Democrats’ bid to retake the U.S. Senate this November could be boosted from an unlikely source: Kansas.
According to a poll by Emerson College and Nextstar Media released September 18, Democratic Senate candidate Adam Hamilton leads Republican Sen. Roger Marshall 45% to 43% less than two months until Election Day.
A Democrat has not won a Senate seat in Kansas since 1932, when George McGill won reelection for a full term after previously emerging victorious in a special election in 1930 to fill the vacancy left by Charles Curtis, who served as Vice President under President Herbert Hoover.
Hamilton, a Methodist pastor who describes himself as a centrist, has largely focused on economic issues on the campaign trail.
His campaign released what it calls “Adam’s Affordability Agenda,” which includes eliminating tariffs introduced by President Trump, creating tax credits for first-time homebuyers, firefighters, police officers, and teachers, and reversing cuts to Medicaid.
In a bid to boost Kansas’ agriculture industry, Hamilton has also vowed to expand export markets for the state’s wheat, beef, and sorghum producers, and supports legislation that will allow E15, a gasoline with a higher concentration of ethanol, to be available year-round. Ethanol is mostly made of corn, a major agricultural product in Kansas.
E15 is typically banned in the summer season (June 1-September 15) due to fuel evaporation levels that violate the Clean Air Act, but in recent years the Environmental Protection Agency has issued emergency waivers allowing its sale due to, in large part, its lower cost compared to other fuels.
Hamilton is also one of the growing list of Democratic candidates who have called on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step aside from his post, arguing the party needs new leadership.
“In Kansas, Chuck Schumer is a liability for Democrats,” Hamilton told CNN in an interview, specifically calling out the New York Democrat’s unwillingness to support a bipartisan farm bill that he says will provide crucial relief to Kansas’s agriculture industry.
“As an Independent-minded Democrat, I’m going to work with Republicans on that,” Hamilton said.
The emergence of a potential upset in Kansas comes as Democrats in nearby Iowa, another traditionally conservative Midwest red state, are performing above expectations. In the Hawkeye State, Democratic State Auditor Rob Sand leads his GOP opponent for governor, Zach Lahn, in the polls, while Democratic State Rep. Josh Turek narrowly trails Republican U.S. House Rep. Ashley Hinson in the state’s Senate race.
The latest numbers from Kansas will be welcome news for Democrats, who need a net gain of four seats in order to flip the Senate blue.
In addition to currently holding leads in North Carolina and Ohio, Democrats are increasingly confident of their chances in Texas, where Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico has surged in the polls.
Correction: This story has been updated to note that the last time a Democrat won a U.S. Senate seat was in 1932, not 1930.
(Photo: Adam Hamilton, via Adam Hamilton Campaign Facebook)