Kansas Republican Senator Roger Marshall settled a six-year-old campaign bakery invoice for $1,300 on October 10, 2026, after the Hutchinson bakery owner publicly stated on social media that she never received payment for election watch party treats and would withhold her vote in his tight reelection race.
Bakery Owner Collects 2020 Campaign Debt
Holly Thomas, owner of Holly’s Sweet Treats in Hutchinson, Kansas, publicly detailed the grievance on Facebook on October 8, 2026. The unpaid invoice totaled $678.75, breaking down to $375 for custom sugar cookies, $75 for cupcakes, and $175 for fudge brownies, according to billing records shared by the bakery.
“Because six years ago, when I was a brand-new small business owner, his campaign ordered cookies and treats from my bakery for his primary election watch party. And I never got paid.”
Holly Thomas, owner of Holly’s Sweet Treats, via Facebook
Thomas explained that her establishment supplied custom sugar cookies, cupcakes, and fudge brownies for the senator’s primary watch party when she was a brand-new small business owner. Thomas noted that she made repeated attempts to collect the balance by phone and email over the course of nearly a year, receiving neither a return call nor payment.
She emphasized that the issue was not tied to partisan politics or general policy disagreements, but rather centered entirely on honoring basic financial commitments to small business owners. She noted that she reached out several times without ever hearing back from the campaign, and that reminder stayed with her across the years.
Marshall Issues Double Repayment for Overdue Bill
To settle the account, Marshall paid $1,300, including a substantial markup to account for the six-year delay. Thomas confirmed hours later that she could finally mark the invoice as paid, bringing closure to the long-standing financial oversight.
“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.”
Sen. Roger Marshall, via X
After the baker’s post gained traction online, Senator Marshall addressed the matter on social media platform X on October 10, 2026. The conservative lawmaker asserted that his campaign had no knowledge of the oversight, pledging immediate restitution once the ledger discrepancy came to light.
Competitive Polling Threatens Republican Senate Seat
RealClearPolitics tracks multiple polls in the contest, where numbers show the candidates closely matched. The social media disclosure lands during a difficult stretch of the campaign calendar for the incumbent Republican.
In seven primary and general elections for Congress, Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall has never won by less than 11 percentage points, having previously run in safely Republican areas with high victory margins. However, facing the fight of his political life, Marshall is showing the limits of a campaigner who has rarely had to answer sustained, difficult questions.
Strong voter disapproval of President Donald Trump and widespread economic anxiety have also raised the possibility that Kansas could send a Democrat to the Senate for the first time in nearly a century, given that the party has not won a Senate seat in the state for more than 90 years.
An investigation by The New York Times revealed that the senator and his medical office filed lawsuits against more than 700 former patients over unpaid medical bills, with at least 81 individuals arrested after missing court dates. The bakery incident follows damaging headlines from September 2026 regarding Marshall’s past medical practice.