Democrats are trying to open up a new front in the battle for the Senate in conservative-leaning Kansas.
Republican Sen. Roger Marshall is running for a second term in an agricultural state facing pressure from record-high diesel prices and ongoing tariffs.
At a recent debate, Mr. Marshall defended President Trump’s tariff policies.
“These tariffs were meant to bring manufacturing jobs home and improve our exports. And guess what? It’s working,” he said.
His Democratic opponent, Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton, pitches himself as “an independent-minded Democrat” who will put “country before party.”
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, has been talking up Mr. Hamilton’s chances, calling him “a seasoned politician.”
“Kansas is a good example of why you can’t paint every state with the same brush,” Mr. Schumer told the outlet Punchbowl News in August. “This guy is a minister, a moderate Methodist.”
Most polls have shown Mr. Marshall leading Mr. Hamilton by single digits. He first won election to the Senate by a more than 11-point margin.
In August, Senate Majority PAC, a pro-Democratic group, released a poll showing Mr. Marshall in the lead by one point. However, another pollster, co/efficient, favored Mr. Marshall by five points in September.
Mr. Hamilton says a variety of factors could favor Democrats.
“When it comes to tariffs, healthcare, immigration, when it comes to the war in Iran, these are all things that are having a negative impact on people in Kansas,” Mr. Hamilton said in an interview with The Guardian. “That makes this a particularly vulnerable time for Roger Marshall.”
Mr. Hamilton raised more than any other previous Kansas Democratic Senate candidate in the first quarter of his campaign.
On Thursday, a Democratic group injected major spending into the race.
1861 Group, a Democrat-aligned super PAC funded by liberal foundations that do not disclose their donors, filed $600,000 in advertising spending to oppose Mr. Marshall.
Democrats have had some success in the Sunflower State, which has a Democratic governor. However, Kansas has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932.
Mr. Marshall and Mr. Hamilton faced off in a debate at the Kansas State Fair, where a crowd booed the incumbent throughout.
There are signs Republicans take the race seriously, although it does not have the battleground status of nearby states such as Iowa and Nebraska.
Vice President J.D. Vance rallied in Kansas alongside Mr. Marshall after the debate.
The vice president criticized Mr. Hamilton’s church for having sponsored Kansas City PrideFest, and said Mr. Hamilton supported a group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who describe themselves as “trans nuns.”
Mr. Vance described the group as “an anti-Christian hate group” that mocks nuns and Christianity.
Mr. Hamilton “is OK with supporting groups that spit on God-fearing Americans,” Mr. Vance said.
Similarly, Main Street Fund, a Republican super PAC, has referred to Mr. Hamilton as a “woke megachurch CEO.”
“These attacks on our faith are false and are a sad attempt to distract from the real hardships facing Kansans,” Mr. Hamilton said in a video response, in which he touted his church’s charity efforts.
Democrats need to net four additional Senate seats to gain control of the chamber.
David McIntosh, president of Club for Growth Action, a major pro-Republican super PAC, said he believes Mr. Marshall will succeed in Kansas but that victory won’t be a cakewalk.
Mr. Marshall will “have to campaign hard and spend money, but in the end, I think he’ll win,” he said.
“As the debate showed, tariffs was a big issue,” said Mr. McIntosh. “If you’ve got a Republican audience at the biggest event of the year booing you because of that, that’s a red flag.”
Mr. Marshall’s chief of staff responded that it was not a Republican audience.
“Liberal activists were bused in from hours away to pack the house with signs, scripts, and ready to boo. It was a total production,” said Brent Robertson in a statement to The Washington Times.
The Cook Political Report, an election forecaster, shifted its rating of the Senate race from “solid” to “likely” Republican on Aug. 5.
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