Trump cancels his appearance at weekend rally in Kansas days before midterm vote

President Donald Trump has canceled an appearance at a Kansas rally on Saturday, his only scheduled campaign-trail appearance the weekend before Election Day.The president will instead participate in a series of virtual rallies. It’s unclear whether he will reschedule the Kansas event.Trump was scheduled to appear at Salina Regional Airport to support embattled Republican incumbent Sen. Roger Marshall, who is polling closely in a race for re-election against Democratic candidate and pastor Adam Hamilton. The last time voters in the state elected a Democratic U.S. senator was in 1939.Pieter Miller, executive director of the Salina Airport Authority, said “all Salina events are cancelled” due to the president’s schedule.Protesters repeatedly interrupted the president’s last appearance in the state, which Trump falsely claimed were “paid” to be there. At least 11 people were escorted from the Heartland Credit Union Arena in Park City that night.Donald Trump has canceled a rally in Kansas scheduled for October 31, his only planned weekend rally before Election Day (Reuters)It was at that event where the president invoked the antisemetic slur “shylock” while defending Marshall’s history of suing former patients for failing to pay medical debt when he worked as an OB-GYN.“And they made it like, oh, he was some kind of a shylock-type guy. And if he didn’t make these requests, he would be breaking the law,” Trump said at the Kansas rally earlier this month. “He would have been breaking a very strong criminal law, and he would be subject to criminal arrest and liability. And he didn’t do it. He has a law firm that did it.”Kansas GOP Chair Danedri Herbert told The Kansas City Star that she heard about the president’s plans to scrap the event through the Republican National Committee.“That’s all they told me that it was canceled and we’d get more information,” she said. “They are going to do a series of telerallies but I don’t have any information about those.”Rob Fillion, executive director for the Kansas Republican Party, told Wichita’s CBS affiliate KWCH that “Salina and Kansas are very important to our nation, but there are a lot of other races that are in play.”Trump being able to speak at “multiple locations at the same time is probably more valuable for his time,” Fillion said.Recent polling from CNN/SSRS show Hamilton, left, leading among likely voters at 49 percent to Marshall’s 45 percent (AP)The White House said the president will “continue connecting directly with Americans nationwide through more than 20 telerallies before election day.”“Telerallies give him the opportunity to highlight his accomplishments and expand his reach across the country,” the White House added.Kansas is among several states where Democrats appear to be in striking distance to reclaim a Senate majority and tip the balance of power in Congress, according to polling data.The results of a recent CNN/SSRS poll published Thursday show Hamilton leading among likely voters at 49 percent to Marshall’s 45 percent.Marshall’s favorability rating among likely voters is only 36 percent to Hamilton’s 41 percent.