INTERVIEW: Rev. Adam Hamilton talks family, health care, religion
Hamilton is running for U.S. Senator in Kansas; hopes to nab Dem nomination Aug 4
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rev. Adam Hamilton discussed his upbringing, health care and religion in an exclusive interview with citizen journal before speaking to a packed crowd Saturday, July 11, at Pizza Ranch in McPherson.
Hamilton hopes to contest Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS)'s seat when it's up for re-election in the November 2026 midterm election. He faces a packed field of 11 candidates who have filed for the Democratic nomination
Hamilton grew up in the Kansas City area, raised by a single mother, before becoming pastor of the largest United Methodist Church in the United States and marrying his high school sweetheart, LaVon.
“My family is from, and actually helped settle, Hope, Kan. So they’re fifth generation Kansan. Many of the family are still there,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton has spent his campaign traveling across Kansas, speaking to communities throughout the state, and says he’s heard Kansans calling for a change in leadership.
“I think there’s a great frustration in the state of Kansas right now, and I think people are looking for something different,” Hamilton said. “I’m a moderate Democrat who wants to work across the aisle. I have pastored a church, and it’s roughly equal parts Republican and Democrat.”
Health care, including Medicaid, is one of the biggest parts of Hamilton’s platform. Hamilton said raising Medicaid and KanCare reimbursements wouldn’t just help patients – it would also help attract doctors to rural parts of Kansas.
“I think there's people who would want to live in Western Kansas and Central Kansas; they love living in more rural areas, but they have to be able to feed their families,” Hamilton said. “You've got to have reimbursements happening at a level they can afford to live on.”
Hamilton places the blame for cuts in those reimbursements squarely on the One Big Beautiful Bill.
“You can't really afford to live if you're giving no reimbursements because Medicaid was cut by a bill that Roger Marshall voted for,” Hamilton said. “And then you're looking at reimbursement levels, even if they are covered, that are small and making it hard in some rural areas to be able to survive.”
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law on July 4, 2025, by U.S. President Donald Trump, reduced the amount of subsidies that low-income recipients could receive. That disproportionately hit parts of rural America, including Kansas and KanCare, according to the National Rural Health Association.
As a religious leader, Hamilton said Kansans didn’t necessarily need another religious leader as an elected official – they needed a different kind of religious leader.
“Justice really matters a lot to me,” Hamilton said. “Micah 6:8, ‘What does the Lord require of you but to do justice’ - that is to make sure that people who don’t have fairness and equality are given an opportunity for fairness and equality.”
For Hamilton, that means Washington needs more people whose religion reflects the left.
“I think we need some more people whose religion reflects the left and reflects a picture of inclusion, and caring for people, and concerns for justice, and that’s just a part of who I am,” Hamilton said. “But I think people should vote for me, not because I’m a religious leader, but because I care, and because I’ m going to fight for them.”
At the end of the day, though, Hamilton said he wants to include, not split, Kansas.
“I want to find a way to bring people together and help us,” Hamilton said. “Work together to solve problems and help our democracy be what it was meant to be, living up to our highest aspirations and values.”
The Kansas primary is Aug. 4. The deadline to register to vote is July 14.
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