No Democrat has won a Kansas Senate seat in a century. Can a megachurch pastor change that?

EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — Adam Hamilton has spent decades trying to bring people to Jesus as founder of the nation’s largest United Methodist church. Now he wants to bring Kansas voters to the polls as the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate.

A first-time candidate, Hamilton faces an unusual balancing act between political ambition and spiritual obligation. His pastoral role has given him rare prominence for a Democrat in a state where Republicans have won every Senate race for nearly a century, and some in his party are hoping for an upset victory over incumbent Sen. Roger Marshall.

But conservatives are also trying to use Hamilton’s religious leadership against him. They suggest that his sermons prove he’s too liberal for Kansas or even that he’s a heretic for suggesting that non-Christians have a path to salvation after death.

Marshall said in an interview that Hamilton is “too woke for Kansas."

Hamilton isn’t turning the other cheek. If Jesus were standing before them now, he said, “Roger Marshall would call him ‘woke.’”

Only a few ordained ministers have served as senators over the past 100 years and just one — current Democrat Raphael Warnock of Georgia — remained an active pastor. If elected, Hamilton plans to continue as senior pastor at his Church of the Resurrection in the Kansas City area, preaching 12 to 18 times a year.

As Hamilton tries to win over center-right churchgoers as well as secular liberals, he’s promising that he wouldn’t use his perch in Washington to evangelize. He’s on unpaid leave, going 11 weeks without giving a sermon this summer, although he peppers his remarks with biblical references, discusses Jesus’ teachings with voters and spends several hours weekly on pastoral duties such as hospital visits.

“I need that interaction with people and the caring for people,” he said after a meet-and-greet at a coffee shop in Emporia, a university town of 24,000 that’s smaller than his congregation 110 miles (180 kilometers) to the northwest.

Hamilton, 61, built his church from a few members meeting in a funeral home chapel in 1990 into a 25,000-member congregation with nine locations across the Kansas City area. He's demonstrated an ability to raise money and has gained national attention by writing more than 30 books, mostly on Christian theology.

Hamilton describes himself as a centrist, running partly on “bringing people together.” His congregation, he notes, is nearly evenly split between Democrats, Republicans and independents.

Republican-leaning Kansas has a sizable bloc of moderate voters, protects abortion rights and regularly elects Democratic governors. But Democrats haven't come within 10 points of winning a Senate race in more than 50 years, and they haven't won one since 1932.

Marshall, 66, is focused on rallying rural conservatives, a strategy that perennially works for Republicans. A fifth-generation farm kid who became an obstetrician, the senator is fluent in agriculture policy. He jibed that suburbanite Hamilton “doesn't know a heifer from a steer.”

Marshall also warned that the Senate could fall under Democratic control if Hamilton wins the race.

“His party is too crazy for Kansas,” Marshall said.

This year's race is unusual because of attacks from the Christian right branding Hamilton a heretic.

At issue is a 2022 sermon, reposted on X after Hamilton won the Democratic primary in August. Hamilton cited New Testament passages to argue that non-Christians can receive “the saving grace of Jesus" after death, avoiding eternal torment in Hell.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas declared that Hamilton had rejected “the central tenets of Christianity,” quoting a verse in the Gospel of John where Jesus declares, "No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Marshall thanked Cruz for raising the issue, suggesting the sermon was "one of hundreds” of examples of Hamilton being out of step with Kansans.

Hamilton acknowledged that some Christians agree with Cruz — but cited other prominent Christians who might share his own view, including Methodist founder John Wesley and "Chronicles of Narnia” author C.S. Lewis.

“If he’s going to call me a heretic, he’s not the first," Hamilton said. "He won’t be the last.”

Hamilton also has faced skepticism from Democrats wary of mixing government with religion.

Republican conservatives routinely highlight their faith, suggesting that God wanted them to seek office and profusely thank God after winning.

This year during Lent — the 40 days of self-reflection and repentance before Easter — Hamilton said he skipped a meal each day and prayed about entering the Senate race.

“I’m never 100% sure about the will of God, so I tell people I am 87.2% sure I am supposed to be doing this,” he said. "The Kansas voters will decide whether I’m supposed to win, but I feel like I was being called to step into the arena.”

In Emporia, Hamilton said that as a senator, he'd "fight for the rights of all people, whether they have any faith or not.”

“I’m not running for the Senate to make everybody in this country Christian or United Methodist,” he said.

Nolan Guyer, a 72-year-old Navy veteran and retired nuclear plant operator, said he initially worried about voting for a minister, but Hamilton won him over enough that he donated to the pastor's campaign.

“I don't think it's the government's business to teach morals, and that is a preacher's job,” Guyer said.

Republican political action committees have attacked Hamilton as so radical on climate change that he urged his congregation to repent for eating beef. They base that allegation on a misleading stitching together of two parts of a 2020 sermon, with one clip showing Hamilton calling Christians “to repentance” for not protecting God’s creation and a second, earlier clip of him saying that “maybe changing your diet” is among personal actions that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Another ad claimed that Hamilton's church helped pay for a drag queen story hour for children — a claim his campaign denies.

Marshall blamed Hamilton for a split in the United Methodist Church over allowing LGBTQ+ clergy, something it did in 2024. While Hamilton did support that change — at least since 2019 — he also had worked to prevent a split by backing a plan for a local option on whether to ordain or marry LGBTQ+ people.

Hamilton said his views on human sexuality and same-sex marriage evolved gradually, as he came to know gay and lesbian people in his congregation. His church now has a Queer Inclusive Collective ministry and participates in Pride events.

“One small part of my ministry has been trying to make sure that people who felt alienated from the church and pushed away knew that Christ welcomed them and they were loved by our congregation,” Hamilton said.

One of Hamilton's assertions, that he is “running on decency,” resonated with Jann Briggs. She's a retired teacher from Reading, a small town where the Methodist church is across the street from the Miracle Cafe.

Briggs and several friends came to Hamilton's event in Emporia with a copy of his latest book, “Holy Spirit: God's Presence and Power at Work in Us.” He signed it for them.

“Finally, somebody who's speaking the right words,” Briggs said.

Hamilton is also focusing on affordability, a key issue for Democrats this year. He has criticized Republican cuts to federal programs for the poor, such as food assistance and Medicaid coverage.

“I just want to know, when did it become 'woke’ to care for your neighbor?” he asked.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

FILE - Sen. Roger Marshall R-Kan. and Sen. Tommy Tuberville R-Ala. speak to reporters outside of the U.S. Supreme Court, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

FILE - Rev. Adam Hamilton wipes his eyes during a prayer at an Interfaith Service of Unity and Hope at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kan., Thursday, April 17, 2014, to honor shooting victims at the center and a nearby Jewish retirement complex. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner, Pool, File)

FILE - The Rev. Adam Hamilton, Senior Pastor, United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kan., delivers the sermon during the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral attended by President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

FILE - Rep. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., stands for the national anthem in front of photo of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett while attending a Concerned Women for America event outside a gun store in Kansas City, Kan. Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

FILE - Democratic U.S. senatorial candidate Adam Hamilton of Kansas, listens to administrators at the Health Partnership Clinic as they discuss funding issues the low-income family medical facility is facing on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026, in Olathe. Kan. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley, File)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Bahrain intercepted an Iranian aerial attack early Wednesday, as Tehran continued to fire on allies of the United States in the Gulf region despite threats from President Donald Trump to escalate American military attacks.

Bahrain, which hosts an important U.S. naval base, said its air defense systems intercepted incoming fire from Iran, accusing Iran of “attacks targeting civilians” in a statement issued by its military.

After a respite of more than a month, fighting between the U.S. and Iran has been increasing since the weekend after the American military hit Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the Strait of Hormuz and Iran retaliated by firing missiles at American bases in Jordan, which were all intercepted.

The renewed violence threatens to threatens to fully reignite a conflict that is now in its seventh month and has led to a spike in oil prices, roiled the global economy and is posing increasing political problems for Trump's Republican party ahead of November midterm elections.

Since the fighting resumed, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed above $95, up more than 30% from the start of the war.

Ahead of the morning attacks on Bahrain, Iran fired missiles at Jordan and drones at Kuwait all of which were intercepted. On Monday, the United Arab Emirates said it had intercepted an incoming Iranian drone over its waters as well.

The U.S. Central Command said it had completed the latest barrage against Iranian military targets including air defense sites, radar systems and maritime assets.

One U.S. strike hit a home hosting a wedding, according to Iranian media. At least five people were killed, including a child, and wounding at least 68 others, according to Iranian officials.

The U.S. military said it was aware of the report but that it “never targets civilians.”

During last month's the lull in fighting, the U.S. ramped up economic pressure on Iran, which is suffering from soaring inflation, negative growth and a collapsing currency, as Washington sought to win concessions to fully open the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping traffic.

About a fifth of the world's traded oil was shipped through the key waterway before Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran on Feb. 28 and Iran largely shut it down. Despite many pronouncements from Washington that the strait is open, only a handful of ships are making the passage each day and Iran has regularly attacked vessels.

In launching its latest attacks, U.S. Central Command said it was responding to Tehran trying to hit commercial ships and American forces in the Middle East.

Late Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would not force Iran to the bargaining table.

“I couldn’t care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement. I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing. They are just playing out the inevitable. When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?” Trump wrote on social media.

Earlier, Trump had appeared to pivot toward trying to bend Iran to his will through economic sanctions. He warned that if Iran retaliated for the new strikes, “they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level.”

Finley reported from Washington.

A child wounded, according to Iranian media, in a strike that hit a home where a wedding was being held in Kuhestak, southern Iran, receives treatment at a hospital in Minab, Iran, early Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (Morteza Akhoondi/Tasnim News Agency via AP)

Damage is seen at a building that Iranian media said was hit in a U.S. strike in Kuhestak, southern Iran, early Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (Masoud Mohammadi/Tasnim News Agency via AP)

A child wounded, according to Tasnim news agency, in a strike on a home where a wedding was being held in Kuhestak, southern Iran, receives treatment at a hospital in Menab, Iran, early Wednesday, Sept.2, 2026. (Morteza Akhoondi/Tasnim News Agency via AP)

A woman walks past anti-U.S. graffiti and images depicting the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei painted on a wall along Islamic Revolution street in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A man drives past a banner showing a portrait of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A boy walks on shallow water as commercial vessels are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP)