Democrat Adam Hamilton won Kansas's US Senate seat Tuesday, defeating Republican incumbent Roger Marshall. The victory marks the first time a Democrat has won the seat since 1932.
Hamilton, 62, is a pastor who leads the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, the nation's largest United Methodist congregation with 24,000 members. He campaigned on civility and moderate policy positions, invoking the Wizard of Oz on the trail: "What we need in Washington right now is we need senators with a brain who use it, with a heart who feel with it, and who have courage and speak up because of it."
Marshall, a Trump supporter, conceded and called the loss "humbling" in a speech quoting scripture.
Hamilton's campaign centered on his Christian faith and belief that government should help the poor and vulnerable. Marshall's team had portrayed Hamilton as a radical liberal whose views contradicted Biblical teachings, but the strategy did not prevent Hamilton's victory.
Hamilton won despite Kansas ranking as the 10th most religious US state, with 70% of residents identifying as Christian and nearly 30% as evangelical Protestant, a group that has overwhelmingly backed Trump and Republicans in recent years. Some evangelical Christians, including retired teacher Sharron Witters, 77, and her husband Lynn, 78, a former forestry professor, said Hamilton's candidacy motivated them to campaign for him for the first time.
Republican Party chair of Kansas' Barton County Richard Friedeman acknowledged before the election that Trump had "alienated so many people" and said "I think it's going to be hard for awhile."