How Adam Hamilton plans on winning Kansas' Senate race

The most surprising battleground race is shaping up in ruby red Kansas, which hasn't elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932.

But Rev. Adam Hamilton, the pastor of the largest United Methodist congregation in the country, could buck that trend.

He's challenging incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall – and the two candidates are neck-and-neck in recent polling.

"I think Kansas has a chance to send a message to America to say, look, we got to come together, we got to work together," Hamilton said in an interview with ABC News' Jon Karl that aired Sunday. "I'll only get elected with Republicans voting for me."

President Donald Trump handily won the Sunflower State by 16 points in 2024, but a recent New York Times/Siena poll found 55% of likely voters disapprove of his job as president.

Hamilton, who brands himself an "independent-minded" Democrat, said he's both a liberal and a conservative.

"I'm proud to be a Democrat, but what matters to me more than the letter behind your name is who you are, what you stand for, your character, and I think there's a lot of people like that in our state," Hamilton told Karl.

After the ABC News interview aired, Marshall responded on social media, calling Hamilton "the ultimate snake oil salesman" and claiming the pastor, despite his messaging as being a moderate, has been "a proud donor to Obama, Biden, and Kamala Harris."

The megachurch pastor has been affiliated with both parties in the past and was a registered Democrat during the Obama administration. He was appointed by President Obama to serve on the President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Throughout the Senate campaign, Marshall has called Hamilton "too woke."

But on issues like transgender rights, Hamilton said he believes there are two genders and that men should not be competing in women's sports, even though "people might identify in different ways."

"The president has taken a group of people that represent a very tiny minority of people who are bullied and picked on and harassed, and he's tried to make them a campaign issue," Hamilton said. "He's trying to use them in order to somehow make the case that people should be afraid of trans people as well as Democrats, and I think that again is pathetic."

While Marshall links him to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Hamilton has expressed a willingness to push back against top Democratic leadership if elected.

"I get asked, 'If Chuck Schumer tells you to do something, what are you going to do?' And my answer is, 'If it's good for Kansas, I'm all in. But if it's bad for Kansas, I'm a hard no,'" Hamilton said.

Money, money, money

Bob Beatty, the political science chair and professor at the University of Washburn, attributed the pastor's strong communication and fundraising skills to his experience leading the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood. He said Hamilton "is like a gift from the political gods to the Democrats."

But as the polls tighten, outside spending is now pouring in. The top Senate Republican and Democrat-aligned super PACS are spending millions to boost their preferred candidates.

"I can't remember a race here in Kansas that's become so ... dirty ... so ugly," said Philip Perry, a 66-year-old rancher and three-time Trump voter based in the northeastern city of Oskaloosa.

Perry, a former president of the Kansas Livestock Association, said he's been "disappointed" by the current administration. The group withheld an endorsement in the Senate race this year.

"To hear from Washington that they're going to do something to lower the price of our product, that really kind of hits home, especially when we supported this administration so much," he said.

Perry said he has shaken hands with Hamilton in church and praised him for doing "a tremendous job of bringing people together in that Kansas City metro area."

But he said that Marshall has done "a good enough job" and will vote for the incumbent.

In the home stretch, the biggest challenge for Republicans is winning the battle for the narrative, according to Rob Fillion, the executive director for the state's GOP party.

"One of the biggest problems we're seeing is somewhat confusion," Fillion said. "Almost every ad is a negative ad, and so I think both the Republican Party and the Democrat Party are guilty of this. They have voters not knowing what and who they're voting for."

He told ABC News he expects the race will be tighter than in the past given it's a midterm year. Marshall will likely prevail, he added.

The senator has held few public events since a town hall meeting in March 2025, when he walked away from voters angry about federal job cuts. Marshall appeared at stops as part of the Kansas GOP's statewide bus tour this week.

In September, Vice President JD Vance held a rally in Kansas, what Hamilton considered "a great compliment that the second most powerful man in America came here to try to save Roger Marshall."

The Iran war has driven up the price of gas, diesel fuel and fertilizer, hurting farmers already grappling with uncertainty over the president's tariff policies.

It's affecting voters like Steve Bowlin, a 70-year-old third-generation farmer based in Olathe who sits on the board of the Johnson County Farm Bureau.

Bowlin, who grows produce, said he worries whether his decades-old family farm will survive. "People don't understand what it takes to put food on the table," Bowlin said.

He told ABC News he does not believe that Washington is hearing his concerns. And the president's endorsement of Sen. Roger Marshall is not a factor when it comes to his vote this fall.

"I don't care who he endorses," Bowlin said. "I want somebody that is talking for the American farmer."

Marshall says Republicans are 'coming home'

In a state that has voted for both Republicans and Democrats to the governorship, Hamilton is seeking to build a large coalition.

Two former Republican governors -- Bill Graves and Mike Hayden -- are backing Hamilton. So is Marshall's former GOP primary opponent, Arch Naramore.

Former GOP Gov. Sam Brownback has endorsed Marshall.

On Friday, Marshall toured a radar manufacturing plant with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. He brushed off concerns about Republican support for his opponent.

"I think it’s a very finite amount of people," Marshall told ABC News. "What I see across the state is Republicans coming home."

That could be the case, but some Republicans like Bruce Bratman, who voted for Trump three times, told ABC News he is knocking doors for Hamilton.

At a packed theater in Hutchinson, in a county Trump carried by about 34 percentage points in the last presidential election, some Republican and independents turned out for Hamilton.

"I think it'd be crazy not to elect him," said Laura Shea, an unaffiliated voter. "I think we'd be crazy if we elected the representative we have now, who I don't feel, and a lot of people don't feel, is representing us. We don't see him from the things he does or doesn't do."

Ed Berger, a former Republican state senator who represented Hutchinson, also pledged support for Hamilton.

"Our current senator is not representing Kansas. He's not standing up to policies that hurt Kansans everyday," Berger told ABC News. "The senator should represent his constituency and have the courage to stand up to the executive branch."

Joshua Farr, a self-described constitutional conservative, went to the Hutchinson event to learn more about the candidate.

"I might vote for Hamilton this time. It's just, I don't really like Democrats. Democrats tend to be more liberal and I'm not that liberal," Farr said.

At a campaign event held at a college chapel in Lindsborg, Hamilton led the crowd in a hymn and did not mention his opponent by name.

"Most of us around here are not actually enemies. If we're liberals or conservatives, we just see the world differently," Hamilton said.