By Anna Kaminski, Kansas Reflector
PRAIRIE VILLAGE — A Kansas City-area pastor will run for U.S. Senate as “an independent-minded Democrat,” putting to bed months of speculation that he would challenge U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall as an independent.
Adam Hamilton, founding member and senior pastor of United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, announced his campaign Thursday, but he began exploring a bid in February. Since then, Hamilton, 61, said he has become more and more confident that “things are just not right in our country.”
He was propelled to run by what he sees as a loss of values and polarization in Washington, he told Kansas Reflector on Wednesday. An 18-city listening tour across Kansas cemented his theories. He said he heard from people who said the price of healthcare, gas and housing “are killing us.”
Some of those people, he said, also encouraged him to run as a Democrat instead of as an independent. He’d have a better chance at beating Marshall, they said.
Hamilton joins eight Democrats vying for Marshall’s seat. He said he wants “to be really clear about giving Roger Marshall an early retirement.”
He said he consulted with Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and former Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius before deciding to run as a Democrat.
The Kansas Republican Party accused Hamilton last week of improperly using church resources to bolster his campaign in a complaint filed with the Federal Elections Commission. But Hamilton denied those claims and downplayed the complaint’s effect. He said his campaign had Republicans’ attention before it was announced.
“I’m glad that they’re nervous, because I think they should be nervous,” Hamilton said.
Rob Fillion, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party, said Hamilton’s decision to run as a Democrat confirms “his so-called ‘independent’ exploration was little more than a political marketing strategy to mask a radical left agenda.”
“This race presents a clear choice between principled, accountable leadership with Senator Marshall or a candidate facing serious ethical questions and promoting policies out of step with Kansas values,” Fillion said.
Hamilton graduated from Oral Roberts University in 1985. He has a Master of Divinity degree from Southern Methodist University in Texas. He is married to LaVon Hamilton and has two children and a grandchild.
He served during President Barack Obama’s second term on an advisory council on faith-based and neighborhood partnerships, and he delivered the sermon at Obama’s second presidential prayer service.
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection is the largest church in Kansas. It sees a weekly average of 25,000 visitors across its nine campuses and televised and online services, according to Hamilton. He has written more than 30 books.
Hamilton said he intends to finish out a sermon series this month. For the rest of his campaign, he will continue to work for the church but likely won’t be preaching, he said. If he is elected, he said, he will decide what role, if any, he will play at the church.
