Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall's campaign paid a bakery $1,300 last week after its owner publicly disclosed a $678.75 invoice that had gone unpaid for six years, adding a new controversy to a competitive reelection race already shaped by scrutiny of his medical-debt lawsuits.
Holly Thomas, owner of Holly's Sweet Treats in Hutchinson, said she supplied cookies, brownies and cupcakes for Marshall's August 2020 primary-election watch party. Repeated attempts to collect payment went unanswered, she said, until her social-media complaint attracted widespread attention.
The episode has sharpened criticism of Marshall's record as an obstetrician-gynecologist. A New York Times investigation found that he and his practice sued more than 700 patients over unpaid bills, with patients arrested in 81 cases after missing court appearances.
Marshall acknowledged the bakery payment in a Facebook post and said the campaign could not explain the delay.
"We have absolutely no idea how this happened, but rest assured as soon as it became known to us, we immediately attempted to contact the business in order to apologize, and we have repaid the bill from 2020, double," he wrote.
The $1,300 payment was $57.50 short of twice the original invoice. Thomas subsequently confirmed that she could "finally mark the invoice paid."
Her account describes efforts to recover the money while her young business was navigating the pandemic. Records she shared with USA TODAY showed invoices sent in August and September 2020 and again in February 2021.
Thomas said she also contacted Marshall's regional office in Garden City after failing to reach her campaign contact. "I just never heard back from anybody so, quite honestly, I let it go and moved on," she told USA TODAY.
A recent conversation with a friend prompted her to revisit the experience publicly. Thomas said her complaint concerned honoring financial obligations rather than party affiliation, and she declined to say whether she intended to support Marshall's Democratic challenger, Adam Hamilton.
Hamilton's campaign quickly seized on the contrast with Marshall's debt-collection record. The Times investigation, based on Kansas court records, found lawsuits over debts ranging from thousands of dollars to as little as $101, with some patients' wages or bank accounts garnished.
Roughly half the cases were filed in Marshall's name and the remainder under his practice, Heartland Regional OBGYN. Patient contracts reviewed by the Times specified an annual interest rate of 18%.
Marshall's representatives have disputed suggestions that he mistreated patients. Spokesperson Payton Fuller said he had "spent decades caring for patients regardless of their ability to pay."
"Judges issue warrants when people repeatedly miss court dates, not doctors," Fuller said. Marshall's lawyer, Steven Johnson, said the senator did not make decisions about warrants or garnishments, while acknowledging that Marshall set the interest rate.
The controversy comes as Hamilton, a pastor from Leawood, challenges Marshall in a state that has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932. A New York Times/Siena poll cited by CNN placed both candidates at 45% among likely voters.
Marshall left medical practice after winning a House seat in 2016 and entered the Senate in 2021. Last year, he introduced the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act, a healthcare-transparency proposal that includes restrictions on certain debt-collection actions.
