Marshall sends cease-and-desist to Hamilton over “defamatory” medical debt ad

Lawyers for Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) sent a cease-and-desist letter to his Democratic opponent Adam Hamilton for an ad focusing on a woman who was sued over medical debts to the Kansas Republican.

The ad centers on Meischa Zimmerman who said she was arrested after failing to make a monthly payment of $50 towards her medical debt to Marshall, who was a practicing OB-GYN until 2016 when he was elected to Congress.

“Roger Marshall preyed on the low-income families of Kansas,” Zimmerman said.

The letter – obtained by the Kansas Reflector – stated that the ad was “falsely accusing a physician of having a pregnant patient arrested over a $50 bill” and “strikes directly at Senator Marshall’s professional integrity as a physician and his fitness for public office.”

The ad has already received more than 1 million views on social platform X ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Zimmerman is one of over 700 patients Marshall’s lawyers reportedly sued before he became a Senator, according to The New York Times . The lawsuits resulted in 81 being arrested over outstanding medical debts and found many, like Zimmerman, had high interest rates on their accounts, resulting in their medical debt ballooning.

“Those are common, common business practices, we would go a year before we would send someone over,” Marshall said about the report during a debate at the Kansas State Fair , calling the report a “hit job.”

The report comes as Marshall appears to break from President Trump on some issues, despite the president reaffirming his endorsement last week.

Marshall walked back his opinion on Trump’s $5,000 dividends which were promised to voters if Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate. He also encouraged Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to work closer with local law enforcement after it swept the local agricultural and meatpacking workforce.

The move to distance hismelf from the president by Marshall comes as Trump’s approval rating in the Sunflower State slips to around 40 percent, according to a September Emerson College and Nexstar poll. The survey also reported Hamilton polling slightly ahead of Marshall at 45 percent to 43 percent.

Kansas is generally a red state and, although it has sometimes elected moderate Democratic governors, it has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932.