Adam Hamilton, the Democratic nominee in Kansas’ Senate race running against Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), said in a Politico video interview that he wants to end offensive aid to Israel, but disagreed with characterizations of the war in Gaza as a genocide.

The comments are a signal of how unpopular Democrats believe U.S. support for Israel has become even in ordinarily deep-red states. The Cook Political Report rates the Kansas Senate race as “lean Republican,” making it unexpectedly competitive. Recent polling has shown a tight race and, in some cases, a narrow lead for Hamilton.

“I don’t want my tax money being used for weapons that are going to be dropped on hospitals, destroying entire communities,” Hamilton, a Methodist pastor, said. Pressed on whether he would vote to stop weapons transfers, he said “not all weapons transfers,” carving out an exemption for defensive weapons.

“I want to make sure that Israel is safe and I want them to stop dropping bombs on innocent people, and I don’t want them to drop the bombs that my taxes paid for on innocent people,” he said. “Hamas needs to go, I think Hamas is horrible, but I think we have to do better and I think it is a humanitarian crisis.”

He said that the “wreckage, the ruin” in Gaza “can’t be how we solve our problems,” and called it “irresponsible and unjust.”

At the same time, Hamilton said that he would not describe the war as a genocide because “genocide implies an intent to destroy an entire group of people. I don’t think that is Israel’s intent, is to wipe out a group of people.”

And, he continued, the word “stops the conversation. It’s a triggering term. I understand why people want to use it because I would say these actions feel genocidal, but I don’t believe that’s the right word to use to describe what’s happening to further any conversations that are going to happen between — in solving this problem.”

Hamilton said he’d been to Israel and the West Bank “probably a dozen times” and taken over 2,000 people there. He said he “care[s] deeply about the Palestinian people and I care about the Jewish people in Israel.”

He said Israel “has a right to exist in safety and security and they are an ally.” He said that he condemns both the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and the war in Gaza.