By Nia-Malika Henderson | Updated on Oct 08, 2026 at 12:00 PM
Yes, Democrats have a shot in Kansas.
It’s a long shot, but given that the state hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate in 94 years, even having one is a notable and worrisome development for Republicans. It’s also a clear opportunity for the Democratic Party as it decides where to spend money in the closing weeks of this midterm cycle. The national party should spend on Rev. Adam Hamilton, a unique candidate who, win or lose, can help burnish its brand.
In Hamilton, who pastors a Methodist church with about 25,000 members, Democrats have a faith-forward centrist who could flip a Senate seat and also provide a new framework for how the party, which struggles with messaging, talks about policies, people and values.
“There’s a passage in the book of Proverbs that says, speak up for those who can’t speak up for themselves. That’s Proverbs 31,” he said in an interview with The Topeka Capital-Journal when asked about Bible verses that inspire him to public service. “And I think that’s what the idea of justice in the Bible is about, too. It’s about making sure that people who are either poor or powerless have access to fairness.”
This is lifting people up, not lecturing them on trendy leftist beliefs, a much-needed shift for Democrats who have often failed to explain the why behind their values.
Republicans, who are now spending millions in the race, have derided Hamilton as a “woke megachurch CEO,” but he even has a clever comeback for this charge, which has been quite damaging for Democrats over the last few years.
“This idea of being woke. I don’t know what they mean by that, but I do know the idea of being awakened,” he said in a Politico interview . “Like not being in slumber, but awakened to truth, to kindness, to compassion. We’re supposed to do that.”
Where liberals and progressives can often sound condescending, as if they are looking down on backward normies, Hamilton sounds like a compassionate and unifying leader.
It’s no wonder his message is resonating beyond his party.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted the Jayhawker State race from “Lean Republican” to “Toss Up” this week, and a recent New York Times/Siena poll of 605 voters has Hamilton tied at 45% with Republican Senator Roger Marshall, who is seeking a second term. Hamilton has the backing of some 16% of registered Republicans, according to that poll , while Marshall is getting just 3% of Democrats.
President Donald Trump won Kansas by 16 points in 2024, but has a 40% job approval rating and 53% disapproval among Kansas likely voters, according to an Emerson College poll from mid-September. Even more problematic for Marshall is that, according to Emerson, he is getting only 27% of independent voters to Hamilton’s 42%.
Two former Republican governors have endorsed Hamilton, as well as a former Marshall primary challenger .
“Kansas is a Republican state, but not a conservative state necessarily. We’re more libertarian. We have a really strong populist foundation, including a left-wing populist foundation. And those types of tendencies come out in a lot of independent and Republican and even Democratic voters in the state,” said Alexandra Middlewood, a political science professor at Wichita State University. “And these tendencies are coming out because people are so unhappy with the economy and are really being pointed at Roger Marshall.”
Marshall, an obstetrician gynecologist, has also been dogged by a New York Times report showing that he sued more than 700 patients over medical debt, resulting in 81 arrests. The Hamilton campaign has run a devastating ad featuring a woman, Meischa Zimmerman, who says she was arrested — while eight months pregnant — after a missed $50 payment. Marshall’s campaign has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Hamilton campaign over the spot.
“Roger Marshall preyed on the low-income families of Kansas. The health care system is broken, but not for Roger Marshall,” says Zimmerman in the ad. “He’s absolutely profiting from it.”
The latest KFF Health Tracking Poll finds that health care costs are the top affordability issue for voters, tied with concerns over the price of gas, which is why this ad is an effective one.
The Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with Senate Republicans, is dropping at least $8 million in Kansas for ad buys that include a spot tying Hamilton to Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calling him “too extreme for Kansas” and dredging up culture-war issues.
But when farmers are struggling, the greatest hits from the culture war circa 2024 likely don’t work as well. The attacks particularly don’t work as well on someone like Hamilton, whose parishioners include members of all parties and who has a message that provides a balm and contrast to the current caustic political moment.
“I pray every morning that I will be salt and light,” he told The Topeka Capital-Journal . “Jesus said, ‘You are the light of the world and the salt of the earth.’ And that’s important … to try to positively impact the world around me, push back the darkness and bring light.”
Hamilton is certainly bringing something new to his party, and national Democrats should put some money behind his refreshing message as they plot a post-Trump future.
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