Democrat Adam Hamilton, a liberal megachurch pastor, is challenging incumbent Republican Senator Roger Marshall in Kansas, a state that has not elected a Democrat to the US Senate since 1932. Hamilton, 62, believes the political climate could finally end that streak.
In one of his first campaign ads, Hamilton is shown grilling steaks at a barbecue while attacking Marshall for supporting “tariffs and war”. Hamilton argues that issues like tariffs, healthcare, immigration, and the war in Iran are having a negative impact on Kansans, making Marshall vulnerable.
A Historic Challenge
Hamilton won 35% of the vote in the 11-candidate Democratic primary earlier this month. His campaign recently announced he had broken a quarterly fundraising record in the state. Two major election forecasters say the Senate race has grown more competitive since Hamilton won his party's primary, though Marshall is still favored to win.
No Kansas Democrat has won a full term in the US Senate since attorney George McGill in 1932, the longest streak of any state. In 1974, Senator Bob Dole nearly lost his bid for a second term, but Republicans have wiped out their opponents ever since.
National Stakes and Local Dynamics
For national Democratic leaders, a close Senate race in Kansas is enticing. Their path to retaking the Senate involves winning at least three seats in states that Donald Trump carried two years ago, and they've named Alaska, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Iowa as among their best bets.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer told Punchbowl News that if the November elections produce a “blue wave” of Democratic victories, Hamilton may well win. Hamilton responded: “I don’t agree with that. I think there will be a blue wave, but I’m telling you, here in Kansas, we have a real chance to win. I don’t care what else happens across the country.”
Democrats have had better luck at the state level. The governor's mansion has seesawed between the parties since the late 1950s, and the race to replace outgoing Democratic governor Laura Kelly is viewed as a toss-up. After the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, Kansans have twice rejected Republican-backed attempts to curb abortion access.
Candidates and Campaign
Bob Beatty, a longtime state politics watcher who chairs the political science department at Washburn University in Topeka, predicts Hamilton's experience leading a church gives him a unique skill set for “a very competitive race” against Marshall. “What Hamilton has going for him is the communication side. He’s been giving sermons, AKA speeches, to crowds of thousands for years,” he said.
Marshall is an OB/GYN who represented western Kansas in the US House of Representatives, then won election to the Senate in 2020 and embraced Trump's debunked claims of fraud in that year's presidential vote. He has been an ally of Trump in Congress. A spokesperson for the senator did not respond to a request for comment.
Hamilton said he decided to jump into the Senate race ahead of Easter, as he prepared to preach at his Church of the Resurrection outside Kansas City, which boasts around 24,000 congregants. He mulled running as an independent, but ultimately filed as a Democrat, saying he was concerned that he'd split the vote if he wasn't in a party and agreed with its views on “healthcare, education [and] social safety nets”.
Hamilton has criticized Marshall for being “a spokesperson for Washington and Donald Trump instead of representing the people of Kansas”, and accused the senator of spending most of his time in Florida. Marshall has acknowledged owning a property there, but recently told reporters it was destroyed by a hurricane. Earlier this month, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported he'd put the Sarasota property on the market for $1.45m.
The senator recently called his opponent a “megachurch pastor that’s too woke for Kansas”, the Capital-Journal reported. Main Street Fund, a Massachusetts-based Super Pac, spent more than $600,000 this month to air ads in Kansas, making a similar accusation against Hamilton that the Kansas City Star found relied on snippets from his sermons that were taken out of context.
Faith and Politics
Jim Slattery, a Democratic former congressman from the state who supports Hamilton, described him as “a known quantity in the Methodist world in Kansas” and among Christians in the Kansas City area who may win if he gains the support of right-leaning Catholic voters opposed to the war with Iran.
“The reason Hamilton is a compelling candidate is because he can, and he has the ability to, dramatically expand the audience for a Democrat candidate in Kansas,” Slattery said. “It’s the bottom line.”
