Rachel Maddow opened her October 12, 2026, MS NOW show by wishing a “Happy No Kings Week” to all who celebrate before promoting the upcoming No Kings protest. Then she took viewers to Hutchinson, Kansas, for a lengthy tour of the elaborate cakes and cookies at Holly’s Sweet Treats.
“Amazing, totally. I mean I can’t even make toast,” she said.
Toast may be beyond her abilities, but turning a local cookie bill into a national political story apparently isn’t.
Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall’s 2020 campaign ordered about $679 in treats from the bakery for his primary watch party. The baker said she spent nearly a year trying to collect payment before letting it go.
On October 8, 2026—roughly six years after the order and weeks before Election Day—she posted about the unpaid bill on Facebook. Within a day or two of the post going viral, Marshall’s side paid $1,300. The baker confirmed she received the money and said she still wasn’t voting for him.
“We have absolutely no idea how this happened,” Marshall said, adding that his campaign immediately tried to contact the bakery to apologize once it learned of the unpaid bill.
Of all the news in the country, why lead with this?
For the same reason she wishes everyone a “Happy No Kings Week”… Because helping Democrats beat Republicans is Maddow’s idea of delivering the news.
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