Kansas Democratic Senate candidate Adam Hamilton admitted in a 2018 webinar that he pushed his mostly white congregation to declare “black lives matter,” and some members packed up and left because of it. Now he wants all of Kansas to vote for him. Good luck with that. You would think the Democrats would learn a lesson to stop pushing agendas on people and simply fix problems, but nope!
Hamilton, a self-described theologically evangelical but socially liberal pastor in the United Methodist Church, made the remarks during a September 2018 webinar called “Pastoring in Partisan Times.” He was talking about the challenges of preaching against racism in rural America, recalling Confederate flags he spotted while driving through the Missouri countryside. “There are places where preaching against racism will be very hard,” he said. He described rural areas where “you see a lot of Confederate flags” and hear “interesting” things on local radio. Very subtle.
Hamilton explained his reasoning for telling his congregation what to say: “The reason why we have to say black lives matter is because right now it doesn’t feel like black lives matter. The reason why we don’t have to say ‘white lives matter’ is nobody questions whether white lives matter.” His campaign, perhaps sensing that Kansas voters might have questions, clarified to Adam Hamilton Senate campaign that he was not calling anyone racist and had previously affirmed that white lives matter and blue lives matter. So he’s for everybody, presumably in a strategic, sermon-timing kind of way.
Hamilton also copped to timing his sermons on divisive topics for maximum effect. And in a separate February 2019 church talk, he wandered into the subject of young children and gender identity, musing out loud about whether parents should just “leave it up to the child” to figure out their own identity or whether there’s “some role” for the parents to play. He said he found himself uncertain when parents of small children came to him with transgender questions. That’s a lot of uncertainty from a guy who’s asking Kansans to send him to the U.S. Senate.
Campaign spokesperson Tyson Brody tried to put a bow on all of this, saying, “As a pastor, Adam has practiced listening for 36 years, and this is another example of how he believes on even the hardest issues we can find common ground.” The statement then took a swipe at incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, accusing him of trying to divide Kansans by race, party, or medical debt interest rates. Classic move: your candidate’s on tape losing church members over political messaging, so naturally you pivot to attacking the other guy.
The race is surprisingly close. Kansas hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate since the 1930s, but polling shows Hamilton and Marshall in a tight contest. Republicans have moved additional resources to back Marshall. Sen. Tim Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, acknowledged the race is competitive but said the data still points to a Marshall win, “albeit closer than I want it to be.”
Marshall is expected to hold the seat, which would keep Kansas exactly where it belongs. Hamilton, meanwhile, can keep workshopping his sermon timing.
