SALINA, Kan. (KAKE) - The Salina Airport Authority confirmed Thursday that President Donald Trump’s rally in Salina is canceled because of the president’s schedule.
“Due to the Presidents schedule on Saturday, all Salina events are cancelled,” the airport shared with KAKE.
Trump’s visit to Salina would have been an unprecedented second presidential visit to Kansas within the month — the first being on Oct. 19 when Trump headlined a midterm rally in support of Sen. Roger Marshall ahead of the upcoming election. The doors were set to open at 8:30 a.m., with the program to start at 10:30 a.m. — the president speaking in hangar 509 at noon.
The White House and Secret Service told the airport to prepare for 10,000 attendees for Saturday's event. It’s taking place outside in the middle of the airfield between hangar 600 and 509. No commercial flights were expected to be impacted by the visit.
Salina City Manager Jacob Wood said city officials had only been involved in planning meetings during regular business hours and that the cost to the city has been nominal.
"The real cost would have come in the from of overtime on Saturday for additional staffing in the PD and FD that would have been required," Wood said.
Vice President J.D. Vance spoke in Topeka on Monday in a last-minute appeal for voters to suppor Marshall’s reelection campaign — just a week after the president rallied for republicans in Park City.
The visits come as Republicans continue to pour money into Senate races in Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa amid concerns about voter enthusiasm, the Associated Press reports. Trump won Kansas by 16 percentage points against Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024, but now Republican Sen. Marshall faces a tough challenge from Democrat Adam Hamilton.
A spokesperson for Sedgwick County broke down the cost of county resources for Trump's visit to Park City and said the amount has been sent to the Republican National Committee for reimbursement.
The City of Wichita spokesperson said Thursday that the Wichita Police Department assigned 174 employees to support Trump's visit, resulting in 1,214 hours of overtime at a total cost of $112,544.79.
"These resources included the Bomb Squad, SWAT, motorcycle units, Traffic Section, personnel assigned to motorcade route traffic control, and employees held over to maintain coverage for routine 911 calls while other personnel supported the event," the city told KAKE News. "WPD plans to submit a request for reimbursement to the Republican National Committee for the overtime expenses associated with the visit."
Tensions Build
As tensions for the midterm election continue to build, public property records have confirmed Marshall has sold his Florida home just a few weeks ahead of Election Day.
Sarasota County property appraiser records reviewed by KAKE News show that Marshall's home sold for $1.35 million on Oct. 14, the same day that advance voting began in Kansas. Public records show the home was tied to Marshall's trust, which is registered in Great Bend. Those records would also show more than $60,000 of work done on the property since its 2019 purchase.
In an interview with KAKE News earlier this month, Marshall said the claims about him living in Florida "are all lies."
On Monday, the Docking Institute of Public Affairs at Fort Hays State University released its annual Kansas Speaks survey.
The survey found that for Laura Kelly, the two-term Democratic governor who will leave office in January, 46.9% of state residents were satisfied with her performance.
That level and consistency of support makes her an outlier when compared with Republicans such as Marshall, whose approval fell from 34% in 2024 to 26% this year, and Trump, whose approval dropped from 43% last year to 33% in this year’s survey, the Kansas Reflector reports.
The survey also found high levels of distrust in both Congress and national politics — 26% of Republicans saying they are not happy with Marshall and 21% saying they dislike Trump.
While Kansas hasn't elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1932, the governor’s history is more mixed, dating back to George Docking’s 1956 election. Docking, a Democrat, started this back-and-forth for Democrats and Republicans in the governor’s office.
Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s eight years in office are ending, but Kelly showed the math for a Democrat to win statewide office. She won nine counties in 2018 — including Sedgwick and Reno — and eight counties in 2022.
While the nation focuses on the Kansas Senate race, Sen. Cindy Holscher, the Democratic nominee for governor, said in an interview that she hopes to carry that momentum into another election win.
Election Day
Election Day is next Tuesday, and the polls are open for early voting.
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