BREAKING-ish: Hamilton Exploratory
A Kansas Conversation
When I moved back to Kansas from DC in 2000, my brother was attending a church with about 1,200 people in each service, no hymnals, loud music, lyrics styled in power point on screens, grunge guitarists, soloists with voices like angels, and a pastor barely older than me. Count me out.
Or so I thought! It turns out you don’t need a hymnal when you know the hymns by heart, angel voices sound good over a drum set and electric guitar, and the pastor is still just 10 years older than me…
Adam Hamilton preached like he was sitting across the coffee table from you - just you - and you learned more in a 40-minute sermon than in a semester of World Religions 301. Plus, you could retell the sermon to friends because the clear language and intellectual hooks were memorable and relatable. United Methodist Church of the Resurrection became my church home in 2001.
You still with me or are you stuck on the 40-minute sermon?
No worries! We get to lunch when the first shift of worshippers from other churches is finishing up, so there’s no battle for tables!
Aside: If you didn’t grow up in church, it’s a running joke that church can’t go past noon. Period. You gotta beat the Catholics/Baptists/Mennonites (insert largest local denomination) to the restaurants for lunch!
When I went into the legislature, I would get notes from Pastor Adam from time-to-time, thanking me for a vote or praying with me for discernment. About every third or fourth time I would see him over the last 20+ years, I would not-so-subtly (SHOCKER!) mention he should run for office. He would laugh it off, wouldn’t do that to his family, yadda yadda.
If you’ve ever tried to recruit someone completely overqualified to run for office, you know the drill! In 2017, the Atlantic featured him in an article entitled “How One Pastor is Bridging the Partisan Divide”.
In January 2025, no one was thinking about the US Senate because all five statewide offices were also up for election in 2026, and there would be an open seat for governor. Yours truly couldn’t get it out of my head - whether it was his votes for deeply unqualified nominees, oddly random off-topic speeches, or fleeing a rural town hall and then claiming constituents were paid protestors, I knew Kansans can do better than US Senator Roger Marshall.
I started running the numbers.
Winning this seat is a math problem, not a political one. There are two parties. That does NOT mean each party starts at 50%:
As of November 2025, Democrats were 24.7% of ~2M Kansas voters. If EVERY Dem voted and IF they all voted for the Dem, the Dem would still get less than 25%.
The most ANY non-Republican has EVER earned in a US Senate race in Kansas (ok, not EVER, but since 1932…) is 42%. That’s the all-time ceiling. Plus, he wasn’t a Democrat AND poured millions of his own money into the race.
Source: Wikipedia That was 12 years ago - the highest percentage of non-Republican vote for federal office is a PRE-Trump number. Voter turnout has increased significantly, but it has NOT improved Democrats numbers when running for US Senate or President.
There’s a reason why Democrats with name ID, experience, or fundraising capacity aren’t running. Well-known Dems understand these numbers - and likely have more info due to polling research. A Democrat can not win the US Senate race in Kansas this year - and I know that’s hard for some to hear.
The four current Democratic candidates haven’t raised $500,000 between them, with three months to the candidate filing deadline. Two more have announced, but they’re in the same “meh” name ID/experience/fundraising boat.
These are the facts swirling in my head for the last year, but I had been unable to recruit someone with the profile necessary to make a credible run as an Independent. I was content to spend 2026 continuing to expand my VoteSharp database and working to increase turnout in the Republican primary election in August.
Then I got a call from Pastor Adam and blocked my calendar through mid-April…
He announced an exploratory committee on Friday (video below).
In our political environment, Republicans shut down when listening to a Democrat and vice versa. But both sides are more likely to listen to an Independent. This is Adam’s strength.
If the goal is to provide information and understanding to convince our neighbors who think differently - and not just brow-beat them for political points - we can’t come to the conversation shouting our position and name-calling. Coming to a conversation with your tribe on your sleeve as red or blue stops the conversation altogether.
I hope this analysis is helpful to understand a bit more about the politics of the US Senate race in Kansas - and my personal connection. If you aren’t a Kansan, looking at your state’s data in this way might provide insight there as well.
Please take a moment to watch this video to learn more about Adam Hamilton’s decision to consider running for the US Senate as an Independent:
This exploratory process will tell us a lot about whether, as Kansans, we really WANT something different or if we all just say the words because it makes us sound reasonable.
Kansans - I can’t wait to hear your thoughts! Please avoid cursing and name-calling in the comments. Learn more at AdamHamiltonExploratory.com.
Thanks and happy serving,
Stephanie Sharp
Where to start as my eternal optimism can sometimes negate reality but here goes anyway. My energy is moving towards cataloging how undemocratic the legislature has been (and probably forever) as it rushes bills through without time for community (we the people) input and or setting themselves up as the experts or arbiters of truthful information. Couple that with the fact that a high percentage of eligible voters don't vote, you have REAL PROBLEMS that require fixing. My plea is that we engage/support candidates that are willing to fight not only for affordability, education and economic development as both parties do BUT to support increasing voting and fixing the abuses of diminishing we the people participation. With enough on this bandwagon WE CAN PREVAIL! contact me if interested: annelesser@gmail.com
Pastor Hamilton would add a lot of common sense to the Ks legislature for sure. I hear him tell the message of people Needing to love one another every Sunday and I believe in that message strongly but I’m not sure that message will resonate with some of the ruthless legislators in Topeka. Pastor Hamilton needs to understand that he will have ONE vote within the Senate and it will be very difficult to make the case for a majority of votes to carry his message, not impossible but very difficult. Kansas voters are a fickle bunch. In a family Mom and Dad need to agree on some things and there are times when politics are the exception.
I want his voice and ideas in Topeka and I am not trying to throw cold water on his future, just telling the reality of Topeka politics from a limited amount of experience.
Best of luck my friend.
Norm Scott