Deep-red Kansas votes for change as patience wears thin with Trump: ‘The economy is really taking a beating’

Kansas voters sent a Democrat to the U. S. Senate for the first time in almost a hundred years, ousting Republican Roger Marshall. Adam Hamilton, a former megachurch pastor, pulled off the upset largely on the strength of economic discontent with President Donald Trump, The Guardian reports. Households in the largely agricultural state are contending with higher costs, which the outlet ties to tariffs and the war in Iran.

Six counties that Trump carried in 2024 and Marshall carried in 2020 switched sides this time. Michael Smith, a political science professor at Emporia State University, says many Kansans are conservative without being devoted to Trump, and that towns reliant on farming, though not populated by farmers, are prone to shift when the economy sours. In Junction City, Linda Olson, who backed Trump in 2024, described paying $700 for medication, rationing doses, and facing steep grocery and fuel prices, and she said Marshall had been in office long enough. Janet Grimm, an independent, also voted for Hamilton.

Running under the slogan "leading from the middle," Hamilton cast himself as a moderate and promised cross-party cooperation.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Guardian’s reporting. Read the full story at The Guardian →