Steve Hayes is joined by Jonah Goldberg, Kevin Williamson, and Mike Warren to discuss the possibility of Democrats flipping a seat in Kansas and the Trump administration’s “public service announcements.”
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Democrats → join → Kansas
On today's roundtable, we discuss the possibility of Democrats picking up a Senate seat in Kansas, and how Donald Trump's unpopularity is affecting down-ballot Republicans.
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unpopularity → discuss → Republicans
Then the Trump administration uses taxpayer funding to buy campaign ads that they call, quote, "Public service announcements."
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they → use → that
Our reflections on the New York Times recently released list, and in the show notes, a top 10 from our panelists.
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reflections → release → panelists
I'm joined today by The Dispatch's editor-in-chief, Jonah Goldberg, national correspondent Kevin Williamson, and politics editor Mike Warren.
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I → join → chief
Let's dive right in.
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's → let → ?
When we release this podcast, it will be five weeks to the day from the 2026 midterm elections.
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it → release → elections
And if you've been paying careful attention over the past several weeks, you've noticed that we are now, and others are now, talking about races that were really not on the radar.
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that → pay → radar
They were not listed as competitive races two months ago, certainly not six months ago.
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They → list → races
Among those races are potentially Nebraska Senate, where a Republican leadership-aligned group has apparently committed to sending 10 million additional dollars to the Nebraska race to help Pete Ricketts in a, what may be a competitive race.
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what → align → Ricketts
Still hard for me to see it as a competitive race.
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me → see → race
We've seen a lot of discussion about Alaska, which was not thought to be a competitive race six months ago, or as competitive a race, and now it is one of the most competitive races.
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it → see → races
We're talking about Ohio, Iowa.
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We → talk → Ohio
And interestingly, over the past few weeks, one race has commanded lots of attention, and that is the US Senate race in Kansas, where incumbent Republican Roger Marshall is fighting, uh, to keep his seat against Adam Hamilton, a prominent religious figure in this state.
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Marshall → command → state
There's not a ton of polling on this race, uh, but what, what couple polls we have show the race pretty close.
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race → be → polls
I would say the bigger tell than the public polling is what we're seeing from Roger Marshall, who is certainly acting like this is a very close and competitive race.
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this → say → Marshall
Uh, I wanna get into this for a couple reasons.
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I → get → reasons
I wanna talk about the dynamics of the race.
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I → talk → race
There's, there's a, an ad out from the Democratic challenger, uh, that has gotten a lot of sort of viral attention.
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that → be → attention
But Mike, let me start with you.
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me → let → you
Uh, you probably follow this stuff more closely than any of the rest of us.
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you → follow → us
Could Roger Marshall lose that Senate seat in what's thought to be deep red Kansas?
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what → lose → seat
There's certainly some state red, and they've had governors that have been Democrats, but
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that → be → governors
could Roger Marshall actually lose that race?
I mean, the short answer, Steve, is yes, because, I mean, [chuckles] in the realm of possibilities, anything is possible.
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anything → lose → possibilities
But, but more seriously, uh, I, I do think you, you, you hit on something very important, which is, yes, the polls show s- there's limited polling.
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polls → think → something
You know, I think the last two polls have shown, uh, Adam Hamilton with like a one-point lead, two-point lead.
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polls → know → lead
A few polls before that showed Marshall in the lead.
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polls → show → lead
But what's more important, or what we can watch to gauge and as a barometer for whether this is a winnable race for Adam Hamilton, a losable race for Roger Marshall, is the actions of the candidates.
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this → watch → candidates
I guess he, first he's on the defense because Adam Hamilton's been running this really kind of devastating ad about the way that Roger Marshall's, who is a doctor, sicced the cops on, uh, a woman who had a $50, uh, overdue medical bill.
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who → guess → bill
And, uh, this commercial's been running.
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commercial → run → ?
There was a story about it, and now they've sort of formed it into a commercial.
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they → be → commercial
And-
She was eight months pregnant and put in handcuffs.
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She → put → handcuffs
The Aporia
