Senator Roger Marshall Accused of Using Public Resources for Campaign
Investigation suggests potential misuse of congressional staff and government funds during 2020 Senate run.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Senator Roger Marshall Accused of Using Public Resources for Campaign
Photograph: Joe.My.God. (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Records from Senator Roger Marshall's first U.S. Senate run suggest he and his top aide may have used congressional staff and government resources for campaigning, according to experts.
- A joint investigation by MS NOW and Kansas Reflector used audio, video, photos, text messages, and calendar items from 2020 to support these allegations.
- Experts cited by MS NOW stated that no one working for Marshall's campaign had received a paycheck in the past five years, a situation described as potentially unprecedented.
- A staffer for Marshall's opponent has been questioning Marshall's staff about whether they are receiving paychecks.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 7 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 2 of the 9 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
40/100
Craft
50/100
Hype
45/100
9 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
None of the 7 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
An investigation into U.S. Senator Roger Marshall's first Senate campaign in 2020 alleges that the senator and his chief of staff repeatedly used congressional staff and government resources for campaign purposes. The findings are based on a joint investigation by MS NOW and Kansas Reflector, which reviewed audio, video, photos, text messages, and calendar items from that period. Experts consulted by the outlets stated that these materials suggest the line between official business and campaigning was crossed.
According to Federal Election Commission records filed in July, as reported by MS NOW, no one working for Marshall's campaign had received a paycheck in the past five years. Campaign finance experts cited by MS NOW described this situation as potentially unprecedented in modern politics. Meanwhile, a staffer for Marshall's opponent has reportedly been asking Marshall's staff if they are receiving paychecks.
Disagreement on the nature of the findings
While MS NOW and Kansas Reflector's investigation, as reported by multiple outlets, suggests the materials "appear to show" the senator and his aide using congressional staff and government resources in ways that "experts say likely crossed the line between official business and campaigning," Raw Story quotes experts who state the materials "suggest" the office "blurred the line between official work and his 2020 Senate campaign."
What the coverage left out
None of the left- or centre-rated reports mentioned the specific names of the congressional staff members who may have been involved in campaigning activities, nor did they detail the specific government resources allegedly used beyond general references to staff and government resources.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 4 times, most recently on 10 Oct 2026, 17:45, and will add the sides that appear.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
5 rated outlets
- Left-rated reports led with allegations that Senator Roger Marshall used public funds and congressional staff for his campaign. Joe.My.God. highlighted that MS Now reported Marshall "Used Public Funds For Campaign." Raw Story's headline stated that "'Breathtaking' texts suggest GOP senator tapped tax money to power his campaign: experts." Kansas Reflector and MS NOW, both rated left, focused on the "complicated history of blurring the line between taxpayer dollars and campaign cash," with Kansas Reflector detailing how experts say the actions "likely crossed the line between official business and campaigning."
Centre
2 rated outlets
- Centre-rated reports from Political Wire and KAKE News also focused on the potential misuse of campaign funds and public resources. Political Wire's headline asked, "Who’s Paying for Roger Marshall’s Campaign Staff?" referencing FEC records showing no campaign paychecks in five years. KAKE News, in a collaboration with Kansas Reflector and MS NOW, used the headline "Roger Marshall’s complicated history of blurring the line between taxpayer dollars and campaign cash."
Right
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated right has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Senator Roger Marshall Accused of Using Public Resources for Campaign?
- Of the 7 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 71% are rated left, 29% are rated centre, 0% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 9. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Senator Roger Marshall Accused of Using Public Resources for Campaign left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 7 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Senator Roger Marshall Accused of Using Public Resources for Campaign biased?
- Senator Roger Marshall Accused of Using Public Resources for Campaign is one event reported by 9 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Senator Roger Marshall Accused of Using Public Resources for Campaign?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Senator Roger Marshall Accused of Using Public Resources for Campaign?
- 9 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- What are the main allegations against Senator Roger Marshall?
- An investigation by MS NOW and Kansas Reflector alleges that Senator Roger Marshall and his top aide used congressional staff and government resources for campaigning during his 2020 Senate run. Experts cited in the reports suggest this blurred the line between official duties and campaign activities.
- What evidence was used in the investigation?
- The joint investigation by MS NOW and Kansas Reflector reviewed audio recordings, photos, videos, screenshots of text messages, and calendar items from 2020, the year of Marshall's first Senate run.
- What did campaign finance experts say about Marshall's campaign staff?
- According to MS NOW, experts cited Federal Election Commission records showing that no one working for Marshall's campaign had received a paycheck in the past five years. They described this situation as potentially unprecedented in modern politics.
Read it at the source
9 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
5- MS Now: Marshall Used Public Funds For Campaign (opens Joe.My.God. in a new tab)
Joe.My.God. — is Joe.My.God. biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Sen. Roger Marshall's history of blurring the line between taxpayer dollars and campaign cash (opens kcur.org in a new tab)
kcur.org — is kcur.org biased? Our profile of this outletOpinion
- ‘Breathtaking’ texts suggest GOP senator tapped tax money to power his campaign: experts (opens Raw Story in a new tab)
- Roger Marshall’s complicated history of blurring the line between taxpayer dollars and campaign cash (opens Kansas Reflector in a new tab)
Kansas Reflector — is Kansas Reflector biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Roger Marshall’s complicated history of blurring the line between taxpayer dollars and campaign cash (opens MS NOW in a new tab)
MS NOW — is MS NOW biased? Our profile of this outletOpinion
Centre
2- Who’s Paying for Roger Marshall’s Campaign Staff? (opens Political Wire in a new tab)
Political Wire — is Political Wire biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Roger Marshall’s complicated history of blurring the line between taxpayer dollars and campaign cash (opens KAKE News in a new tab)
KAKE News — is KAKE News biased? Our profile of this outletOpinion
Right
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Not rated
2- Taxpayer dollars and campaign cash repeatedly blur for Roger Marshall (opens Kansas City Pitch in a new tab)
Kansas City Pitch — is Kansas City Pitch biased? Our profile of this outletOpinion
- Roger Marshall’s complicated history of blurring the line between taxpayer dollars and campaign cash (opens BizToc in a new tab)
BizToc — is BizToc biased? Our profile of this outletOpinion
How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
