Lenexa, Kansas– The pastor of the largest United Methodist church in the United States launched a campaign Thursday for the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in Kansas, upending the race in a typically Republican state where the GOP’s small majority looks less secure than it did a year ago.
The Rev. Adam Hamilton is entering the race as a potential candidate, although it was not immediately clear how many of the other eight lesser-known Democrats who announced they will run in the Aug. 4 primary would withdraw. The winner will face Republican incumbent Roger Marshall, who has closely allied himself with President Donald Trump in his campaign First run for Senate in 2020.
Hamilton, 61, has a national following among mainline Protestants, and has built his Church of the Resurrection over the past 35 years in the Kansas City area to about 22,000 members — giving him a base from which to draw from volunteers and donors.
He considered running as an independent candidate, telling his congregation that he could bridge partisan divides in a highly polarized political climate, but many Democrats believed that an independent nomination would simply split the anti-Marshall vote, making it easier for Marshall to win a second term.
“Every week, it seemed like there was another news story from the past year where I found myself shaking my head and thinking, ‘We have to do better,'” the self-described fifth-generation Kansan told his congregation.
While Democrats and Republicans have swapped the governor’s office in Kansas over the past 60 years, Republicans have not lost a U.S. Senate race in the state since 1932. Democrats gave Marshall a strong challenge in 2020, but he still holds a lead by more than 11 percentage points, even as Democrat Joe Biden ousted Trump and his party won control of both houses of Congress.
In some ways, Hamilton’s nomination will be similar to that of the Democratic nominee in Texas, R-Texas. james Tallarico, A Presbyterian minister in training, he talks often about his faith and how he directs his positions, even though Hamilton is a generation older than him.
The other most famous Democratic candidate in Kansas is state Sen. Patrick Schmidt, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2022.
Hamilton, who lives in the town of Stillwell on the edge of the Kansas City metro, has had no problem at all attracting followers. After graduating from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa and then Southern Methodist University in Dallas, his denomination hired him at age 25 to start a church in suburban Kansas City for nonchurchgoers.
Worshipers initially met in the chapel of a local funeral home and now gather at nine campuses. The main building, located on 76 acres in an upscale suburb, resembles a small college. The Christmas Eve parade – dedicated to missionary work – sometimes reaches its climax 2 million dollars.
“I’ve made a lot of money over the years and I’m not afraid to do that,” Hamilton said on the eve of his announcement.
He has written and published dozens of books, and his video-based lessons are very popular in Sunday school classes at churches across the country. In 2013, he preached at the National Prayer Service.
His entry comes through what it promises to be Difficult midterm An election year for Republicans. Ballot It appears that most Americans believe that US military action against Iran It has gone too far and voters are increasingly concerned about Trump’s failure to address affordability issues.
Home to Hamilton, Johnson County is the most populous in the state, with 643,000 people, more than one in five Kansas residents. After overwhelming Republicans, he has turned increasingly blue, voting against Trump in the last two presidential elections.
The district is a major reason to have a Democratic governor in a state with an overwhelmingly GOP legislature.
How voters view Hamilton’s politics is a key question, because he will need to win over disaffected Republicans as well as unaffiliated voters — the formula that Democrat Laura Kelly will run for governor in 2018 and narrowly win re-election in 2022.
Hamilton’s group consists of a roughly equal mix of Republicans, Democrats and independents, and he describes himself as a “libertarian conservative and a conservative liberal.”
Although Hamilton has never run for public office before, he is far from a clean slate, with decades of speeches and, more recently, audio recordings and Facebook videos.
Follow a Increased federal law enforcement In Minneapolis, for example, Hamilton quote A verse from the Old Testament commanding the Israelites to treat foreigners with love and fairness.
Regarding abortion, the father of two married to his high school sweetheart said during the final leg of a listening tour earlier this month that Vote against A state constitutional amendment that would have paved the way for more stringent abortion restrictions or bans in Kansas.
“I didn’t think our state legislators should be the moral and spiritual guides for all women in the state of Kansas,” he said while crying as he described that while he was counseling rape victims, his mother considered abortion when she became pregnant with him as a teenager. “I feel both of those things at the same time.”
His church too Applicable financial pressures Before the United Methodist Church conference hit down Longstanding anti-LGBTQ policies. “We’ve lost thousands of people over the years because that was our commitment, and so I want to say that I will carry that commitment with me to Washington, D.C.,” he said during his listening tour.
If he wins, Hamilton said, he will still be a pastor but will cut back on his preaching to about 12 to 18 times a year.
“Can you imagine a future,” he asked, “where Republicans, Democrats and independents work together to actually solve problems?”
___ Hannah reported from Topeka, Kansas.