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Kansas Democratic Senate nominee Rev. Adam Hamilton told MS NOW on Wednesday that former Vice President Kamala Harris should stay out of his campaign in Kansas after she traveled to Michigan to campaign for Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, as Hamilton works to win crossover support in the Republican-leaning state.
When asked directly whether he would welcome Harris to campaign alongside him in Kansas, Hamilton rejected the prospect.
“No, I would not,” he told MS NOW. “No offense intended for her but she would not be help to me. We are a different kind of Democrat….I mean no offense to Kamala Harris… Please do not come to my state. I do not need you here. You would actually hurt me,” Hamilton said.
Kansas Democratic Senate nominee Rev. Adam Hamilton told MS NOW he did not want former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigning with him in Kansas. (TNS)
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The Republican National Committee responded to Hamilton’s remarks in a statement to Fox News Digital, accusing the Democratic nominee of attempting to distance himself from Harris despite what the committee characterized as similarities between their political records.
“From demonizing Christians to wanting to ban ranching in a Green New Deal, Adam Hamilton has been in lockstep with Kamala Harris’ radical leftwing agenda his entire life. Kansans will reject Hamilton just like they rejected his best friend Kamala Harris in 2024,” RNC spokesman Zach Kraft said.
Hamilton, the longtime pastor of the Church of Resurrection, won an 11-candidate Democratic primary in August and is challenging Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who is seeking a second term.
RNC spokesman Zach Kraft told Fox News Digital that Hamilton had been “in lockstep” with Harris’ agenda despite distancing himself from her on the campaign trail. (Gerri Hernandez/Hamilton for Senate)
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He has repeatedly presented himself as an independent-minded Democrat who must appeal beyond his party’s base. During a CNN appearance last week, Hamilton said national Democratic figures could become liabilities in Kansas because of the state’s large Republican electorate.
Hamilton said his congregation also includes substantial numbers of Republicans, Democrats and independents and argued that Kansas voters were open to supporting a Democrat who separated himself from parts of the national party.
“I think there are a number of national Democrats that actually would be a liability in Kansas,” he said. “I think Kansans are independent-minded, and we’ve got 45 percent of our state are Republicans and I need those Republicans.”
Harris had campaigned with Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed one day before Hamilton told her, “Please do not come to my state.” (David Guralnick – Pool/Getty Images)
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President Donald Trump defeated Harris in Kansas in 2024 with 57.16% of the vote to Harris 41.04%, according to the Kansas secretary of state.
Hamilton’s comments came one day after Harris campaigned with El-Sayed in Detroit. The former vice president joined the Michigan Democrat for a roundtable on Black maternal health and health care costs. Harris publicly backed El-Sayed during the appearance and later addressed Democratic voters at an NAACP event.
Republicans have also sought to use Hamilton’s decades of sermons against him. Vice President JD Vance recently targeted Hamilton’s religious and political record while campaigning for Republicans, Fox News Digital reported.
The RNC’s criticism reflects a broader Republican line of attack involving a 2020 Hamilton sermon on climate change. An Associated Press report of the race said that Republican advertising combined separate portions of the sermon, including Hamilton calling Christians to “repentance” for failing to protect creation and, elsewhere in the sermon, suggesting changing one’s diet as one possible way to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
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Hamilton has more recently backed legislation benefiting agriculture. He and Marshall both supported a Senate committee farm bill and criticized Democratic senators who opposed it, according to a Kansas Reflector report.
Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932, making Hamilton’s effort to attract Republican and independent voters central to his campaign against Marshall.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Hamilton and Harris for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.