As the founding pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, Hamilton told voters his faith is what inspires his belief that the government should help care for the poor and vulnerable.
But some took issue with his positions; Richard Friedeman, a lawyer and Republican Party chair of Kansas’ Barton County, accused the pastor of being “very, very liberal – and he has the ability that liberal pastors have of telling you one thing and turning right around and telling somebody else the opposite”.
Friedeman was cautiously optimistic on Election Day as he discussed the race from his Great Bend home, saying he believed Marshall, a personal friend and “good Republican voter,” had “done a good job” during his time in office.
But he conceded that the Republican party was embattled.
“I think there’s going to be a reckoning for the way Trump has alienated so many people … I think it’s going to be hard for awhile,” he said.
His prediction proved true, as voters in Republican strongholds like Iowa, South Carolina and Texas turned out for Democratic candidates.
Even in Mississippi, the heart of America’s bible belt, the race was neck and neck at the time of publication – a feat once thought nearly impossible for the Democratic Party.
Most pundits and pollsters are viewing these historic victories as rebukes of Trump’s second-term agenda, such as aggressive immigration policies, a war in Iran and global tariffs that have contributed to the rising cost of living.
The day before the election, on a rainy afternoon filled with squalls and hail, dozens of Hamilton supporters turned out for a last-minute canvas in the university town of Lawrence, Kansas. Among them were retired teacher Sharron Witters, 77, and her husband Lynn, 78, a former forestry professor and pastor of 25 years.
As evangelical Christians, they said Hamilton’s candidacy motivated them to put out signs on their lawn and knock on doors for the first time. They set out with maps and lists, as Sharron navigated their silver VW SUV from address to address in a well-heeled Lawrence neighborhood.
Hamilton, Sharron said, “doesn’t sound like a politician”.
“What a delight to stand and listen to somebody whose sentences make sense,” she said.
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if he actually motivated people to work across the aisle?
She noted how other evangelical Christians had backed Trump “because he said, ‘I’m against abortion'”.
But she and her husband, “felt, from the very beginning, that [Trump] was a wolf in sheep’s clothing”.