appreciates the effort to cut fraud and waste in government and fully supports it. "But I think the way we are going about it is so wrong because there are unintended consequences."

"I support the veterans. What you're doing right now, what the government is doing right now, as far as cutting out those jobs, a huge percent of those people — and I know that you care about the veterans — are veterans. And that is a damn shame. That is a damn shame."

Another man can be heard saying, "I'm not a Democrat, but I'm worried about the veterans," as several people applaud.

"Well, I yielded to one my elders, and I appreciate his comments," Marshall responded. "I think it's a great. I'm not going to. We don’t have time for everyone to stand up. I do got two more commitments today. I appreciate everybody making the drive out, and God bless America. Thank you."

Marshall then walked out of the room as people yelled and booed, and some called him a coward.

KSN reached out to Marshall's press team to request an interview after the town hall, and we asked several questions via email. We didn't receive a response to our specific questions but instead received a statement attributed to Brent Robertson, Marshall's chief of staff:

“Democrat operatives who couldn’t place Oakley, Kansas on a map before today sabotaged a local town hall — even still, Senator Marshall stayed and answered every question that was asked for 45 minutes," said Robertson. "Real Kansans overwhelmingly support President Trump’s DOGE initiative, shrinking the size of the federal government, and firing career bureaucrats. Local Oakley citizens had no clue who these people were. Senator Marshall is to be commended for staying as long as he did.”

When KSN reached out and asked for clarification on our questions, if Marshall was declining an interview, and if the staff could clarify what Kansans aren't considered "real" in the statement, we received the same statement with one line updated: "Local Oakley citizens had no clue who these people were and were embarrassed by the behavior."

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