Vice President JD Vance speaks during a midterm rally at HME Inc. in Topeka on Monday, Oct. 26.
Nathan Pilling
The Star
With about a week left before the midterm elections, Republican Vice President JD Vance made another visit to Kansas amid a tight race between Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall and Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton.
Marshall is facing a tough reelection campaign in a reliably conservative state, bringing national Republican politicians to come to his aid. Vance’s rally in Topeka came just one week after President Donald Trump campaigned for Republican candidates in Wichita.
The Star is fact-checked some of Vance’s claims during the rally.
Lowered taxes, increased wages
Vance argued that Marshall helped the Trump administration lower taxes and increase wages for Kansans.
“Kansans are seeing their taxes go down and their wages go up.”
Verdict: True, but needs context
Marshall supported the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which made provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions permanent and lowered the federal income tax rate. Meanwhile, national data shows wages are increasing nationally in recent years.
The Associated Press reported that the median household income increased 2.6% in 2025, to $87,460, which is an all-time high. That surpassed the previous high of $85,360 in 2019, according to the Census Bureau.
However, incomes have risen only 2.5% since 2019, compared with a 19% increase between 2013 and 2019. Wages increases also have not translated to optimism among voters, though, and Democratic messaging ahead of the midterms have been focused on affordability.
About 44% of U.S. adults rate the current economic conditions as “poor,” compared to 19% who rated them “good” or “excellent,” according to Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index in July.
Gasoline prices
Vance acknowledged that gasoline prices are high but argued that Democratic politicians are to blame because their handling of foreign relations makes the U.S. more vulnerable to actions by Middle Eastern leaders that affect the market.
“You’ll hear a lot of people say that gas prices are too high, and I understand that,” Vance said. “It is true, but it’s also true that the price of gas goes up each time a foreign leader in the Middle East throws a tantrum.”
Verdict: Needs context.
Gasoline prices in the U.S. have sharply risen this year, primarily because of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. The conflict led to a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, an important Persian Gulf sea-passage for crude oil.
Meanwhile, Marshall has argued that Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries have led to an increased cost for diesel fuel, while Hamilton argues the Iran war is the primary driver of higher prices at the pump.
A BBC analysis found that the war with Iran led to a more significant drop in diesel fuel exports than the Ukraine attacks on Russia.
Hamilton church camp sex abuse
Vance referenced a controversy involving Hamilton and his handling of a sex abuse case at a summer camp affiliated with his church.
Vance criticized Hamilton, arguing he is a pastor “who refuses to call the police on predators targeting children at the summer camps.”
Verdict: False.
In November 2005, church volunteer Scott Preston Moore entered sleeping quarters at night and inappropriately touched two teenage boys. The boys reported the experience to camp counselors, who were dismissive of their complaints according to court records reviewed by The Star.
The court documents do not identify Hamilton as directly involved in the report. The church conducted an internal investigation in 2005, but was “unable to conclusively identify the perpetrator,” according to a court filing.
The church did not report the incident to law enforcement or social services in 2005. Moore returned as a camp counselor the following year and was accused of entering campers’ rooms at night, though the court documents do not indicate he engaged in any sexual abuse in 2006.
After the allegations, church officials notified the Linn County Sheriff’s Office about the 2006 incident and the allegations from the previous year. Linn County prosecutors declined to file criminal charges, but the church barred Moore from working with children, youth and vulnerable adults.
Moore was convicted in 2013 of inappropriately touching a 16-year-old boy. In an interview with CNN, Hamilton said the church should have called the police immediately.
Hamilton ‘repent’ for eating beef
Vance referred to a sermon Hamilton delivered about climate change, saying the pastor told his congregation to “repent” for eating beef.
“This is your Senate seat,” Vance told the crowd. “Do we turn it over to a career leftist who says you must repent for being white and eating meat?”
Verdict: Needs context
Hamilton noted that “cattle end up producing more carbon dioxide” in a 2020 sermon focused largely on climate change. He urged his parishioners to find ways to minimize their carbon footprint.
“You’ve got to do everything you can to reduce your own usage of fossil fuels, and maybe changing your diet so that the things that you eat are requiring less production that creates methane and carbon dioxide and everything else,” Hamilton said during the sermon.
Opponents have seized on the issue to portray Hamilton as anti-beef in selectively edited advertisements. In a campaign video, Hamilton grilled and ate a steak while criticizing Marshall’s record.
Ty Masterson cut taxes on groceries
Vance touted Republican Ty Masterson for governor, noting his efforts to reduce taxes. He specifically credited Masterson for cutting state sales taxes on groceries.
“Ty abolished the sales tax on groceries and the state income tax on Social Security, so our working families and our elderly could afford better lives,” Vance said.
Verdict: Needs context
The state’s grocery tax cut on taxes was a bipartisan effort, spearheaded by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. The bill phased out the state taxes on groceries over two years.
Masterson supported the bill while serving as the president of the Kansas Senate. It was approved in 2022. The state’s portion of sales tax on groceries was fully eliminated on Jan. 1, 2025.
This story was originally published October 26, 2026 at 5:42 PM.
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