Adam Hamilton, a first-time political candidate and founder of the nation's largest United Methodist church, is running as a Democrat for U.S. Senate in Kansas. He faces Republican Roger Wayne Marshall and Libertarian David C. Graham in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election.

Hamilton, 61, grew up in Prairie Village and built the Church of the Resurrection from a few members meeting in a funeral home chapel in 1990 into a 25,000-member congregation with nine locations across the Kansas City area, according to the Associated Press. If elected, Hamilton said he plans to continue as senior pastor, preaching 12 to 18 times a year.

Before deciding to run, Hamilton said he went on a listening tour, visiting communities across Kansas to hear residents' concerns, according to his campaign website.

Candidate information

  • Party: Democratic
  • Age: 61
  • Hometown: Prairie Village, Kansas
  • Family: Married to his high school sweetheart, LaVon, according to his campaign website. Hamilton said they celebrated their 44th anniversary in June 2026. They have two daughters, a granddaughter and two dogs.
  • Education: Master's in theology, Southern Methodist University
  • Background: Hamilton said he is a fifth-generation Kansan whose family came to Dickinson County 147 years ago and helped build the towns of Hope and Elmo. His mother's parents came to Wichita to work at Beechcraft, and his grandfather went on to fly for TWA, according to his campaign website.

Experience and public service

Hamilton has served as founder and senior pastor of the Church of the Resurrection since 1990, according to BallotReady. He has written more than 30 books, mostly on Christian theology, according to the AP.

His campaign website states the congregation he built has given hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours and raised tens of millions of dollars to support communities in need. The church became the largest source of donated food in Kansas City after the regional food bank, according to the campaign.

On the issues

The following positions are drawn from Hamilton's campaign website and BallotReady questionnaire responses. They reflect the candidate's own stated views.

Healthcare and seniors: Hamilton said he supports expanding Medicare drug price negotiation and extending savings to private insurance. He said he supports reversing Medicaid cuts, restoring Affordable Care Act subsidies, and protecting and investing in rural hospitals. On seniors, he said he supports protecting Social Security and expanding Medicare to cover vision and dental.

Housing: Hamilton said he supports banning Wall Street investors from buying single-family homes, creating tax credits for first-time home buyers and public servants, and stopping anticompetitive price collusion by landlords. He also said he supports ending tariffs that drive up home-building costs and modernizing regulations for modular homes.

Agriculture: Hamilton said he supports protecting Kansas farmers from tariffs and expanding export markets, passing the full farm bill, and giving agriculture a stable legal workforce through H-2A reform. He also said he supports cutting prices at the pump with year-round E15 and banning algorithmic price-fixing at grocery stores.

Energy and tariffs: Hamilton said he supports ending tariffs and unnecessary wars that drive up energy costs and requiring congressional approval for new tariffs. He said he supports requiring data centers to pay their fair share of electricity costs and restoring energy production tax credits.

Economy: Hamilton's campaign identifies the high costs of food, energy and healthcare as straining Kansas families and frames affordability as a central issue.

Endorsements

Hamilton has received endorsements from the following, according to The Hill and BallotReady:

  • Bill Graves, former Republican Kansas governor, who said the country is "facing increasing partisan gridlock and division" and that it's "time Kansas does something different"
  • AFL-CIO

Candidate responses were gathered from the candidate's campaign website and BallotReady questionnaire. This profile is part of the Overland Park Chronicle's 2026 election coverage.