Pastor Adam Hamilton Explores Kansas U.S. Senate Run: Can It Work? | Mundo Clip 3-2-26

We got a nice little piece of news here on Friday afternoon. It just broke out of nowhere that Church of the Resurrection pastor Adam Hamilton is exploring a run for U.S. Senate in Kansas as an independent. And I've got both sides of the aisle freaking out over it, which Mark's laughing in there. I find it very interesting that, you know, I think we both heard from people on the right and the left who are like this is the worst thing ever yeah it's gonna either be a win for Marshall or a win for Sharice Davis but nobody's saying that Hamilton's gonna win well there is a way there is a way that this actually can work but it would take the perfect storm so first off um if you missed it Adam Hamilton put up a five minute video on social media on Friday afternoon and here's part of what it sounded like as he said he's going to run for potentially run, explore the possibility of running for U.S. Senate against Roger Marshall and whoever may come out of the Democratic side as well as an independent. Our congregation has managed to bring people together. The church is roughly equal parts Republican, Democrat, and Independent. And we've learned to love and appreciate each other precisely because of our differences. Every two years during election season, we hold a campaign focused on depolarizing our community with yard signs calling us to love one another, service projects where Republicans and Democrats work alongside each other to serve the community and forums focused on bringing people together even over difficult issues. So that was part of the five minute video that he dropped on Friday. Here is how this could potentially work. If the Democrats do not run anybody, there is a lane for someone like Adam Hamilton as an independent to challenge Roger Marshall and potentially win. If any Democrat runs, then Roger Marshall will roll to re-election. Now, even if it's like no-name Joe Schmo Democrat, like literally guy on the street corner Democrat, if there's somebody on the ballot with a D next to his or her name, then Adam Hamilton has absolutely no chance and Roger Marshall will win. If the Democrats coalesce and they say you know what we are not going to run anybody we don think we can win with a Democrat So we back the guy who running as an independent Then there a possibility of something like this having success The last time we saw this tried was back in 2014 when Pat Roberts was running for re-election here in Kansas. And you had an independent in Greg Orman, who then ran again a few years later. but he had no shot that time because at that point you had a Democrat and a Republican running and then you had a libertarian there was actually no Democrat in 2014 on the general election ballot for the U.S. Senate in Kansas and you know it was mildly close Roberts won 53 to 43 but you know 10 points for a guy like Pat Roberts who's obviously an institution in Kansas it's not bad and if there's ever a year where something like this a strategy like this might work then it would be this year but I'm not convinced that the Democrats won't run anybody I'm just I'm not convinced of that because nowadays you have people looking for attention who want to run for office you have people who want to build their social media clout and you can't really prevent somebody from getting on the ballot. It's very cheap to just get yourself on a ballot. So if somebody wants to be on a ballot and they just want to go rogue, they're going to be on the ballot. And there's a percentage of Democrats who will just vote for whoever has a D next to their name. Same thing with Republicans, too. It's not unique to one party. But if there's someone that's got a D next to their name on the ballot, they're going to vote for them. So that doesn't give anybody like Adam Hamilton a chance if, and it's a big if, obviously, he ultimately does decide to run. let's say you've got a three-way race you've got roger marshall you've got a independent adam hamilton you've got a democrat in sharice davids roger marshall wins the republican base at this point in american history with president trump in there i don't believe is going to back off of roger marshall now he might win it 40 to 35 to 25 if that math works out right something like that but i do think he would win it in that potential three-way race so this is where someone like adam hamilton is really trying to pull off the inside straight now i don i don know the man he hopefully going to come on the show tomorrow to discuss this exploratory campaign And to me it not about like the policy issues right? I'm just trying to get a feel on what exactly his vision is and why he feels led to explore the possibility of running for office. How did he get to this point? His five-minute video talks a lot about his background here and of course his roots in Kansas which go back you know multiple generations and of course starting the Church of the Resurrection but what actually got him to this point to announce the exploratory campaign he said on Friday in the video that he plans to visit various parts of Kansas this month as part of a listening tour to gauge support for his campaign and the church put up a statement as well uh over the weekend saying basically between now and mid-April, Pastor Adam will be thinking and praying about this decision. He will also meet privately with family members, mentors, and experts for their guidance. We ask you to pray for Pastor Adam during this time to ensure the church remains focused on ministry. Our pastors and leaders will not be addressing Pastor Adam's discernment process during worship or other church activities. So basically, don't bother him before this sermon. Hey, boss, you running today or what are you thinking there chief you know let's not go down that road oh my goodness I just think that you know in this divisive political climate he's also taken a huge risk he really is he's taking a huge risk with everything that he has built and you know full disclosure I do not go to his church I mean everyone knows them of course in the area I don't go to his church I don't have an opinion either way on it i have not stepped foot in it so i'm not going to judge that either way i'm just saying when you've built something as big as he has to then be the face of it and enter in the political arena you are putting a lot at risk there has to be some kind of belief i would imagine where he thinks if he does this the church can still not just continue to succeed but thrive beyond what it currently is. I got to imagine that conversation has been had Those calculations have been made He prayed about that and all those different things All those things I would imagine are part of the discussion that happening right now But putting the trial balloon out there is telling to me too because it tells me that this is not just like eh you know I going to think about this This is serious. Like, he's absolutely thinking about this in a major way. 913-408-7957 the text line and the studio line here on kcmo talk radio 95 7 fm streaming as always on the kcmo talk radio app that's how you can join us this morning and i'm seeing a lot of your texts here as well and some of you are saying that you know just be a move to kind of run but be someone who would be a closet democrat in this u.s senate role i don't know and i understand why there's reason to believe that's the case okay I've seen the stories you've seen the stories and obviously you're not running against Roger Marshall because you think that he's doing a great job that's clear as well and that's where I think a lot of Kansans are going to have to be dialed in if we do get to a point where he's running to figure out where he's at on the issues and those are absolutely fair questions and fair conversations to have there's no doubt about it Yeah, the abortion issue is going to come up. OK, there's no doubt about it. Is it going to come up like right now? Is it going to come up tomorrow or this month? If you're on an exploratory tour of the state, probably will with some people. And you're going to have to, you know, answer questions on that. But what does it mean if we get to November? All that matters is what it looks like on the ballot. And you know what? when you've got like Democrats I saw this from Ru Shu who was a Democrat here in Johnson County believe he represents uh like Fairway he writes here I have a lot of respect for Reverend Hamilton but running as an independent benefits basically nobody but the Republican candidate and the campaign consultants you're hiring so there's somebody on the left who's like don't do it this is a bad idea but then you also have people on the right who are kind of freaking out over this as well which makes this a very compelling story to follow in the days and weeks to come and we hope to have and plan to have Adam Hamilton on the show tomorrow morning here on KCMO Talk Radio