KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas said in-person town halls will lead to violence, but he doesn’t plan to stop holding them.
Marshall said he visited 100 sites throughout Kansas in August and made 20 visits last week, though those numbers could not be independently verified and were not exclusive to town halls.
“Right now, doing in-person town halls will lead to violence. I am very fearful that these two groups will assault each other, and I just don’t think it’s a very good idea right now,” he told reporters Thursday following an appearance at the Ag Outlook Forum in Kansas City, Missouri, where he discussed the Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, effort.
However, Marshall said he doesn’t plan to cease holding in-person town halls.
“I’ve never seen such hatred coming out of people’s mouths at President Trump and his agenda,” Marshall said. “I don’t know why people are upset that the borders are safe and the price of gas and groceries are down and the economy’s looking better.”
His concerns arose after the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at an event this month on a Utah college campus. In June, a Minnesota state representative, Melissa Hortman, was killed alongside her husband. In the wake of their deaths, politicians have expressed worry for their safety at public events.
Marshall claimed without evidence that he has had the most town halls of anyone in Congress in the past eight years. He drew controversy this year for walking out of a town hall in Oakley after he was heckled by a standing room only crowd.
A September report by LegiStorm found that Congressional town halls have reached their highest level since 2021 this year, led by Republican U.S. Sen Kevin Cramer with 74 town halls, followed by Oregon’s Democratic U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, with 40 and 37 town halls, respectively.
At the Thursday agriculture conference, Marshall addressed misconceptions about the MAHA movement and his efforts to educate U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on agriculture. He also opined on the potential government shutdown and reasoned that trade cannot be a cure-all for agriculture woes.
“Anyone that’s sitting there thinking — ‘Oh, we got all these trade deals. Done. That’s going to solve all our problems,’ — is amok,” Marshall said during his session with moderator Sara Wyant. She is also the founder and publisher of Agri-Pulse.
He emphasized the importance of converting American crops into protein or biofuel, such as beef and dairy products or ethanol.
Marshall said the looming government shutdown is a matter of politics. He claimed that Democrats want to add excessive costs to the budget and contribute to a bloated national debt. He called the national debt the No. 1 threat to America’s success.
“Until Congress is willing to go on a diet here, we’re going to continue down this road,” he said.