Longtime Republican political consultant Mike Murphy believes his party has boxed itself in with some of the candidates it has elected, and he says Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) is a prime example.

In a post on X, Murphy — a veteran of multiple Republican presidential campaigns — pointed to what he called a disastrous weekend debate between Marshall and Democratic opponent Rev. Adam Hamilton at the Kansas State Fair, where the senator was booed and confronted with accusations that he does not actually live in the state. Marshall, first elected to the Senate in 2020, is running for a second term in November.

Marshall's residency came under scrutiny in 2024, when The Kansas City Star reported that he had spent taxpayer dollars on "official trips" near his $1.2 million home in Sarasota, Florida. His Kansas residence, by contrast, is a 1,120-square-foot cabin in western Kansas. The Constitution requires senators to be inhabitants of the states they represent when elected, but the residency charge has followed Marshall from the 2024 reporting to the fairgrounds.

"At 1,949 square feet, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house is valued at $1.2 million, more than eight times the appraised value of the cabin and surrounding land near St. John in Stafford County," the Star wrote, describing the Florida property as a "much larger and more expensive house that includes a boat dock on a bayou and is only a short walk away from Sarasota Bay."

The newspaper questioned whether Marshall's use of taxpayer money to travel to his Florida home was legal, noting that "it is illegal to use taxpayer money to pay for personal travel." Marshall's office said each of the Florida trips was for official purposes.

"Marshall is living a nightmare. Thought he had a nice, safe seat. Now this. Reminds me of the look I saw on (the far more able) Sen. Rudy Boschwitz's face in a MN state GOP meeting after the tracking poll numbers came back showing a massive popular surge for Paul Wellstone…" Murphy wrote.

Wellstone went on to defeat Boschwitz in a major upset in the 1990 election, 36 years ago.

At the debate, crowds chanted "shame on you" and "you don't live here!" The first chant echoed a New York Times report that Marshall, while working as a physician, sued more than 700 patients, leading to 81 of them being arrested over "outstanding medical debts."

Marshall is also colliding with President Donald Trump's trade war with Canada. Canadian jet maker Bombardier operates a manufacturing facility in Wichita, a city whose economy has long been anchored by aviation and known as the "Air Capital of the World," and Trump intends to target the company and the 1,500 jobs it provides for Kansans. Marshall said he would fight for the jobs, but critics told him he must "own it."