Key facts
- Media projections showed Hamilton, a United Methodist pastor, defeating Republican Roger Marshall in Kansas.
- Hamilton is the first Democrat elected to the US Senate from Kansas in 94 years, according to the report.
- Democrats needed a net gain of four seats to take control of the Senate from a 53-47 Republican majority.
- Trump carried Kansas by more than 16 percentage points in 2024, and the race had been expected to be safely Republican.
- Trump and Vice President JD Vance campaigned in Kansas for Marshall in the race's final weeks.
- Marshall, an obstetrician before politics, was elected to the House in 2016 and the Senate in 2020.
Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton won the US Senate race in Kansas on November 3, according to media projections, defeating Republican Roger Marshall. The result makes him the state's first Democrat elected to the Senate in 94 years, the report said, and gives his party a gain in the battle for Senate control.
Republicans held a 53-47 Senate majority going into the November 3 elections, with Democrats needing a net gain of four seats to take control. The report described the Kansas result as a Democratic gain in a state Trump carried by more than 16 percentage points in 2024 and where the race had initially been expected to be safely Republican.
Hamilton, 62, is pastor of the country's largest United Methodist congregation and has written more than 30 books on Christianity and theology. He campaigned on affordability and bipartisanship, calling himself an independent-minded Democrat and rejecting Republican portrayals of him as far left. The race tightened in its final weeks, drawing Trump and Vice President JD Vance to Kansas to campaign for Marshall.
At a Wichita-area campaign rally on October 19, Trump said the US Department of Agriculture would launch a harvest fuel relief program to provide farmers with $8 billion to offset diesel costs during the harvest season. Hamilton and Marshall both sought to appeal to Kansas farmers hit by high diesel and fertilizer prices driven up in part by the war in Iran.
Marshall, an obstetrician before entering politics, was elected to the US House in 2016 and the Senate in 2020. He faced criticism after a September New York Times report said he had sued more than 700 patients over unpaid bills. In a September interview with Fox News, he called the article a hit job and said he followed typical collections practices.