Allegations that the Democratic candidate failed to effectively investigate alleged sexual assaults targeting children more than 20 years ago have become a focal point in the closing weeks of the Kansas Senate campaign.
The dispute over Adam Hamilton’s response to alleged child abuse at youth camps held by his church in 2005 and 2006 featured prominently in the televised debate between him and Republican Senator Roger Marshall on Wednesday, which was hosted by FOX4 (WDAF-TV).
Marshall previously released an ad, as part of a $1.2 million statewide package, accusing his Democratic rival of having "protected a pedophile" during his time as lead pastor at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood.
Hamilton has strongly denied covering up alleged sexual misconduct against children, with his spokesperson Tyson Brody telling Newsweek that Marshall was "turning to these desperate lies and false attacks" that had been "repeatedly debunked."
"Roger Marshall is desperate to hide from his record of protecting predators and preying on low-income families in Kansas," Brody added, referring to the senator's 2025 vote to block an amendment that would have required the Justice Department to release files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and recent reports that Marshall—who is an obstetrician-gynecologist—sued hundreds of patients over unpaid bills.
Speaking to Newsweek a Marshall campaign spokesperson commented: "Hamilton’s own words prove that he knew the pedophile should not have been allowed back to camp. He has now admitted three separate times that he made a mistake and should have called the police."
Democrats are hoping to take control of the Senate at the November midterms and victory in Kansas, which last elected a Democratic senator in 1932, would be a boost in that effort. Losing one or both chambers of Congress would significantly impede President Donald Trump’s ability to get legislation passed during the final two years of his second term. Recent polling in Kansas has indicated a tight race with several polls putting the two candidates in a statistical tie.
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The 2005 Allegations
Hamilton founded the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, the largest Methodist congregation in the United States, in 1990.
In 2005 the church organized a youth retreat in Linn County during which two teenage boys said they were touched inappropriately during the night by a man, later identified in court papers as volunteer Scott Preston Moore.
According to the court filings, the boys reported the incident to the camp leadership who were initially "dismissive of their claims," but later conducted an internal investigation into the allegations.
The Kansas Reflector reported the investigation was conducted by Randy Meyer, a church employee, and volunteer Nancy Brown. Speaking to the publication, Sue Thompson, who worked at Resurrection between 1996 and 2019 including as Hamilton’s assistant, said neither was qualified for the role.
This investigation concluded that "neither boy was able to make out the features of the suspect or positively identify the defendant due to the darkness of the room and the blinding light that had been shined directly at their faces."
How the Church Responded
Moore was allowed to return as a cabin leader to the church’s youth retreat the following year. During the 2006 retreat, Moore was accused of entering teenage boys' rooms at night, though they do not explicitly allege any sexual abuse.
In response, church leaders reported the incident to the Linn County Sheriff’s Office and included details about the 2005 allegations. A Linn County prosecutor declined to bring charges over the case.
According to court documents, seen by the Kansas Reflector, Hamilton also "encouraged" a man who alleged Moore abused him in 1979 to go to the police, even though the statute of limitations had expired.
In 2010, Moore was accused of inappropriately touching his son’s friend during a sleepover in a separate incident and was subsequently convicted in 2013 of misdemeanor sexual battery relating to the incident. During the trial, teenagers from the 2005 and 2006 church youth camps testified against Moore. Moore died in 2015.
Why the Case Has Resurfaced
According to The New York Post, Marshall’s team paid for a 30-second ad focusing on Hamilton’s handling of the Church of the Resurrection incidents.
In it, the narrator says: "What did Hamilton do when victims reported him to church leaders? Parents were ignored, and Hamilton never called the police.
"The next fall, Hamilton welcomed him back. Free to lurk for new victims—later convicted of more child sex crimes. Adam Hamilton protected a pedophile. He should never be our senator."
In a statement provided to the publication, Tyson Brody, a Hamilton campaign spokesperson, said: "This is a desperate and shameful attack from a losing politician on his own state’s largest Church. These smears from Roger Marshall were already examined in the primary by local reporters who found the church reported the incidents to law enforcement, and Adam later personally worked to help get this predator convicted."
What Happened at the Debate
Hamilton was asked about the controversy on Wednesday by FOX 4 moderator John Holt during the debate.
Holt said: "Parents entrusted your church to take care of their children. In 2005, two boys reported inappropriate touching at your church camp. Now, you said the church investigated internally, but the findings were inconclusive, and authorities were not contacted. You recently told CNN this."
Holt then played a clip of Hamilton being asked about the incident on CNN, to which he replied: "Like, we should have called the police immediately, but that was not our policies [sic] 21 years ago."
The moderator then asked: "Why not override that policy back in 2005, when you had to know that police or law enforcement are better at investigating these kinds of things than staff?"
The Democratic nominee responded: "That’s a great question. And the reality is that we did change our policy after that. So this was very important. We made sure that the police found out later. When they did, they investigated, they found the same thing. It was inconclusive. There was uncertainty. And as a result of that, they refused to press charges as well.
"I will tell you that ultimately, we helped get this man put behind bars, and the policies that we developed are used by 10,000 churches across America."
In May, Hamilton was attacked over his handling of the case by State Senator Patrick Schmidt during the Democratic Kansas Senate primary campaign for the party's nomination.
What Hamilton and Marshall Disagree On
The key difference is that Marshall is accusing Hamilton of having "protected a pedophile" by failing to conduct a thorough investigation following the 2005 allegations, while Hamilton insists there was an investigation and court documents show the victims couldn’t identify their alleged assailant.
Hamilton told The Kansas Reflector that he would handle the 2005 allegations differently if they happened today, but insisted: "I can just say that our aim was to make sure that if we got anything wrong, we wanted to get it right. There was no attempt at a cover-up."
Court records indicate Hamilton did not personally lead the 2005 investigation and the church did report Moore to the police following further incidents in 2006.
Earlier this month, Vice President JD Vance said Hamilton believes "it's a sin to be white and a sin to raise cattle and eat meat." Responding on ABC News' This Week, Hamilton said: "It was pathetic. He doesn't know me. Doesn't know anything about my faith."
Latest Polling
Recent polling indicates the contest between Marshall and Hamilton is extremely competitive.
An InsiderAdvantage survey of 1,200 Kansas likely voters conducted over October 13-14 put Marshall one point ahead, with 48 percent of the vote to Hamilton’s 47 percent. This survey has a 2.83 percentage point margin of error.
However, a YouGov poll of 2,255 likely Kansas voters had Hamilton ahead by three points, with 48 percent of the vote against 45 percent. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
A New York Times/Siena University survey of 605 likely Kansas voters had Hamilton and Marshall tied at 45 percent each when Libertarian candidate David Graham was included. However, when Graham was removed, Marshall led by one point with 47 percent of the vote to 46 percent. This poll came with a 4.5-5.5 percentage point margin of error.
Newsweek's reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Daniel Orton and Oliver Pritchard.