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WICHITA, Kan. â Voters at President Donald Trumpâs Kansas rally said the cost of living remains a major concern, but many feared Democratic control of Congress even more.
This midterm election cycle features six Republican-controlled Senate seats that are considered toss-ups, including Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshallâs contest against Democrat Adam Hamilton. That race has become an unexpected challenge for Republicans in their quest to keep control of the Senate.
And voters who lined up to get a chance to see Trump in Wichita told Fox News Digital that they recognized the stakes, particularly the effect Democrats flipping both chambers of Congress could have on the presidentâs agenda.
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"Trump doesnât get the support that he needs to protect America, and that our country will turn into Paris, France," Kathy Bond told Fox News Digital of the riots roiling through the French capital. "That's my biggest concern."
The race between Marshall and Hamilton, who led the Church of the Resurrection which now boasts a congregation of nearly 23,000, according to the church's website, before jumping into politics. The Cook Political Report recently shifted the race to a toss-up, sending Republicans scrambling to dump more money into the state.
Trumpâs rally in Kansas, the first time a sitting president has visited the Wichita area since former President George W. Bush in 2007, is part of his and Republicans' broader strategy to motivate Republican voters during a midterm election cycle in which he is not on the ballot.
National Republicans argue that without the loyal MAGA voting bloc, they wonât stand a chance as they face turbulent political headwinds.
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Though voters are unhappy with the economy, the ones waiting in the long, snaking lines to get their seat inside the Heartland Credit Union Arena argued that Democratic control would be worse.
"We've got to vote Republican down the ballot this year. It's a significant point in the Trump administration," Emily told Fox News Digital. "And it's just we've got to keep the Republican majority. There's too much at stake."
Marshall, who is running for a second term in the upper chamber, recognized that the race was neck and neck and told Fox News Digital in an interview before the rally that "it's the price of gas" that has tightened the race.
"I do feel people's pain," Marshall said. "Every year I go to all 105 counties, finish up the 105 counties in June, and as that price of gas went up, I felt more and more frustration. So maybe we're up 12 points before the Iran War, and as the price went up our poll numbers went down, so I think it's the price of gas."
"But I think people are beginning to realize the rest of the story, that if we were to lose this seat and let Democrats control the Senate, they would go back to their policies that drove gas prices up higher," he continued. "Even today, the price of gas is less on average under President Trump than it was under Joe Biden."
Some at the rally felt that Marshall should have to answer for his votes in the Senate but believed that his experience as a lawmaker overrode the uncertainty that the political newcomer Hamilton could bring should he win on Nov. 3.
"I mean, you know, Marshall's been in it for a while now, so he's gonna have a lot of people that he has to answer a lot of questions to because he's the one been doing the job this whole time," Jenny told Fox News Digital.
"But for me, somebody like Hamilton that hasn't been in, you know, this game and doesn't really know exactly what all this entails," she continued. "I'm sure his intentions are good, but I just don't think that he has the background to do what's necessary for our state."
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