--- title: Adam Hamilton Has Been Elected to the Senate in Kansas description: Hamilton, who defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, is the first Democrat elected to the Senate in Kansas in almost a century. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/11/02/kansas-senate-2026-midterm-elections-adam-hamilton-roger-mashall/ author: Rebecca Schneid article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-11-03T16:46:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-11-04T14:47:04.596Z article:section: Politics og:title: Adam Hamilton Becomes First Democrat Elected to the Senate in Kansas in Almost 100 Years og:description: Hamilton, a megachurch pastor who has positioned himself as a centrist, has defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Marshall. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/11/02/kansas-senate-2026-midterm-elections-adam-hamilton-roger-mashall/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36fb6d8a6d74dfe3/6ae920b3c44d5d1b790cc12d/kansas-senate-midterm-elections-adam-hamilton.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: kansas-senate-midterm-elections-adam-hamilton.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Adam Hamilton Becomes First Democrat Elected to the Senate in Kansas in Almost 100 Years twitter:description: Hamilton, a megachurch pastor who has positioned himself as a centrist, has defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Marshall. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36fb6d8a6d74dfe3/6ae920b3c44d5d1b790cc12d/kansas-senate-midterm-elections-adam-hamilton.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Adam Hamilton Becomes First Democrat Elected to the Senate in Kansas in Almost 100 Years > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=e3b6bea6-324e-4217-a342-99175b0883a1&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Nov 3, 2026 4:46 PM UTC  Kansas Democratic Senate candidate Adam Hamilton speaks to reporters during a campaign event at Coffee Daze in Wichita, Kansas, on November 2, 2026. Kansas Democratic Senate candidate Adam Hamilton speaks to reporters during a campaign event at Coffee Daze in Wichita, Kansas, on November 2, 2026. Jim Vondruska—Getty Images  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Nov 3, 2026 4:46 PM UTC Listen 00:001.0x02:54 Narrated by TIME AI. Megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton has [defeated](https://time.com/article/2026/10/30/the-key-congressional-races-to-watch-on-election-night/) Republican incumbent Sen. Roger Marshall in [Kansas’ Senate](https://time.com/article/2026/10/07/why-kansas-has-emerged-as-a-new-battleground-state-and-why-it-matters/) race, becoming the first Democrat elected to the position in the state in almost 100 years. The Associated Press called the race on Tuesday evening for Hamilton, who earned 51.9% of the vote with 91% of votes counted. Marshall earned 45.2% of the vote, AP reported. The result delivers a major blow to the GOP as the party [seeks to maintain control of Congress](https://time.com/article/2026/09/24/republicans-midterm-election-blue-wave-polls/). The race emerged as a surprisingly close battle in the lead up to Election Day, despite the fact that President Donald Trump won the state by 16 points just two years earlier in his 2024 reelection bid. For months, the Cook Political Report had categorized the contest as “Likely Republican.” But in recent weeks the election forecaster twice shifted the race toward Democrats as polls showed Hamilton narrowing the gap with Marshall, moving it first to “Lean Republican” on [September 23](https://www.cookpolitical.com/senate/race/488581) and then to a true “Toss Up” on Oct. 6\. **Read more:** [_The Key Congressional Races to Watch on Election Night_](https://time.com/article/2026/10/30/the-key-congressional-races-to-watch-on-election-night/) Republicans took notice in the past two months, diverting resources from swing-state Senate battles like that in [North Carolina](https://time.com/article/2026/10/28/Trump-voting-election-interference-ballots-DOJ-fraud-investigation/) to defend Marshall’s seat. According to AdImpact, the Republican Senate Leadership Fund reserved $8.2 million for Kansas, the kind of funds usually allocated for traditional battleground states. [AdImpact](https://adimpact.com/blogs/battleground-kansas-2026) found that overall, the Kansas Senate race saw a 3,332% increase in ad spending over the 2022 Kansas Senate general election. Marshall, a former OB-GYN and military officer who represented Kansas in the House before being elected to the Senate in 2020, has been a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump and received Trump’s endorsement as one of the President’s “favorite senators.” But while the President’s backing may once have served Marshall, experts told TIME leading up to the election that the senator’s closeness to Trump, whose [approval rating has dropped](https://time.com/article/2026/10/29/trump-approval-rating-midterm-elections-republicans/) to a new low, could pose a challenge for his reelection bid in the current political climate. Voters have put blame on the Trump Administration for economic issues, experts said, including the war in Iran[ hiking up fuel prices](https://time.com/7383060/gas-prices-iran-war-oil/) and Trump’s tariff regime[ affecting the agriculture, aerospace, and other](https://www.farmprogress.com/farm-policy/trump-s-tariffs-deliver-mixed-results-as-farmers-face-rising-costs) industries. Agriculture is the [largest economic driver](https://www.agriculture.ks.gov/kansas-agriculture) in Kansas, contributing $62 billion and close to 150,000 jobs, so retaliatory tariffs impacting Kansas’ grown commodities have had a ballooning effect in recent months. “The agricultural industry is suffering right now,” Alexandra Middlewood, an associate professor of political science at Wichita State University, told TIME in October. “At the same time, it is harvest season, and diesel prices have gone up, and so farmers and ranchers are really struggling in the state.” Trump stopped in Salina, Kansas, on Sunday in an effort to boost Marshall's campaign in the final weekend before the midterms, telling supporters to “pretend I'm on the ballot.” “I'm closing it down tonight. This is it. I had to come here to make sure that Roger got elected. I had to do it,” Trump said on Sunday. Hamilton, the founding and senior pastor for one of the largest United Methodist churches in the U.S., meanwhile positioned himself during the campaign as a centrist, willing to work with Republican lawmakers and the President. “I’m somebody who stands in the middle,” Hamilton [said](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/roger-marshall-adam-hamilton-face-fiery-final-kansas-senate-debate-rcna604592) in the race’s second debate in October. “I’m going to try to work for all Kansans, Republicans, independents and Democrats.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/11/02/kansas-senate-2026-midterm-elections-adam-hamilton-roger-mashall/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/11/02/kansas-senate-2026-midterm-elections-adam-hamilton-roger-mashall/"},"headline":"Adam Hamilton Becomes First Democrat Elected to the Senate in Kansas in Almost 100 Years","datePublished":"2026-11-03T16:46:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-11-04T14:47:04.596Z","description":"Hamilton, a megachurch pastor who has positioned himself as a centrist, has defeated incumbent Republican Sen. 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