By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

Republican candidate for the Kansas first congressional district Roger Marshall was in Hays earlier last week as part of the Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism commission. During a break in the sessions, Marshall shared with Hays Post how the campaign is going and what he has learned since his official announcement a little over a month ago.

Marshall is from Great Bend and works as a practicing physician there. He announced his candidacy in a tour of the state stopping at locations across the district.

Watch Marshall’s candidacy announcement here.

“We finished 22 cities in a weeks time, traveled 2,000 miles, great reception where ever we went to,” Marshall said, adding feedback during those announcements was invaluable and people are now seeking him to speak at their venue.

While the campaign is just firing up, Marshall has already promised to do things differently than two-term incumbent Tim Huelskamp.

“What I’ve learned in my life, whether I’m leading a church, or leading a Rotary club, which are volunteers, or leading a cooperation, is that if I genuinely listen to and respect other peoples views and use their ideas to find a better solution for everybody, that we get much better buy-in,” Marshall said.

For Marshall creating working relationships is vital to making government work and that message stands in stark contrast to Rep. Huelskamp’s hard-line negotiating. Marshall said what he is good at and what he would bring to the office, if elected, would serve western Kansas well.

If elected, Marshall has a simple plan for working with other lawmakers.

“(We need to) identify the problem clearly, leave the things that we disagree on out of the way, let’s figure out what the goal is for this country, and for this state, and let’s move in that direction and leave some of our personal differences aside,” he said.

Even with his message of working together, his campaign message is in line with mainstream Republican views that permeate western Kansas. He said one of the areas of policy he hears about regularly, is government overreach.

“Whether you’re in farming or banking or insurance, no matter what business you’re in, there’s just a big concern about government overreach,” he said.

More information about Marshall can be found at his campaign website.