JD Vance Makes Campaign Stop In Deep-Red State Democrats Desperately Want

Vice President JD Vance is campaigning in Kansas — a state where Republicans have won every U.S. Senate election since 1932 — as Democrats clamor to turn one of the country’s most reliably Republican states into an unexpected battleground.

Vance traveled to the Kansas City area Monday to campaign alongside Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who is seeking a second term against Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton, the liberal pastor who built the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection into one of the largest churches in the country.

At a manufacturing facility in Olathe, Kansas, Vance praised Marshall as a Christian and accused Hamilton of using Christianity to advance leftist politics. “Democrats thought it would be enough to nominate a pastor,” Vance said, arguing that Hamilton’s church and sermons promote positions out of step with Kansas voters.

He also criticized Hamilton’s church for sponsoring a local LGBT Pride festival and pointed to Hamilton’s preaching about racism and reducing meat consumption as part of an effort to address climate change. “That is not Christianity. That is Left-wing radicalism dressed in the skinsuit of our religion,” Vance said. “Let’s send it packing in November.”

Marshall also sought to portray Hamilton as out of step with Kansas, accusing him of being “too woke and too weak to stand up to China.”

Vance’s appearance underscores the unusual competitiveness of a race that, under ordinary circumstances, would barely register on the national campaign map. Kansas voters broke for President Donald Trump by 16 points in 2024, and no Democrat has won a Senate race in the state in nearly a century. Yet recent polling has shown Hamilton within striking distance of Marshall.

A September co/efficient survey found Marshall leading Hamilton 49% to 44%, with 5% undecided and 2% backing Libertarian candidate David Graham. An August Global Strategy Group poll had Hamilton ahead 44% to 43%, while other recent surveys have shown the race within several points. That has prompted Democrats to devote attention to a state that has traditionally been considered safe Republican territory.

Axios reported last month that Kansas was among several normally Republican states — alongside Texas, Iowa, Alaska, Mississippi, and Nebraska — becoming more competitive heading into the midterms. The publication specifically pointed to Hamilton’s candidacy as making Marshall’s re-election less certain.

Hamilton presents an unusual challenge for Republicans because of his background. He is not a conventional Democratic Senate candidate. Hamilton, 62, spent decades building Church of the Resurrection, which now has roughly 25,000 members across nine locations in the Kansas City area. His campaign emphasizes unity and affordability, while he describes himself as a centrist.

That background has also given him a potential opening with religious and moderate voters who might not ordinarily consider a Democratic Senate candidate.

Republicans, however, have argued that Hamilton’s sermons and positions on issues including abortion, LGBTQ issues, race, and environmental policy place him well outside the political mainstream of Kansas. Vance made that case forcefully on Monday.

The race has also exposed a divide within Kansas’s Republican electorate over Marshall and Trump. The Washington Post reported that some Republican voters in the Kansas City suburbs are considering Hamilton or identifying as independents after becoming disillusioned with Trump. One Republican voter interviewed by the Post said Marshall had become too closely associated with the president and criticized him for what she viewed as an insufficient presence in Kansas.

Former Kansas Governor Bill Graves, a Republican who served from 1995 to 2003, has also endorsed Hamilton, criticizing Marshall. Still, the Republican advantage in Kansas remains substantial. The state has elected Republican senators continuously since 1932, and Trump carried it by 16 points in 2024. Kansas has, however, demonstrated that Democrats can win statewide. Democratic Governor Laura Kelly won re-election in 2022, showing that the state’s electorate is not uniformly Republican in every statewide contest.

For Democrats, Kansas remains a steep climb. For Republicans, however, the fact that the vice president spent a September afternoon campaigning for a senator in a state that has not elected a Democratic senator in 94 years illustrates why the race is receiving national attention.

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