Democrats court religious voters in Kansas as poll puts Adam Hamilton ahead

Channel 4 reported that five days before the US midterms, Kansas has become a fierce battleground in the fight for control of the Senate. The state has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since the Great Depression in 1932. A new poll put the Democratic candidate, pastor Adam Hamilton, on 49% and the Trump-backed Republican incumbent, Roger Marshall, on 45%, a four-point lead for Hamilton.

Channel 4 said religion is central to the contest in a state where seven out of ten voters identify as Christian. Hamilton founded the Resurrection church, which the broadcaster said grew from just 100 worshippers in 1990 to more than 24,000 across nine sites. The church is inclusive, allows gay members to marry and is neutral on abortion, according to the report.

Channel 4 contrasted Hamilton's progressive Christianity with the evangelical Cure church, where worshippers told the programme they backed Donald Trump because of his positions on abortion and on recognising only two biological sexes. Pastor Kelly Lorke said she was a registered Republican because the party aligned most closely with her Christian beliefs. She told Channel 4 she did not consider Hamilton a Christian pastor.

Hamilton defended his position on abortion in an interview with Channel 4. He said his mother, who became pregnant at 17, had asked him not to forget that his grandfather had wanted her to have an abortion. Hamilton said the story informed his support for safe and legal access to abortion, and that he felt the moral tension of abortion.

Channel 4 also reported that Jim Slattery, a former Democratic congressman, said 80% of white evangelicals backed Trump in the last election. He said Hamilton needed to claw back 15% of the white Christian evangelical vote and 15% of the white Catholic vote.