Kansas is famously cattle country, making comments from the Democrat seeking to unseat Sen. Roger Marshall especially politically charged. Years ago, the candidate urged members of his congregation to reconsider eating beef and raising cattle as part of a broader call to reduce their environmental impact.
Adam Hamilton, the Democratic nominee challenging Marshall, R-Kan., spent years leading the largest United Methodist church in the country. Marshall has criticized Hamilton’s sermons as “woke” and out of step with the values of Kansas voters.
In one sermon reviewed by Fox News Digital, Hamilton asked worshippers to repent for the effects of their carbon footprints.
“That’s what repentance means — I saw things differently, it changed my heart, and it changed my behavior,” Hamilton said in a January 2020 sermon titled “What would Jesus say about climate change?”
Hamilton acknowledged that he, too, had been wasteful and had not always considered whether his actions reflected responsible stewardship of the planet. He called on the congregation to recognize that even seemingly minor choices could affect the environment and future generations, then commit to changing their behavior.
The Senate contest has drawn unusual attention in a state where Republicans have held the seat for 94 years. The race between Hamilton and Marshall has tightened in recent months as Republicans nationwide confront a more difficult political landscape.
Fox News’ Power Rankings moved Kansas from “Likely R” to “Lean R,” while the Cook Political Report made a similar adjustment.
“In a state with more cattle than people, Hamilton saying that Kansans need to repent for eating too much beef and flip-flopping on the Farm Bill proves he’d be just like every other liberal Democrat in the Senate,” Marshall said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Rising fuel costs, including especially burdensome diesel prices for Kansas’ agriculture industry, have added to voter concerns. Those pressures, attributed in the article to President Donald Trump’s Iran war, are also broadening the list of states Republicans must protect to retain their Senate majority.
Hamilton’s campaign responded by pointing to Marshall’s own record, telling Fox News Digital that the senator has “repeatedly introduced legislation to reduce emissions from cattle” and previously said that “everyone’s concerned about the methane production in the cattle industry.”
“Marshall even bragged that the decline of the herd ‘eliminated half of the methane gas produced from cattle already,’” Hamilton spokesman Tyson Brody said. Brody added that, as Hamilton argued during a debate, Marshall should apologize for failing to support Kansas cattle producers facing tariffs, imports and soaring diesel costs. He also accused Marshall of criticizing Hamilton over an issue the senator himself had raised, while noting that Kansas producers “don’t need lectures from someone who voted to put warning labels on hot dogs and bacon.”
Hamilton’s 44-minute presentation combined biblical teachings with a PowerPoint explanation of greenhouse gases and their effects on the environment. During the sermon, he identified beef — one of Kansas’ most important economic products — as a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
Hamilton explained that livestock such as cattle can generate more carbon dioxide than some alternative crops or food sources, arguing that people’s food choices add to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
The cattle industry is central to Kansas. The state is the nation’s third-largest beef producer, according to the Kansas Livestock Association, and has more than 5.8 million cattle compared with a population of approximately 2.9 million residents.
Cattle farming and ranching also deliver tens of billions of dollars to the state’s economy and support employment for tens of thousands of Kansans.
Matt Teagarden, CEO of the Kansas Livestock Association, criticized Hamilton’s remarks. “It is disappointing that a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Kansas, one of the nation’s top beef-producing states, would make a statement like this to his parishioners about beef’s impact on the climate,” Teagarden told Fox News Digital. He said beef remains a nutritious part of the American diet, while cattle help maintain grasslands and support conservation, and account for 2% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
The sermon, delivered six years ago, nevertheless showed Hamilton encouraging worshippers to change their daily routines in an effort to reduce their individual carbon footprints.
Hamilton urged people to cut fossil-fuel consumption wherever possible and suggested that modifying their diets could reduce demand for foods associated with methane, carbon dioxide and other emissions.
