Kansas Reflector staff recap rowdy state fair debates
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Well, that was extraordinary, even by standards of past gubernatorial and US Senate debates at the Kansas State Fair in Hutcheson. On Saturday, partisans in the open air facility were eager to express themselves as two candidates for governor, Republican Senate President Ty Masterson and Democratic State Senator Cindy Holster, went toe-to-toe for ninety minutes. After a lunch break, two U.S. Senate nominees, Democrat Adam Hamilton, a preacher, and And Republican Roger Marshall, a physician, slugged it out for 90 minutes as well.
What made the Kansas State Fair debates feel like a rock‑concert rather than a typical political forum?
These debates, a celebration of First Amendment rights of speech and assembly, were tough on the participants. It's not easy to articulate a vision of government with a crowd bringing vocal attitude to their dissent and advocacy. In the hot seats today on the Kansas Reflector podcast are two journalists who covered these political festivities: Kansas Reflector editor Sherman Smith. And Kansas Reflector Reporter Anna Kaminsky. Uh welcome to you both. Thanks for joining me. Thanks. Um so I think what we I want to do is have you both uh kick this off by giving us a glimpse of the debates hosted by WIBW five eighty radio. Uh like give us a sense of what you heard, what you saw, and what you felt there. Uh Anna, do you wanna go first?
Sure. This was my first time ever at the Kansas State Fair. So my first time at one of these debates. And to me it was more akin to like a a rock concert than a political debate. Um there was like jostling like the crowd was packed at both debates. They were jostling, they were cheering, they were jeering. Um it's a very, very like they're just as much a participant in the debate as the candidates are. It was really fascinating. to see it unfold. At times it was a little jarring. If you've never been to one of these before, it is I I I think there were points where I was taken aback because I'm used to these these very quiet, poised political debates where You you jockey questions back and forth. And sometimes it gets a little heated on stage, but the real action is happening behind the cameras, behind the the question askers, um, where the crowd is engaged in in the questions that are being asked and the answers that come after it.
Yeah, Sherman, what's your take? Yeah, you know, as a political reporter, this is the most fun that we get to have, watching the the crowd interact. You know, the crowd becomes the performer rather than the people on the stage. And you know, you you got people waving signs around, people are dressed in costume, they've got props, they have choreographed chants. You know, I think uh for me, this is the fourth time that I've been to one of these um at the state fair going back to twenty fourteen. Uh I I will say, you know, we've always had the this sort of rowdy experience at the state fair debates. Uh in the past it's always felt more fun. And I think this year there was just sort of a a a a bitterness to it or perhaps just raw anger we saw in the crowd.
People were really angry during these debates.
Mm-hmm. All right, Anna, I think uh you covered the U.S. uh Senate debate between uh Hamilton and Marshall. So one of the questions was asked about a New York Times article that says uh s now Senator Marshall filed lawsuits against seven hundred of his former patients and which prompted the arrest of about eighty of them due to unpaid bills. Uh the senator said during the debate this was common business practice and that didn't set well. with uh some of the folks in the crowd and uh they began chanting. Do you wanna recap that?
Yeah, they began chanting repeatedly, Shame on you.
Those are common common practices. We would go a year before I ever stay up and younger. Shame on you. Shame on you. Shame on you. Shame on you.
That's important to note. So this was the first time that Marshall and Hamilton appeared on stage together. This was their first debate, their first time interacting in this public sphere. Um, and and Marshall had a lot to answer for, I think, because of that. Um, he's got a lot more history.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:15–0:46
2
What made the Kansas State Fair debates feel like a rock‑concert rather than a typical political forum?
0:46–5:28
3
How did the crowd’s energy and chants influence the Senate and gubernatorial debates?
5:28–15:54
4
What controversy surrounded Roger Marshall’s medical‑billing lawsuits and how did candidates react?
15:54–30:32
Speakers
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