The pastor of the nation's largest Methodist church is running for the US Senate in Kansas (As a Dem) [View all]
LENEXA, Kan. (AP) The pastor of the largest United Methodist Church in the U.S. launched a campaign Thursday for the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in Kansas, upending the race in a normally Republican state as the GOPs small majority seems less secure than it was a year ago.
The Rev. Adam Hamilton enters the race as a potentially formidable candidate, though it wasnt immediately clear how many of the eight other, lesser-known Democrats whove announced for the Aug. 4 primary would drop out. The winner will face incumbent Republican Roger Marshall, who aligned himself closely with President Donald Trump in his first run for the Senate in 2020.
Hamilton, 61, has a national following among mainline Protestants, and hes built his Church of the Resurrection over the past 35 years in the Kansas City-area with about 22,000 members giving him a base from which to tap volunteers and donors.
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His entry comes during what promises to be a challenging midterm election year for Republicans. Polling shows most Americans believe the U.S. military action against Iran has gone too far and voters are more and more worried about Trumps failure to address affordability issues.
Hamiltons home of Johnson County is the states most populous, with 643,000 people, more than one in every five Kansas residents. Once overwhelming Republican, it has grown increasingly blue, voting against Trump in the last two presidential elections.
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https://apnews.com/article/methodist-megachurch-pastor-kansas-senate-candidate-c703c399ddd3f16a0f0d9dab1cc08e05