President Donald Trump to hold Kansas rally for Senator Roger Marshall

[0:08] nearly 20 years since the sitting president came to wichita it's always an honor to have [0:12] the president of the united states right here in our great state a historic presidential [0:17] visit in the air capital today one for which the anticipation is building welcome back to [0:22] the second half hour of ksn news at noon i'm brianna bias voters have been lining up since [0:27] last night for president donald trump's visit to heartland credit union arena we've had crews out [0:32] there all morning for you and that's where we find ksn's zach martin right now zach i know you've [0:36] been out there all morning talking to people who are ready to rally what are they saying [0:42] yeah brianna you're right we have been out here since about six o'clock this morning when we first [0:46] started doing live shots and there was already a line about a quarter mile long of cars waiting [0:51] to get in well now they have been allowed to park and there's hundreds if not a couple thousand [0:56] people here ready to go see uh the president later tonight but gates won't open here for a couple more [1:02] hours but this is a really big race i mean the senate race coming up here in a couple weeks [1:07] between incumbent senator roger marshall as well as his challenger pastor adam hamilton and there's [1:12] a reason why trump decided to come to kansas was because of how big of a race this was it's a bit of [1:17] a toss-up right now if adam hamilton were to win it would be kind of historic because it's been more [1:23] than 90 years since the last time kansas sent a democratic senator to the senate so this is a it's [1:29] you can already feel kind of the energy building up for this moment and pro or not protesters rather uh [1:35] supporters of president trump are out here and that we talked to quite a few of them and you can kind [1:40] of just sense the excitement they have for this event to kick off here in a couple hours roger [1:46] marshall definitely definitely he can there's always improvement with him but he he he's our guy [1:51] we're going to vote for him personally i see it as an act of desperation that he's here in the state at [1:57] all that he's using funding from other states to show ads here why why does he need to do that you know [2:09] and speaking of those protesters that i mentioned just a moment ago there are several of them here [2:13] as well just to the south across the street from the property here at heartland credit union arena [2:19] president donald trump is now visiting the air capitol today rallying support for the republican party [2:25] that rally is still several hours away but supporters began lining up outside the heartland [2:30] credit union arena on sunday night the early crowd included david reacher of southwest kansas [2:35] he's been to five other rallies and says being among the first in line feels special it's energy packed [2:41] it truly is and not only that it's just so united like i've literally made so many friends just [2:47] tonight just in this line so many new people i met i mean it's awesome and that line has only gotten [2:53] longer as the day has gone on and that's where we find our ksn's zach martin right now zach you [2:58] were out there earlier this morning when the line was much shorter now there's a lot more people [3:02] what are you hearing from voters hey brianna yeah we've been out here pretty much all day long [3:09] at uh heartland credit union arena here in park city and yeah the line has just been getting longer [3:15] i mean conservatively hundreds of trump supporters are out here trying to show their respects for [3:20] the president of the united states now unlike the last time he visited the wichita area which was in [3:26] 2016 he's not campaigning for himself this time around instead he's campaigning he's throwing support [3:32] to incumbent senator roger marshall who's in a heated race with pastor adam hamilton many outlets [3:37] are reporting that this election is a toss-up right now if hamilton were to be elected it'd be the first [3:42] time kansas has sent a democrat to the senate in more than 90 years we had the chance to chat with a couple [3:48] of people waiting in line about their excitement for this evening's event from the state of south [3:53] carolina i've seen them quite a few i saw reagan i saw uh bush i'm trying to remember i'm 77 i want to [4:04] hear the support you know of him behind all of us kansans you know we need it you know farmers [4:12] construction workers uh to where we can lower our taxes and more than anything i really appreciate a [4:21] president that's a godly man and he is all right so we're still a couple hours away from doors even [4:32] opening here at the arena and the event's not supposed to start until around the four o'clock [4:37] hour and president trump himself will not be taking the stage until around 6 p.m but we are providing [4:43] uh team coverage here today at uh heartland heartland credit union uh arena and i do want to go ahead [4:49] and bring in gay since peyton sire now peyton you started the day out of gillies and kind of just what [4:53] what's it been like since you've been trying to make your way here today yeah zach like you said [4:57] we started just over the hill at gillies gambling hall and there was already a pretty large number [5:02] of people lined up out there waiting for the shuttle service to pick them up a few people didn't want [5:06] to wait for the shuttle which should be starting right about now it was supposed to kick off at noon [5:09] they started walking down 77th street just to beat and have to not have to wait for the shuttle [5:13] service it took us about 20 minutes or so just to get in there's about a half mile uh entrance uh road [5:19] here took us about half an hour 20 minutes just to get into the media parking zone uh wpd also just [5:26] releasing a statement letting people know that they should expect significant traffic delays across [5:30] the city and the highways around the city throughout the duration of this visit they say people should [5:35] leave early exercise caution and be patient uh there's also a protest area just on the other side of [5:41] the parking lot here picking up there were a couple of people there when i visited about half an hour ago [5:45] but right now there were only two people we expect that to grow throughout the day obviously we'll be [5:50] covering that and we have a significant team coverage out here so we'll be covering every [5:54] angle of the rally throughout the rest of the day but until then we're going to go ahead and send it [5:58] back to you brianna in the studio all right peyton zach thank you so much we'll check back in you [6:03] we'll check back with you later well the president's visit is seen as a step up on the stump for [6:07] republican candidates in the run-up for the midterm election that includes incumbent senator roger [6:12] marshall he's staring down a close race with democrat adam hamilton marshall's messaging right [6:18] now is focused on his conservative record while hamilton is projecting himself as the voice of [6:23] moderation in a video released this morning hamilton says people on both sides of the aisle can find [6:29] something of value in his campaign you voted for the president you also have a place in my campaign [6:34] and i'm working hard to earn your vote i'm running to be a champion for the people of kansas republicans [6:39] democrats and independents i won't answer to a party and i won't answer to any one person in washington [6:44] i answer to you the last time kansas elected a democrat to the u.s senate was nearly a century ago [6:51] in 1932 drivers should expect significant traffic delays as thousands make their way to [6:56] the heartland arena the sheriff's office is asking people to use gillies as a secondary parking [7:01] lot that includes people who are getting dropped off by a friend an uber or a lift and there will be [7:06] shuttles available from gillies to take people over to that arena the doors for the rally will not open [7:11] until 2 30 this afternoon the rally officially begins at 4 30 and then the president will begin his remarks at 6.