From the HERE City National Desk
WICHITA, Kan. — One of the most Republican states in the country has turned into a genuine fight for control of the U.S. Senate, with GOP Sen. Roger Marshall locked in a close contest against Democrat Adam Hamilton a week before Election Day.
Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since the Great Depression, and the seat was not on national Republican worry lists until recently. Hamilton, who has led the large Church of the Resurrection for about three decades and is running as a moderate, has changed that.
Public polling shows how tight it is. In mid-October, pollster InsiderAdvantage questioned 1,200 people likely to vote statewide and found Hamilton at 47.5% and Marshall at 46.7%, a gap well inside its 2.83-point margin of error. Libertarian David Graham drew 3.4%, and 2.4% were undecided.
That poll found Marshall ahead among men and voters 65 and older, while Hamilton led among women, younger voters and independents. Democrats also reported far more enthusiasm, with 77.1% calling themselves very enthusiastic, compared with roughly half of Republicans and independents.
Marshall has embraced President Donald Trump, who rallied with him in Park City, and has argued that Republicans cannot keep the Senate if they lose Kansas. Republicans currently hold 53 seats. The senator has also pointed to high gas prices as a drag on his numbers.
Marshall first won the seat in 2020 by nearly 12 points with Trump on the ballot. Political scientists in the state note that this year is a midterm, when voters often push back against the party holding the White House.
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