Kansas Democratic Senate candidate Adam Hamilton is pushing back hard against Republican Sen. Roger Marshall's video rebuttal to reports that he sued hundreds of former patients over unpaid medical bills. Hamilton called the senator's response "desperate" and accused him of trying to mislead voters about his record.
In an interview with NewsNation's Mills Hayes on Monday, Hamilton said Marshall's video felt like a frantic attempt to explain away uncomfortable facts. "It felt like to me that he was desperately trying to explain away something," Hamilton said.
The dispute centers on a New York Times investigation from September that found Marshall, an obstetrician, had filed lawsuits against 700 patients over the course of his medical career to collect overdue bills. Court records reviewed by the Times showed that in 81 cases, patients were arrested after missing court appearances.
In a video he recorded and produced himself, without help from his campaign, Marshall said he occasionally turned overdue accounts over to a collection agency "to keep the lights on." He insisted that his involvement ended once an account was handed off. "My involvement in any patient's account ended the minute it was turned over to an outside agency," Marshall said. "I never had anyone arrested."
But the Times reported that roughly half of the lawsuits were filed in Marshall's name, and his lawyers repeatedly asked courts to issue arrest warrants for patients who didn't show up. Marshall, however, maintains that he frequently worked without pay and provided free care to many patients. "When I practiced as a small town OB-doc, often serving as the only OB in the middle of 40,000 people, my wife and I decided to take care of everyone regardless of their ability to pay," he claimed in the video. "We wrote off hundreds of bills monthly and one in every five patients received free care."
Hamilton rejects that narrative, arguing that Marshall's personal attorney handled the lawsuits and that the senator had control over how aggressively they were pursued. "The reality is, if you actually check the facts, he's not telling the truth," Hamilton said.
The exchange highlights a broader battle over trust and medical debt as the race tightens. Marshall's team has tried to frame the lawsuits as a routine business practice, while Hamilton's campaign sees it as a defining issue that could sway voters concerned about healthcare costs. With control of the Senate hanging on razor-thin margins, every vote counts, and Hamilton is betting that this story will resonate with working families.
Political analysts note that medical debt is a potent issue in Kansas, where rural hospitals are struggling and many residents face financial hardship. Hamilton's sharp rebuke is likely to keep the focus on Marshall's record as the election approaches.
