The idea of Democrats winning a U.S. Senate race in Kansas, something which has not happened since 1932, is admittedly a bit of a stretch. However, please take a minute of your time to consider some recent news out of the Sunflower state:
1) Two Democratic polls shows a close race
In July, an internal poll from Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton showed him down only four points to incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Marshall. In August, another Democratic poll, this one for Senate Majority PAC, showed Hamilton within only one point of Marshall.
2) Not your average Democratic nominee.
This may be quite surprising, but the Democratic nominee, Rev. Adam Hamilton, is the senior pastor of the largest church in Kansas, a Methodist congregation called Resurrection, with an average weekly attendance of 25,000. Hamilton describes himself as moderate, and has significantly outraised Marshall, $3.1 million to $600,000.
3) Democrats can win in Kansas.
Kansas currently has a Democratic governor, Laura Kelly. She first won in the Democratic wave election year of 2018, and was re-elected in 2022, a difficult year for Democrats.
While Donald Trump won Kansas by 16 points in 2024, roughly one-third of the over 100 special elections that have taken place since then have shown a pro-Democratic swing of over 16 points.
So yes, Kansas is a stretch, but it is also not impossible.
4) There are good reasons to invest some of your small dollars in Kansas.
You might be hesitant to spend any of your limited donation budget on a long-ish shot race in Kansas, and I get that. However, keep in mind your dollars go much further in Kansas than they would in more populous and expensive states. Further, if Kansas can stay competitive, then national Republican groups will be forced to pull money they had planned to spend on key Senate elections in other states, like Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, or Ohio, and redirect them to try and shore up Kansas. So, in a very real way, making Kansas competitive helps Democrats all around the country.
I have put together this ActBlue page so you can split a donation between Rev. Adam Hamilton, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Kansas, and Bowers Kerbel Media, the two-person, reader-supported, pro-democracy and pro-Democratic organization that runs both the Bowers News Media news and activism email list and also the Wolves and Sheep political analysis and practical life advice Substack. Our mission it to help people like you make a difference without driving you crazy.
Please, split a donation between Adam Hamilton, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Kansas, and Bowers Kerbel Media. Let's invest in not only trying to pull off an upset in Kansas, but in pulling Republican resources out of other battleground states for the U.S. Senate.