Democrat Adam Hamilton won the US Senate race in Kansas on Tuesday, according to media projections, defeating Trump-backed Republican Senator Roger Marshall to become the state’s first elected Democratic senator in 94 years and helping his party cement control of the chamber, Reuters reported.
The win came in a state President Donald Trump carried by more than 16 percentage points in 2024, where the race had initially been expected to be a safe Republican hold, according to Reuters. Republicans held a 53-47 Senate majority going into Tuesday’s elections, and Democrats needed a net gain of four seats to take control.
In his victory speech, Hamilton called for unity between Democrats and Republicans and for action to curb rising living costs, which he blamed on Trump policies such as tariffs and cuts to food assistance. Kansas voters of all parties had sent a message that “what’s happening in Washington is not okay”, he said, wearing a pin that read ‘love one another’.
Hamilton, 62, is pastor of the largest United Methodist congregation in the United States and has written more than 30 books on Christianity and theology. He campaigned on affordability and bipartisanship, describing himself as an “independent-minded Democrat” and rejecting Republican attempts to portray him as far left, Reuters reported.
The race tightened in its final weeks, bringing Trump and Vice President JD Vance to Kansas to campaign for Marshall. At a rally near Wichita on 19 October, Trump said the US Department of Agriculture would launch a ‘harvest fuel relief program’ giving farmers 8 billion dollars to offset diesel costs during the harvest, according to Reuters.
Both candidates courted Kansas farmers hit by high diesel and fertiliser prices, driven up in part by the war in Iran, the agency said.
Marshall, an obstetrician before entering politics, was elected to the US House in 2016 and to the Senate in 2020. He faced criticism after a New York Times report in September said he had sued more than 700 patients over unpaid bills. In an interview with Fox News the same month, he called the article a “hit job” and said he had followed standard collection practices, Reuters reported.
(With information from Reuters)
