ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

The race for one of Kansas’ U.S. Senate seats is filling up rapidly, and one of the names on that list is Adam Hamilton.

Like many of the other candidates, Hamilton’s roots in the Sunflower State run deep.

“My family are fifth generation Kansans – my great-great-grandparents originally came from Pennsylvania and settled in Dickinson County in a town called Hope, so we've been in Kansas a long time,” Hamilton said. “I grew up in the Kansas City area, and I have been a United Methodist pastor for the past 38 years. I love my job and love the people. I started with a dream of building a church that reached lots of people in order to make a difference in our community, in our world, and what we've always tried to do at the church is encourage people to live out their faith in the world. We've been very involved in our community, especially at schools where there are low-income children, and doing what we could to help support them. Throughout the past 36 years, our congregation has given more than $100 million to causes outside the walls of our church to make a difference. It's been a just a really big part of who we are, and we're always asking the question, how does our faith connect with daily life?”

That question, Hamilton said, ultimately sparked the idea of running for political office.

“Throughout the past year, there were times where I would find myself thinking ‘This decision out of Washington doesn't seem to help people. It seems like it might actually hurt people,’ or ‘This decision doesn't reflect the values I hold to.’ I would find myself repeatedly thinking ‘We need something different in Washington.’ I would find myself thinking in particular about how the polarization in our country was actually hurting us, keeping us from getting things done. My feeling was ‘We need government that's bringing people together, not separating people and dividing them.’ Right now, our government seems to be good at dividing people and not bringing people together. At the church I serve, we are a congregation that's roughly equal parts Republican, Democrat and Independent, and that's kind of unusual. After a while, what I began to feel was maybe there's a way somebody like me could make a difference and actually bring people together and build bridges to solve the really hard problems. And in particular, I love the state of Kansas and I thought I'd like to be able to help Kansans and do something in Washington that would help them.”

Before officially making his decision, however, Hamilton said it was important for him to talk to fellow Kansans.

“As I was thinking about running for Senate, I decided I wanted to go listen to people. So I drove across the state of Kansas and spent four days visiting 18 cities in Kansas and just listening to people,” Hamilton said. “I went to libraries and community centers and public parks and there were some pretty big crowds. I asked them, ‘What's working/not working for you?’ and ‘What are you frustrated by?’ ‘What do you wish was different?’ And again and again, I heard people saying they were frustrated by the cost of living, particularly with health insurance. I heard those concerns over and over, and I remember thinking ‘We can send astronauts to the far side of the moon, but we can't solve health insurance because our government's not working?’ I was also hearing from people who were negatively impacted by tariffs and concerns for the markets they spent years on, especially farmers and ranchers. I also heard from teachers talking about special education, and how funds have been removed from the federal government for special education, and now they were trying to figure out, how to fund those programs.”

After that listening tour, Hamilton said, his decision was made.

“I came back and realized ‘I care about these people, and I care about the issues that matter to them, and I think I could be a good champion for them. I think I'd like to fight for them and for the things that matter to Kansans and to help people in our state,” Hamilton said. “I particularly think about people who live paycheck to paycheck – for years, my wife and I lived paycheck to paycheck, and when gas prices are up way more from where they were a year ago, what does that do when you're living paycheck to paycheck? Or the costs of a whole host of goods? There was something inside me that said I could help and make a difference for people in Kansas.”

Hamilton said there are multiple goals he has should he ultimately be elected to the position.

“One is some form of immigration reform. When I talked to ranchers and people in the meat packing areas and other similar jobs across Kansas, they were often saying, ‘We've got to find a better solution for immigration.’ We want and need immigrants in our country. We need strong borders, but we also need policies that allow for a legal way for immigrants to be able to be here, and we need them in our workplaces,” Hamilton said. “We need immigration reform, but it's going to require Republicans and Democrats working together. Healthcare and how we're providing healthcare for people is something that will again require Republicans and Democrats to work together. We no one party can. There’s also the matter of how do we treat each other as Americans? How do we talk about our neighbors in Canada and Mexico? How do we live up to our values of being a place that stands for democracy, stands for human rights? I say let's work together on these issues and see if we can't build bridges and have everyone working together to help solve the really big problems.”

While on the campaign trail, Hamilton offered encouragement for constituents to contact him with questions and concerns.

“Our Web site is hamiltonforkansas.com, and there is a place where people can submit questions or concerns, and they can also volunteer or make a donation to the campaign,” Hamilton said. “I'm also going to be traveling across the state multiple times in the months ahead, and I look forward to meeting people. I really do look forward to the opportunity for people to share with me, and my hope would be to be a great champion for Kansas, to fight for Kansans and to fight for prosperity and who we are and what we stand for here.”

Overall, Hamilton said, he is ready to get to work.

“Part of what inspired me to run for office was I have two daughters – one of them is 36 and one of them is 39 and I have a granddaughter who's 12. I think about their future and what that will look like, and I want to leave a country for them better than I found it,” Hamilton said. “I'd like to make sure my children and grandchildren have a great country where they have opportunities to thrive and flourish and where our values as Americans are respected. That's a huge factor for me, wanting to see my children and their children have a really great country. I believe in the United States, I love the state of Kansas, and I think we can do better than we're doing right now.”