What We Know About Roger Marshall's Six-Year Bakery Debt

Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas has paid off a $678.75 bakery invoice that went uncollected for six years, settling the debt with a $1,300 payment, according to the Guardian. Marshall posted a screenshot of the payment on social media, writing, "We have absolutely no idea how this happened," and adding that the campaign had "repaid the bill … double."

What was the original invoice for?

The bill traces to a 2020 primary election watch party, when Marshall's campaign ordered cookies and treats from Holly's Sweet Treats, a bakery in Hutchinson, Kansas, the Guardian reported. The watch party preceded Marshall's win of his first six-year Senate term. The invoice totaled $678.75 and went unpaid for roughly a year despite the bakery's attempts to collect, according to the bakery owner's account.

How did the unpaid bill become public?

The debt surfaced after an Oct. 8 social media post from Holly Thomas, the bakery's proprietor, who wrote, "Do you know why I will never vote for Roger Marshall?" Thomas said she made "repeated attempts to collect payment, reaching out by phone and email," and never received a return call, per the Guardian. She described the timing as especially difficult because it came during the Covid-19 pandemic, when, in her words, "small businesses everywhere were struggling just to keep their doors open." "Every single dollar mattered," Thomas wrote, adding that the cookies and treats cost her business money, employee time and resources it "couldn't afford to give away."

What did Marshall ultimately pay?

Marshall's campaign repaid $1,300 against the $678.75 invoice, nearly double the original amount, the Guardian reported, citing the senator's own social media post and an accompanying payment screenshot. Marshall has not offered a public explanation for how the invoice went unpaid for six years beyond saying the campaign had "no idea how this happened."

What is the timeline of the bakery debt?

• 2020: Marshall's campaign orders cookies and treats from Holly's Sweet Treats for an election watch party ahead of his first Senate win.
• 2020–2021: Thomas says she makes repeated phone and email attempts over roughly a year to collect the $678.75 invoice, without success.
• Oct. 8, 2026: Thomas posts publicly about the unpaid bill, framing it as a reason she will not vote for Marshall.
• On or shortly after Oct. 8, 2026: Marshall's campaign pays $1,300 to settle the debt, and Marshall posts a screenshot confirming the payment.
• Oct. 12, 2026: The Guardian reports on the settled debt as Marshall faces re-election.

Key terms in the story

• Invoice: The itemized bill Holly's Sweet Treats sent to Marshall's campaign for the 2020 order, totaling $678.75.
• Watch party: A gathering held by a campaign on election night to monitor results, the event for which the bakery order was placed.
• Campaign debt: Money owed by a political campaign to a vendor for goods or services rendered, which in this case went unpaid for roughly six years before settlement.

Marshall is facing re-election this cycle, according to the Guardian's report, which did not specify additional details about his opponents or the race.

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