President Donald Trump held a campaign rally near Wichita on Monday to support Republican Senator Roger Marshall, who faces an unexpectedly strong challenge from Democrat Adam Hamilton, the Guardian, the Washington Examiner and KCUR reported.

It was Trump's first campaign rally in Kansas in eight years, the Guardian reported. No Democrat has won a US Senate seat in Kansas since 1932, the Guardian and KCUR reported, but polls show a very close race, and both sides are drawing outside money, KCUR reported.

"You're sort of tending toward the purple," Trump said to a crowd of about 5,000 supporters, noting that Kansas already has a Democratic governor, Laura Kelly, the Guardian reported. He asked the crowd to "pretend" he was on the ballot, KCUR reported.

Defending Marshall over attack ads about his past medical billing, Trump used the term "shylock," the Washington Examiner, CNN and KCUR reported. "You're not allowed not to do it. You have to, by law, go after those people, and they made it like, oh, he was some kind of a shylock-type guy," Trump said, according to the Washington Examiner and CNN. The remarks appeared to refer to a New York Times report that Marshall and his former practice sued more than 700 patients for unpaid bills, the Washington Examiner and CNN reported.

The term comes from Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice," in which a Jewish character named Shylock is a malicious moneylender, and is often seen as an antisemitic slur, the Washington Examiner reported. Trump used it at an Iowa rally in July 2025 and later said he did not know some viewed it as antisemitic, CNN reported. The Anti-Defamation League condemned that use as "very troubling and irresponsible," CNN reported. Trump said Monday that he probably should not have said it, the Washington Examiner reported.

"We give you secure borders, a strong military and lower taxes. It's that simple," Marshall said at the rally, KCUR reported. Attack ads in the race have targeted Marshall's lawsuits against patients and Hamilton's handling of alleged abuse at a church camp, KCUR reported. Several protesters interrupted the speech, KCUR reported.

What we know: Trump rallied for Marshall in Kansas on Monday and used the term "shylock" while defending him.
What we don't: Whether the rally helps Marshall in a race that polls show is close ahead of the November 3 election.