Popular KC-area pastor launches challenge to Roger Marshall — with a twist
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Rev. Adam Hamilton launched a campaign as a Democrat to challenge Sen. Roger Marshall.
- Hamilton said his listening tour dissuaded him from running as an independent candidate.
- Hamilton joins eight other declared Democratic candidates in a crowded primary field.
A crucial U.S. Senate race in Kansas is coming into focus.
One of the biggest questions looming over Sen. Roger Marshall’s first re-election bid was answered on Thursday after the Rev. Adam Hamilton officially launched a campaign to challenge the incumbent Republican — as a Democrat.
Following a two-month exploratory campaign, the founding pastor of the nation’s largest United Methodist church chose to take the leap and was poised to formally announce his highly anticipated decision at an event in Prairie Village on Thursday morning.
In an interview with The Star prior to the announcement, Hamilton said it was what he heard on his 18-stop listening tour around the state that convinced him to join the Democratic primary field rather than mounting a challenge as an independent.
“The first thing I heard everywhere I went — I don’t think there was a single place (where) the first thing that somebody said wasn’t, ‘Why don’t you run as a Democrat? We’re afraid that you’re going to split the votes for the Democrats and that you are going to leave Roger Marshall with a victory,’” said Hamilton, 61.
“We feel like people are right,” he added. “This is the path to take.”
Hamilton said he plans to center his campaign on lowering the cost of everyday necessities and “restoring decency” in the national discourse. He hopes to appeal to voters across the political spectrum who are disillusioned with their current representation in Washington.
The announcement from the widely popular pastor is likely to scramble the Senate race in Kansas as he attempts to attract voters wedged in the middle of the polarized U.S. two-party system.
Marshall, who has positioned himself as a staunch defender of some of President Donald Trump’s most controversial domestic and international priorities, is unwilling to stand up to the president when it matters, Hamilton said.
“He’s got the president’s ear. Why is he not doing anything about it?” Hamilton said. “This is what I heard. I heard it over and over and over again.”
Who is Senate candidate Adam Hamilton?
Hamilton founded his first congregation in 1990. Thirty-six years later, as senior pastor at Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, he has built his reputation and national profile in large part through his willingness to discuss politically charged issues from the pulpit.
Resurrection now has about 24,000 members across nine Kansas City-area campuses, including in Olathe, Overland Park, downtown Kansas City, Lee’s Summit and downtown Kansas City.
The campaign will test whether Hamilton can parlay his personal popularity into an upset victory in a state that hasn’t elected a Democratic U.S. senator since 1932. But his path to securing the party’s nomination is complicated by no fewer than eight other declared Democratic candidates.
They include retired corporate executive Sandy Spidel Neumann, real estate developer Erik Murray, former Biden USDA official Christy Davis, Army veteran Noah Taylor, attorney Anne Parelkar, state Sen. Patrick Schmidt, former federal prosecutor Jason Hart and Michael Soetaert of Wellington.
Federal campaign finance records show that in the first three months of 2026, Marshall outraised all of his Democratic challengers combined. It remains unclear whether any of the Democratic candidates will step aside after the announcement from Hamilton, who’s certain to try to use his strong name ID to garner support and donations.
Ahead of Hamilton’s announcement, Marshall and other Republican allies had already been casting the pastor as too liberal. In statements to and interviews with The Star, they seized on Hamilton’s recent overtures to Democrats and his decision to tie Marshall as close to Trump.
The Kansas Republican Party last week also filed a federal election complaint against Hamilton, alleging he illegally used church resources to promote his exploratory campaign.
Hamilton has said that if he’s elected, he plans to scale back his leadership at Resurrection to “quarter-time status,” preaching on occasion and attending worship as often as he can.
Brent Robertson, Marshall’s chief of staff, in a statement to The Star last week, pointed to comments Hamilton made at a recent listening tour stop in which Hamilton said he would caucus with Democrats if elected.
“Why fake it? He’s not an independent and should run as a Democrat,” Robertson said. “Senator Marshall is focused on keeping Kansas families safe and helping them keep more of their hard-earned money. That’s the job.”
As he toured across the state, visiting a brewery, libraries and a museum, Hamilton said Kansans were receptive to a new phrase he has been floating for the past several weeks: a campaign as an “independent-minded Democrat.”
“I’ve talked to a number of people who are Republicans, lifelong Republicans,” he said. “People have said … ‘I’ve never voted for a Democrat and you’ll be the first Democrat I vote for.’”
This story was originally published April 30, 2026 at 8:49 AM.
