Hamilton’s moderate message and Kansas-first pitch resonated with voters
Adam Hamilton won Kansas’s U.S. Senate seat in the midterms, becoming the first Democrat elected to the chamber from the state since 1932. Hamilton defeated Republican Sen. Marshall and will represent Kansas in the Senate. The pastor of the largest United Methodist church in the country advocated a moderate approach and emphasized listening to both sides.
The win followed a period of mixed voting in Kansas. President Trump won the state with a double-digit margin in each presidential election since 2016. Kansans also elected a moderate Democrat to the governor’s office and then reelected that governor during the same period, which NPR said showed the state was not a Republican stronghold at all levels.
Hamilton flirted with running as an independent before deciding to run as an “independent-minded Democrat.” Supporters worried an independent candidacy would split the vote with the Democratic candidate and ultimately send Marshall back to Washington.
NPR reported that Hamilton’s calls for term limits, critiques of national Democrats and endorsements from prominent Kansas Republicans resonated with Kansans. His positioning emphasized a Kansas-first approach while he avoided association with national Democrats. His campaign nevertheless took $5 million from a political action committee associated with U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Hamilton said he would not support Schumer for another leadership position.
Andi Welch, a Johnson County, Kansas, voter who said she does not always vote for the Democrat on the ballot, backed Hamilton on Election Day.
“I think he’s going to be fair,” Welch said. “I think he’s running as a Democrat for the reasons he states, and I think he really is going to be looking out for Kansas citizens.”
Previous Kansas Senate races had been less competitive. Marshall coasted to Washington with a more than 11-percentage-point margin of victory in 2020 despite some predictions for a more competitive race. The 2026 contest was the most expensive in Kansas history, and Hamilton broke multiple fundraising records.
The race also included personal attacks. The New York Times reported that Marshall, who worked as an OB-GYN before being voted to the U.S. House in 2016, sued 700 of his former patients for medical debt. Hamilton’s campaign used one of those former patients in an attack ad. Five days before Election Day, that patient sued Marshall for allegedly charging a predatory interest rate.
Marshall’s campaign bet heavily on an attack ad surrounding claims that Hamilton had protected a pedophile. A church camp volunteer reportedly attempted to sexually abuse boys at one of Hamilton’s church camps and returned the following year, when he did so again. Court records showed that the church’s initial investigation into the boys’ report was inconclusive. Hamilton later said in a debate that he was not involved in the decision to allow the volunteer to return. Church leaders called authorities after the second report, but Hamilton said they should have called police after the first.
National Republicans focused on Kansas, betting that the remaining undecided voters were Trump voters who only needed encouragement to get out and vote. An Emerson College poll found that about 8% of the electorate remained undecided in September. President Trump and the vice president each visited the state twice during the election season. Polls nevertheless trended in Hamilton’s favor, with Emerson’s showing a wider margin for Hamilton than before the visits.
In their final debate before Election Day, Marshall sought to tie Hamilton to Schumer 15 times. Hamilton leaned into a Kansas-first approach, a message that appealed to voters.