Pro-MAGA Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) complained about facing a "purity test" from angry Republican voters, including his own parents, who he says were indoctrinated by watching Fox News.
Marshall, a top backer of President Donald Trump, is a Kansas senator who voted to reject the 2020 election results and is seeking re-election this fall.
The senator made the confession about tension in his family during a recent interview on 13th & Park, a podcast produced by Ballard Partners, a pro-Trump lobbying firm with a history of alleged ethical breaches.
"Well, I think the number one I hear is the cost of gas, the cost of groceries," Marshall said, describing what Kansans tell him when he travels the state. "Homes are unaffordable."
"The anger runs deeper than economics," he added. "I've never seen people so mad."
"And if you think about it, the job of the national media — what they try to do is make my parents mad," Marshall told the podcast, blaming right-wing media. "They sit home, and they watch Fox News and Newsmax, and guess what? They're mad at me. They're mad at John Thune. They're mad at Mitch McConnell. They're mad at Donald."
"There's this purity test. I feel this anger," he lamented. "More than ever before... It's so easy to create hate."
Marshall's parents join a growing group of voters who are enraged at the senator.
In March 2025, Marshall walked out of a town hall in Oakley, Kansas — a rural community in a county where Trump won 85% of the vote — after constituents booed him and shouted "You're not done," according to local reporting.
"We don't have time for everyone to stand up. I do got two more commitments today. I appreciate everybody making the drive out and God bless America," Marshall told the crowd before walking out to boos and shouts.
"That is a damn shame," said Chuck Nunn, a local resident who raised concerns about Trump administration cuts to veterans' services, as the crowd applauded.
On his own Senate website, Marshall has declared, "We all want to make America great again."
State election records show he faces a Republican primary on Aug. 4 and a general election on Nov. 3.
