Kansas Republicans lodge FEC complaint against Hamilton
Brad Cooper
Sunflower State Journal
April 24, 2026
The Kansas Republican Party on Friday lodged a complaint against Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton for using his church to support his potential candidacy for the U.S. Senate.
The complaint, filed by Kansas Republican Party executive director Rob Fillion, accuses Hamilton of announcing the creation of an exploratory committee to run for the Senate on a website and YouTube channel maintained by the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood that he founded in 1991.
The complaint names Hamilton as well as the Church of the Resurrection. The complaint comes as Hamilton is nearing a decision about running for the U.S. Senate against Republican incumbent Roger Marshall, most likely as an independent or a Democrat. He has said he would make a decision by the end of April.
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A spokesperson for Hamilton could not be reached for comment Friday morning. A representative of the church also could not be reached for comment.
The complaint says that on Feb. 27, the church added a page to its website headlined “Pastor Adam Hamilton Explores a Possible Run for the U.S. Senate.”
The page included a list of questions and answers concerning Hamilton’s potential candidacy, including what church resources would be used for the campaign, the complaint said.
The church, according to the complaint, said staff would not work on the campaign during work hours and that no campaign events would be held on church property as well as other areas that would be off limits.
But the complaint said there [would be] clear firewalls established and monitored by the staff to ensure separation between the church and a potential campaign.
The complaint said the church webpage also embedded Hamilton’s 11-[minute] exploratory committee announcement video, which was first posted on the church’s official YouTube channel.
The complaint said the video began with an animation of the church’s logo.
The complaint said the church logo is superimposed over the bottom right-hand corner of Hamilton’s announcement on the church’s website and YouTube channel.
“There is reason to believe that the church, by making its corporate resources available to Adam Hamilton so that he could announce his exploratory campaign for U.S. Senate, has violated (federal law) by making an illegal corporate contribution to a federal campaign,” the complaint said.
“The church has made an in-kind contribution to Hamilton’s nascent campaign by allowing him to utilize channels of communication that are owned and controlled by the church — a nonprofit corporation — to communicate his political message to the church’s members,” the complaint said.
“In short, the church has violated the Federal Election Campaign Act by making corporate resources available to Hamilton to publicly promote his campaign for federal office, thereby resulting in an illegal in-kind contribution to the campaign,” the complaint said.
“The Church has also violated the Internal Revenue Code by intervening in a political campaign, ignoring the express conditions of its 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt status,” the complaint said.
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