Marshall's Final Kansas Debate Message: A Vote for Adam Hamilton Hands the Senate to Chuck Schumer

Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas walked into the last debate of his re-election race Wednesday night with one message, and he repeated it until nobody could miss it: a vote for Democrat Adam Hamilton is a vote for Chuck Schumer. By NBC News' count, Marshall said Schumer's name 17 times in an hour. "Control of the Senate goes through Kansas," he said.

Hamilton is the founder and senior pastor of the Church of the Resurrection in suburban Kansas City, the largest United Methodist church in the country, and a first-time candidate. He spent the hour, hosted by FOX4 in Kansas City and moderated by anchor John Holt, selling himself as an "independent-minded Democrat." Then he made Marshall's case for him. "The Biden policies when it came to the border were a disaster," Hamilton said.

That is the race in two sentences. Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932, the year Amelia Earhart flew solo across the Atlantic, as the Kansas City Star put it. Yet with Election Day on Nov. 3 and early voting already underway, forecasters rate the seat a toss-up, and an early-October New York Times/Siena poll had it tied at 45% apiece, KCUR reported.

The Schumer question

Marshall's argument is simple. Whatever Hamilton calls himself in Kansas, his first vote in Washington would help decide who runs the Senate. "This guy is funded by Chuck Schumer," Marshall said. "He'll be beholden to Chuck Schumer forever."

[[x:https://x.com/RNCResearch/status/2113067167113498680|"[Adam Hamilton] is funded by Chuck Schumer, he'll be beholden to Chuck Schumer forever." Sen. Roger Marshall at Wednesday's debate (@RNCResearch)]]

Hamilton insists he would not back Schumer for leader. But a political action committee tied to Schumer has dropped $5 million into the race to help him, according to KCUR. Party bosses don't spend $5 million on a man they expect to vote against them. It's a bit like a free agent swearing he's undecided while the team's owner is already paying his rent.

The record behind the "moderate" label is thin, too. Hamilton delivered the sermon at Barack Obama's 2013 inaugural prayer service, has switched party affiliations over his life and flirted with running as an independent before taking the Democratic nomination, KCUR noted. "My opponent's going to say anything he can to lie to get into that office and give control to Chuck Schumer," Marshall said.

Hamilton's own admissions

On the border, Hamilton tried to stand next to Marshall. "I believe in strong and secure borders," he said, right after calling the Biden years a disaster. Marshall's answer was the obvious one: the Democrats Hamilton wants to join gave Kansas that disaster, and the Republicans fixed it. "That's what Republicans will always give you, secure borders," he said.

On energy, the moderate pose slipped again. Marshall blamed this year's diesel prices, which AAA puts at $6.32 a gallon this week against $3.62 a year ago, on the Russia-Ukraine war and on Washington's war on fossil fuels. "The real problem with the cost of diesel, in particular, No. 1, is the Ukraine war, and because of that, diesel production has gone down," he said. "But beyond that, why are we dependent upon diesel imports? It's because of the Green New Deal policy that my opponent supports." Hamilton didn't deny it. He said he supports parts of the Green New Deal, just not the whole package, the Associated Press reported.

In farm country, where diesel runs every tractor and grain truck, that is not a small concession. Marshall said prices will come down once the war is over, "as long as Republicans have control." And on President Trump's deal to let Russian diesel back onto the market, he kept his eye on peace. "If this brings Russia to the bargaining table, and it ends the war, then I am all for it right now," he said. On Iran itself, he didn't blink: "I want this war to be over just as soon as possible, but we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. This is why we can't have weak Adam Hamilton with the weak Democrat policy."

Hamilton also had to answer the moderator's opening question about his church's handling of abuse allegations against a camp volunteer two decades ago. "I should have checked to make sure that he wasn't going back," he said. "That was a mistake on my part."

Israel, gender and SI

The sharpest split came on Israel. Hamilton said he would vote to stop some weapons transfers to Israel, KCUR reported, and spoke of "entire cities flattened in Gaza." Marshall said nothing Israel has done would make him block a weapons sale. "Look, we need to remember that Israel has been one of America's greatest allies, that they are the only democracy in a very troubled, troubled area," he said.

Asked how many genders there are, both men said two. "There's two. There's a boy and there's a girl," Marshall said. "There are two genders, male and female," Hamilton answered, per Fox News. But Hamilton then accused Marshall of "picking on people and bullying people" for making girls' sports a campaign issue, a strange charge from a man who had just agreed with him.

On SI, Marshall wants what Republicans usually want: "a light touch," with national security first. "We cannot let China get ahead of our military," he said, calling for rules that "demand full transparency, protect our children, protect your privacy." Hamilton called the technology "a potential existential threat to the human race" and floated a regulatory commission modeled on the one built for nuclear weapons, the Star reported. One man wants to win the race with China. The other wants a new regulatory commission.

Trump country

Marshall owned his ties to the president while showing he speaks his own mind. Asked to name a disagreement, he pointed to ICE raids at meatpacking plants in southwest Kansas and said he had called Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to complain. "Just like with my wife, I can disagree with her. Now, my wife is always right, and President Trump is not always right," he joked.

That is the math Marshall is counting on. Trump won Kansas with 57% of the vote in 2024, and the state has about 900,000 registered Republicans to about 500,000 Democrats, according to KCUR. Trump packed more than 6,000 people into an arena near Wichita on Monday and told them to "pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot," while a top Republican super PAC launched a $14 million ad campaign against Hamilton, NBC News reported.

Marshall closed with the same plea. "We need the Trump voters to come out," he said. "If you want the Trump agenda to continue, if you want secure borders, if you want a strong military, if you want lower taxes," he said, then Trump voters need to show up. In a state this red, the only way Chuck Schumer gets a vote from Kansas is if they stay home.