A Republican veteran and former two-term GOP Kansas governor is abandoning a Trump-backed Republican and endorsing his state’s Democratic candidate for Senate.
“With our nation facing increasing partisan gridlock and division, it’s time Kansas does something different,” said Bill Graves, who served as governor from 1995 until 2003, when he announced his support for pastor Adam Hamilton on Wednesday. “For the last six years, Sen. Roger Marshall has turned his back on Kansas. In contrast, Adam Hamilton stands as a bulwark of kindness, humility and service to others. It is for those reasons, and many more, that I believe Kansas should send Adam Hamilton to the U.S. Senate, and I am proud to endorse him.”
Graves said he’s served 22 years, over the course of four Republican primaries and four general elections as secretary of state and then governor, and he said he knows “where politics should end and when public service must begin.”
“Once the votes are counted and the winners of the respective races for public office are determined, it’s time to put politics on the shelf and begin the hard work that’s required of you for all the people, said Graves, arguing that all Kansans are “equally entitled to educational opportunity, quality healthcare they can afford, public safety and social services, with all of these provided with responsible management of their tax dollars.”
He added also that “when you run for public office and win, you work for everyone. You take an oath of office that pledges your faithful effort to that end.” But Hamilton, he said, “understands the value in finding the common ground necessary to solve the tough issues confronting our nation.”
“Adam is willing to work with both sides of the aisle to find common ground,” he continued. “While there are many who will scoff at the notion of working together for the benefit of everyone, it is imperative that we reestablish that style of governing. Unless we do so, we are doomed to a continuation of the ugly politics of neither party yielding to the concerns of the other. And in doing so, we will guarantee that large numbers of citizens will never have their needs addressed.”
Graves admitted that he would probably be criticized as “old school,” but he said he was ready for the outcry.
“[T]he current way of doing things isn’t working, and it’s driving our nation into the ditch,” he told the Kansas City Star. “Adam [Hamilton] provides a breath of fresh air, a new look at the old way of doing things that served us so well for many years. I believe he is a bet worth taking, and that is why I am supporting his candidacy.”