First Democrat in 94 Years: Pastor Hamilton Beats Trump Loyalist Marshall in Kansas Senate Race

Kansans are sending Democrat Adam Hamilton to the US Senate — the first time the state has sent a Democrat to the chamber since 1932. Hamilton defeated incumbent Senator Roger Marshall, a fierce loyalist to President Donald Trump, according to a race call by the Associated Press.

Hamilton, the pastor of the largest United Methodist church in the country, preached a moderate approach during the campaign and emphasized listening to both sides. He ran as an 'independent-minded Democrat.'

Kansas is not a Republican stronghold at all levels. President Trump has won the state by a double-digit margin in every presidential election since 2016, yet in that same period Kansans elected a moderate Democrat to the governor's office and then reelected her.

Previous Kansas Senate races have been sleepier. Marshall coasted to Washington with a more than 11-percentage-point margin of victory in 2020, despite some predictions of a more competitive race. This year's contest looked very different.

This year's race ended up being the most expensive in Kansas history, with Hamilton breaking multiple fundraising records along the way.

Hamilton flirted with running as an independent, but supporters worried that doing so would split the vote with the Democratic candidate and ultimately send Marshall back to Washington. He decided to run as a Democrat instead.

Andi Welch, from Johnson County, Kansas, does not always vote for the Democrat on the ballot, but she voted for 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.'

Hamilton's call for term limits, his critiques of national Democrats and his endorsements from prominent Kansas Republicans all resonated with voters in the state.

But the race also delved into personal attacks. The New York Times reported that Marshall, who worked as an OB-GYN before being elected to the US 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, and five days before Election Day that patient sued Marshall for allegedly charging a predatory interest rate.

Marshall's campaign, for its part, bet heavily on an attack ad surrounding claims that Hamilton 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 show the church's initial investigation into the boys' report was inconclusive, and Hamilton later said in a debate that he was not involved in the decision to allow the volunteer to return. Church leaders called the authorities after the second report, but Hamilton said they should have called police after the first.

National Republicans also turned their focus to the state, betting that the remaining undecided voters — about 8% of the electorate in September, according to an Emerson College poll — were Trump voters who just needed encouragement to turn out. The president and the vice president each visited the state twice this election season. Still, polls trended in Hamilton's favor.

Hamilton notably avoided association with national Democrats, in line with his 'independent-minded' Democrat stance. Though his campaign took $5 million from a political action committee associated with US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, keeping his distance from the national party leadership remained central to his strategy.