Roger Marshall

Kansas City megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton has entered the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate.

Hamilton, who leads the largest United Methodist congregation in the U.S., is running as a centrist Democrat.

A political expert believes Hamilton has significant fundraising potential in a crowded Democratic field.

Democrats have not won a U.S. Senate race in Kansas since 1932, the longest losing streak in the nation.

The pastor of a Kansas City megachurch has joined the crowded Democratic primary race to challenge Republican incumbent Roger Marshall for his seat in the U.S. Senate.

"Over the last year, I've found myself on a weekly basis feeling both a sense of frustration with what's happening in Washington, but also a deep sense of call," Adam Hamilton told The Capital-Journal. "The things I've been preaching for 36 years — to go out and be light and salt in the world, to do justice, to love kindness, to love your neighbors, to love yourself — I feel like those are values that are really important to most humans but I don't see them in our policies in Washington.

"So that was sort of welling up inside. Every sermon I would preach, I felt like it was to me saying: 'You got to do more. There's something more you can do.'"

Hamilton officially announced his campaign as an "independent-leaning," "centrist," "moderate" Democrat on April 30, about two months after he told his congregation he was considering running as an independent. During that time, he went on an 18-stop listening tour around the state.

In an interview, Hamilton said he wanted to run as an independent "because I'd love to be able to build bridges between Democrats and Republicans," but American politics is "stuck in a binary system" and attendees at his listening sessions told him to run as a Democrat. But, he said, "My aim is going to be the same."

He said the ongoing partial government shutdown and the failure to pass a farm bill "are indicative of the problems in D.C. where we're not working together but instead hyperpolarized."

Hamilton leads largest United Methodist congregation

Hamilton in 1990 founded the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood. It has grown to nine locations around the Kansas City area. The church calls itself the largest church in Kansas City and the largest United Methodist Church in the United States with more than 24,000 active members.

"Our congregation is roughly equally divided between Republicans, Democrats and independents," Hamilton said. "For 36 years, I've shepherded this group of people who have learned to move beyond the stereotypes of the other party and instead they really love each other and they work together and they serve in the community."

Hamilton said he believes that experience can translate into representing all Kansans, regardless of whether they vote for him.

"What I've done here for 36 years at Resurrection, I can do across the state," he said. "I will, if elected and given the chance, I'm going to represent all the people of Kansas. I am going to care deeply about all of them, try to listen and I'm excited about that."

Hamilton acknowledged that some Democratic voters in the primary may view him as too centrist.

"If you try to stand in the center, you're going to have people on both the left and the right who wish you were more liberal, they wish you were more conservative," he said.

"I've always told people I'm a liberal conservative and a conservative liberal, depending on the issue and the day of the week. I think that's where most people are. Most people in Kansas are going to say I lean left on this, I lean a little right on this, I'm more conservative than somebody and more liberal than somebody else."

Hamilton has 'greatest potential' for fundraising

"He's not the frontrunner now because he has to prove himself, but he has the potential to be the frontrunner very, very quickly," said Bob Beatty, a political science professor at Washburn University. "I know people don't like this, but the fundraising part of it is just huge for a Senate seat."

Democrats haven't won a U.S. Senate race in Kansas since 1932, which is the longest active losing streak in the country.

"It's a huge lift," Beatty said. "It takes on almost epic proportions, the winning streak by Republicans. That doesn't mean it's impossible. It's just very difficult for a Democrat to win."

Hamilton is the 11th Democrat to join the race, though the number could fluctuate before the June 1 filing deadline. Eight other Democrats have filed with the Federal Election Commission, and two additional Democrats have filed with the Kansas Secretary of State's Office but not the FEC.

"The Democrats, it's always a challenge for them — and looking at the fundraising, I think it's looked like it was going to be even more of a challenge," Beatty said.

Marshall outraised all the Democrats combined in the last quarter, FEC campaign finance reports show.

As of the end of March, four Democrats — Sandy Spidel Neumann, Erik Murray, Patrick Schmidt and Christy Davis — had raised more than $100,000 since the start of their campaigns.

"That's quite a bit of money," Beatty said.

But none of them had eclipsed the $200,000 mark, putting them far behind the $3.5 million in total receipts that 2020 Democratic nominee Barbara Bollier had at the same stage of the election cycle. Bollier ultimately raised $29 million and lost to Marshall by 11 percentage points.

"It's a lot of money to try to beat a Republican senator in Kansas," Beatty said. "Before this Hamilton news, I wondered if there was anybody in that field capable of raising the amount of money that might be needed. They can disagree with me, but so far they were not."

Beatty said Hamilton "the greatest potential" to fundraise significant amounts of money.

"For good or bad, money is important in a crowded primary," Beatty said. "The voters have to know who you are. So if he's able to raise a fair amount of money — or more than his opponents — he very well could become the frontrunner pretty quickly."

Democrats are trying to break Republican majority in Senate

Beatty said running as a Democrat instead of as an independent could boost Hamilton's national fundraising from Democratic donors if he makes it to the general election.

For national Democrats, Beatty said, "It's a tough lift but they are very aspirational for flipping the Senate, and to do so they have to win a few seats in red states."

The Kansas seat has gotten little to no national attention as a pickup opportunity, especially without U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids in the race, despite DNC chair Ken Martin calling Marshall "vulnerable." Democrats would need to pick up at least four seats, and some of their best chances are in Maine, Alaska, North Carolina and Ohio.

But Hamilton's announcement will raise some eyebrows among national Democrats, Beatty said.

"They're going to be watching," he said. "He's never run for office before. He could be a disaster. We don't know."

That could also mean "Republicans are going to have to invest a lot more money than they would have thought just a few days ago in Kansas."

"If he gets out of the primary," Beatty said of Hamilton, "it's going to be a battlefield."

Why Kansas Republicans were already attacking Hamilton

Before he formally joined the race, Republicans were already attacking Hamilton, which Beatty said shows "they understand that he's someone to be taken seriously."

After Hamilton announced to his congregation that he was considering running as an independent, the Kansas Republican Party filed a complaint with the FEC alleging the church broke the law by using its resources to help Hamilton's campaign.

Kansas GOP executive director Rob Fillion called the use of the church email, website and YouTube channel "a clear and blatant violation of federal law."

"This complaint raises serious questions about the separation between the Church of the Resurrection's religious mission and partisan political activity," Fillion said.

About 37 minutes after the Kansas GOP sent a press release announcing the complaint, the GOP sent a fundraising email linked to the complaint. GOP chair Danedri Herbert said Republicans "are holding opponents accountable" while defending Marshall and the GOP majorities, "but this fight requires resources."

"No one — regardless of their title, church size, or political aspirations — gets a free pass," Herbert said. "This complaint is about accountability, transparency, and protecting the public trust."

Hamilton said he was simply informing his congregation because "I don't want our people to find out from the newspaper that their pastor's considering running for office." He said the email and video "are ordinary ways that we use tools," as is the case for "any other major decision" at the church.

He said he is taking the GOP's complaint seriously, but, "This is how we would communicate anything. I've been their pastor for 36 years, you got to say something."

He said the attacks from Republicans show they are "anxious about the kind of candidate that I'm going to be," "worried that I'm going to have a strong appeal across the state of Kansas" and "that makes them afraid."

"And so even before I was a declared candidate, they began to fire away," Hamilton said. "And I'm like, that's great. That just says that they're anxious and nervous. If I were them, I'd be anxious, too."

Hamilton part of a trend of pastors running as Democrats

Hamilton likely has low name-recognition outside of the Kansas City area.

"I'm in Topeka, so I'd never heard of him," said Beatty, who has been a professor at Washburn for 26 years, about Hamilton prior to his announcement about considering a campaign. But in Kansas City, "He's pretty well-known."

"Now the advantage for him then, of course, is that that's the biggest voter base in all of Kansas," Beatty said. "So that's certainly a good base to start."

Hamilton is part of what appears to be a growing national trend of religious leaders running for Congress as Democrats. Georgia has incumbent U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock. Elsewhere, in the Texas race for U.S. Senate, James Talarico won the Democratic primary, while Iowa has three clergy members running as Democrats for the House.

"With Hamilton, we can call it a trend," Beatty said.

Asked about where in the Bible he draws the most inspiration for his personal and political beliefs, Hamilton pointed to the Sermon on the Mount. It's what he is currently preaching through, and he said it was the source of ethics for presidents John Adams, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

"Jesus is clearly the most important figure in my life," Hamilton said. "When I look at his teaching, the Sermon on the Mount is his moral and ethical code.

"In the Sermon of the Mount, you find the golden rule, do unto others as you have them do unto you. You find the call to love your neighbors and to love your enemies. You find not to judge other people. You find the call to forgiveness, the call to be peacemakers and to be light and salt in the world. All of those are things that I challenge our people to do every single week and that I seek to live and do in my daily life."

Beatty said pastors entering the political arena come with public speaking experience. In Hamilton's case, he also comes with the media and video experience of a modern church.

"I've been told that his church is very well known for its videos and its communication techniques of getting their message out to all their parishioners," Beatty said. "That translates very, very easily to campaigns."

To win a general election, Beatty said, Hamilton will have to "win the Democrats, but then win a lot of independents and then some Republicans."

"His message has that potential, if he can get it out," Beatty said. "On the other hand, he's also going to have to deal with the onslaught of tens of millions of dollars of negative ads against him."

Those recorded sermons may also be scoured for research into attack ad fodder.

"I have a feeling they've already started that," Beatty said.