Kansas Democratic Senate nominee says ‘please, no’ to Harris campaigning for him

Kansas Democratic Senate nominee Adam Hamilton said “please, no” on Thursday to the possibility of former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigning with him ahead of the 2026 midterm elections .

Appearing on Politico’s “ The Conversation ,” Hamilton discussed which national Democrats he would be willing to campaign with.

“It wasn’t like I was a huge champion for Kamala Harris,” he said. “People ask me, should she come here and campaign for you? Please, no. Don’t come here to campaign for me.”

“Harris can stay in California. Yeah, and I mean no disrespect for her. I just think she is not somebody who would win votes here in Kansas,” Hamilton added.

While he has campaigned with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Hamilton similarly declined the opportunity to campaign with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

He then recounted Schumer asking him what would be the biggest challenge in the Kansas Senate race.

“I said, ‘You, you know, you are,’” he continued. “I am only saying in Kansas, you’re a liability. You’re not a, you’re not a help.”

Harris has campaigned with other Democratic candidates in battleground states, including Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.

“Remember, the Senate seat is six years. So let’s think about that in the lives of all the people that the leaders here serve,” Harris said alongside El-Sayed at a discussion on Black maternal healthcare.

Her involvement in Democratic campaigns in traditionally red states has divided the party , with former Rep. Mary Peltola’s (D-Alaska) Senate campaign distancing itself from the former vice president.

“The VP did very well in some places and didn’t do great in others, and if you’re in a state where she didn’t perform well, it may not help you to have her campaign with you this fall,” Democratic strategist and former Harris aide Jamal Simmons told The Hill in August.

President Trump won Kansas in 2024 by nearly 16 points over Harris, but his approval rating in the Sunflower State has slipped to around 40 percent, according to a September Emerson College and Nexstar poll .

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) is the favorite to win his race against Hamilton, but the generally bad political atmosphere for Republicans could open a window for the Democrat.

The Emerson poll also found Hamilton slightly ahead of Marshall at 45 percent support to the Republican’s 43 percent.

Kansas is generally a red state, and, although it has sometimes elected moderate Democratic governors, it has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932.