Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall is accusing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of orchestrating a New York Times investigation into his former OB-GYN practice, a report that landed weeks before a tightening midterm race.
Marshall, a physician who spent roughly three decades delivering babies in central Kansas before entering politics, told Fox News Digital the Times story was "totally a hit job by left media, an article paid for by Chuck Schumer." He made the remarks at the Republican National Committee's midterm convention in Dallas, shortly before Vice President JD Vance took the stage to stump for him.
The New York Times report, published September 8, alleged that Marshall and his lawyers filed lawsuits against more than 700 patients over unpaid medical bills during and after his time running Heartland Regional OB-GYN. The paper reported that 81 of those patients were arrested for missing court dates and that the practice charged an 18% annual interest rate on outstanding balances.
Marshall pushed back hard on the premise that he personally drove the legal actions against former patients. He described a standard billing process: patients who failed to pay after nine months to a year were referred to a third-party collection agency, the same agency, he said, that "most every other doctor and hospital in the region" used.
"I would never want anyone to be arrested because of money that they owe myself or the hospital. But we had standard policies. Once they went to collections, I was never asked another, had nothing else to do with the process. These were professional companies that did the collection processes."
He added that his office accepted payments as low as five dollars a month, as long as patients stayed in contact. Only "a very small, small, small fraction" of unpaid bills ever reached the collection stage, he said.
Marshall also cast the story as a distortion of his decades-long service in a medically underserved area. He described himself as the only OB-GYN serving a population of roughly 60,000 people, on call virtually every night for close to 30 years. He said he accepted Medicaid patients, one of the few doctors in the area willing to do so, and wrote off many bills entirely.
"So it's just amazing to me. Here, I'm the only OB-GYN in the middle of 60,000 people on call every night. I didn't get a night off for 30 years darn near. And take so many people we gave pre-care to and there's so many bills that we just wrote off as well. So I just think this is very much a mischaracterization of the whole process."
Marshall went so far as to dismiss the report without reading it, saying he refused to "give The New York Times the honor." He expressed trust in the local judges who oversaw the cases, suggesting the arrests described in the story could not have happened the way the paper portrayed them.
"Our judges wouldn't do what they're describing in that article. There had to be something else going on," he said.
Marshall's Democratic opponent, megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton, is trying to use the report as a centerpiece of his challenge in a state that has long favored Republicans. Hamilton announced his Senate bid on April 30 at Harmon Park in Prairie Village, Kansas, and his campaign wasted no time pressing the issue.
Tyson Brody, a spokesperson for the Hamilton campaign, told Fox News Digital that Marshall bore direct responsibility for the collection practices, and cited Marshall's own lawyer as the source.
"Roger Marshall's own lawyer said Roger Marshall specifically requested an 18% interest rate, 50% higher than the statutory rate in Kansas."
Brody went further, claiming Marshall's attorney confirmed the senator "allowed him to seek warrants, arrests, and garnishments of new and expecting mothers." He cited individual cases: one woman who said she asked for a payment plan but was pressured to pay in full, another who said she was arrested while struggling to keep up with bills, and a woman who claimed Marshall charged her for what she described as his own mistakes.
Brody also alleged that at least one patient was jailed over a debt as small as $115.
"Senator Marshall should explain why he sued a woman who claimed he was charging her for his own mistakes, and why he had patients jailed for as little as $115."
Several questions remain unanswered. The Hamilton campaign's claims about Marshall's lawyer have not been independently confirmed beyond Brody's statement. The identity of that lawyer, the context of the cited remarks, and the outcomes of the 700-plus lawsuits are not addressed in the available reporting. Nor is it clear exactly when the lawsuits were filed, whether entirely before Marshall entered politics in 2016 or continuing afterward. Fox News Digital's report notes the suits occurred "during that time, and even after he was in office" but provides no specific dates.
The political fallout reached a Vance campaign event held on Marshall's behalf. A protester interrupted the vice president's remarks, referencing the Times report. Vance dismissed the disruption and defended Marshall directly.
"Now, this guy, this guy, I'm telling you, ladies and gentlemen, here's what happened is he decided to come in and lie about my very dear friend Doc Marshall, because the reality is that Doc Marshall has stood up for everyday Americans every single day he's been in the United States Senate."
Vance's appearance underscored the importance the Trump administration places on holding the Kansas seat. The vice president has emerged as one of the administration's most active surrogates on the midterm campaign trail, and his willingness to personally vouch for Marshall signals confidence that the incumbent can weather the story.
Marshall, who first won a congressional seat in 2016 and is now seeking a second Senate term, has built a record that extends well beyond his medical career. He has been a vocal presence on oversight issues, including his push for a special counsel investigation into Anthony Fauci over private vaccine communications that contradicted public statements.
Kansas is ruby-red territory, and Marshall remains favored. But the race has tightened enough to draw national attention and national resources, including Vance's personal involvement. Hamilton, who led the largest United Methodist congregation in the country, brings an unusual profile for a Democratic candidate in the state: pastoral authority, institutional credibility, and a fundraising operation that has kept the contest competitive.
The Teamsters' endorsement of Marshall earlier in the cycle gave the incumbent a cross-party credential that few Republican senators can claim. But the Times report, and the Hamilton campaign's aggressive use of it, represents the kind of personal-record attack that can complicate even a strong incumbent's position, particularly when the charges involve patients and courtrooms rather than abstract policy disagreements.
The broader midterm landscape has shifted in several states, and Democrats have poured resources into races they once considered out of reach. Whether Kansas stays firmly in Republican hands may depend on whether voters see the Times report as journalism or as the opposition research Marshall says it is.
Marshall's core claim, that Schumer planted the story, remains unverified. No evidence in the reporting links Schumer to the Times investigation. But the accusation itself tells voters something Marshall wants them to hear: that the report is a product of Washington's political machinery, not an honest accounting of a small-town doctor's billing office.
If the best Democrats can do is dig through decades-old collection records from a rural OB-GYN who delivered babies for a community no other doctor would serve, Kansas voters will know exactly what kind of campaign they are watching.
