Kansas Senate race turns into a toss-up as Democrat Adam Hamilton presses Roger Marshall

Kansas has not sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in nearly 100 years. With early voting underway, that streak is suddenly in doubt. Democrat Adam Hamilton has led several recent polls against first-term Republican Sen. Roger Marshall and both parties have steered tens of millions of dollars into the contest in recent weeks.

The president plans to rally for Marshall and other Kansas Republicans in Wichita next week, a sign of how seriously the party now takes a race in a state he carried with 57% of the vote two years ago.

A pastor running down the middle

Hamilton founded the Church of the Resurrection, the largest United Methodist congregation in the nation counting all of its campuses. He calls himself an independent-minded Democrat. His top issues are affordability and health care along with what he describes as restoring basic decency to politics.

At a get-out-the-vote stop in Lawrence on Monday he told supporters that a candidate who only wants to crush the other party cannot win in a state where roughly a quarter of voters are Democrats. He keeps telling voters that a Kansas Democrat is very different from one in New York or Los Angeles. Two former Republican governors, Mike Hayden and Bill Graves, have endorsed him.

He often wraps up his speeches with a nod to The Wizard of Oz, saying Washington needs more senators who use their brains, feel with their hearts and find the courage to speak up.

Marshall on offense

Marshall paints Hamilton as the most liberal candidate Kansas has ever nominated and warns that he would damage the state's cattle and farm economy along with its oil and gas producers.

The senator has had a bumpy month. Fairgoers repeatedly shouted him down during a debate at the Kansas State Fair. His campaign took heat for an attack ad that showed images of two unrelated businesses. It also paid off a $678 bakery bill from 2020 with interest after the Hutchinson shop owner's post about it went viral.

Governor's race tilts the other way

Republicans see a better shot in the race for governor. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is term-limited after eight years in office. Republican state Senate President Ty Masterson leads Democratic state Sen. Cindy Holscher in polls with a pitch built on lower taxes and cheaper energy and safer communities.

Kansas is one of only a few states with a senator from one party and a governor from the other. Voters there could split their tickets again on Nov. 3. Rising fuel prices and tariffs have weighed on Republicans across the farm belt this year and Kansas has become one of the clearest tests of how much.