Adam Hamilton flips Senate seat blue in Kansas

Adam Hamilton, a Democrat and pastor , is projected to win the Senate race in Kansas, according to Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ), all but ensuring a Senate majority for his party.

Hamilton will unseat incumbent Sen. Roger Marshall (R) and flip a seat that was once expected to be safe for the GOP. He will be the first Democratic senator from the Sunflower State since 1939.

DDHQ projected that Hamilton beat Marshall by almost 9 percentage points with 87 percent of votes cast as of 10:48 p.m. EST.

It’s another massive victory for Democratic Senate candidates in a cycle in which the party has already been projected as winning seats in Texas and South Carolina.

Kansas had seemed like a long shot, but the party had one of its strongest candidates in Hamilton, 62, a Methodist pastor who gathered a surge of fundraising and energy around him after winning the August primary .

Hamilton leaned into his experience as founding pastor of the largest Methodist church in the country. He picked up endorsements from prominent Republicans in the state, including two former governors.

Hamilton also benefitted from missteps by Marshall, who earlier this fall defended the economy as strong.

Marshall also struggled after a New York Times story said he had sued a number of patients over minor medical debts, some of who ended up being arrested.

The incumbent filmed a video defending himself that became public at the beginning of this week. It was a video his own advisers reportedly suggested he not release.

Marshall also suffered from a rough political environment for Republicans as popular opinion continued to sour on President Trump and the war in Iran . And while Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate in a century, several recent governors have been Democrats.

Marshall and national Republicans looked to target Hamilton’s faith as “woke,” running ads that splice quotes from Hamilton’s sermons to suggest he believes white privilege and eating meat are sinful.

But Hamilton was already well known in Kansas from his work as a pastor and author, and he channeled his mild manner and strong speaking skills to appeal to disillusioned Republicans and independents along with Democrats. He also distanced himself from the Democratic establishment, saying he would not support Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) as majority leader if elected and critiquing the Biden administration for its handling of the southern border.

DDHQ rated the seat as a “toss-up” going into Election Day.