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.”

"I wouldn't use the word 'genocide.' … because it stops the conversation."

Adam Hamilton, the Democratic Senate candidate in Kansas, spoke to Politico about how even though he thinks what Israel has done in Gaza is both "irresponsible" and "unjust," he thinks genocide is the… pic.twitter.com/GPKCVLQh64

— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) October 2, 2026

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.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) said on Wednesday that Iran has to be “able to defend themselves,” suggesting the U.S. would “never” get a full surrender from Tehran.

The Kansas Republican was responding to a question from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who asked Marshall if he was OK with Tehran having missiles.

“I’m hesitating. I’d prefer that they not,” Marshall replied. “I certainly don’t want them to have long-distance missiles. I don’t want them to have nuclear-armed missiles. I would prefer they didn’t. But I don’t think that’s the key issue here. I think that they have to be able to defend themselves.”

Collins interjected, asking, “You think Iran needs to be able to defend itself?”

“I do. I think they have to be able to defend themselves,” Marshall replied. “Otherwise we turn this into a forever war. You’re never going to get them — short of boots on the ground — of surrendering everything, an unconditional agreement, if you will.”

The comments from the senator, who has in recent years been an outlier in his party over his defense of Qatar, came shortly after President Donald Trump said in France that it would be “OK” for Iran to retain some of its ballistic missile capabilities. “If other countries have them, it’s a little bit unfair for them not to have some,” the president said on the sidelines of the G7 summit.

Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans penned a letter to Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) on Thursday to request that he hold a hearing on how the uptick in antisemitism on college campuses is violating the civil rights of Jewish students. 

The letter was led by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the top Republican on the committee, and signed by every Republican who serves on the panel, including Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Kennedy (R-LA), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). They urged Durbin, who chairs the committee, to convene a hearing “on the civil rights violations of Jewish students” and “the proliferation of terrorist ideology — two issues that fall squarely within this Committee’s purview.”

“With this current state of inaction, it is incumbent upon this Committee to shed light on these civil rights violations,” the group wrote. “This Committee owes it to Jewish students, and all students who attend universities with modest hope of having a safe learning environment, to examine these civil rights violations.”

“Our committee should examine why more is not being done to protect the civil rights of innocent students across America,” they added. “We must also examine the threat to national security posed by the proliferation of radical Islamist ideology in the academy. These pressing issues demand our immediate attention.”

A spokesperson for Durbin did not immediately respond to JI’s request for comment on the letter, which came the same day as a missive from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) requesting a similar hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. 

Cassidy, the top Republican on the Senate HELP Committee, sent a letter to Sanders on Thursday urging him to convene a hearing in his capacity as committee chairman on the uptick in antisemitism on college campuses. 

Cassidy’s letter, first obtained by Jewish Insider, marks the second time in six months that the Louisiana senator has written to Sanders requesting that he allow for a full committee hearing “on ensuring safe learning environments for Jewish students, as required by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” Cassidy released a statement last week re-upping his call for a hearing, though he told JI that effort got no response.

“It is our duty to ensure federal officials are doing everything in their power to uphold the law and ensure students are not excluded from participation, denied the benefits of, or subject to discrimination at school based on race, color, or national origin,” Cassidy wrote to Sanders. “In the six months since my last letter requesting a hearing, the situation has only gotten worse.”

While Republicans have generally been more vocal about their concerns on the issue of antisemitism on college campuses, there have been bipartisan calls for action in the upper chamber. 

Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK) have also asked Sanders to hold a hearing on antisemitism on college campuses in his capacity as HELP chairman. Similar to Cassidy, they have also not heard back from the Vermont senator. 

Separately, Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) requested a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser’s response to protests at The George Washington University’s campus this week. 

The duo penned a letter on Thursday to Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), who chairs the committee, requesting he bring in Bowser and D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith to testify on their respective responses to university requests to bring DCMP onto campus to clear out an anti-Israel encampment, requests Bowser denied. 

On the House side, where Republicans are in the majority, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) launched a chamber-wide effort to address all elements of the campus unrest. 

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), who chairs the Education and Workforce Committee, revealed that in addition to her ongoing probes, she will have the presidents of three other schools testify next month on their responses to protests and instances of antisemitism on their campuses. The presidents of the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Michigan; and Yale University will be brought in to testify before Foxx’s committee on May 23. 

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, noted that her panel “oversees agencies that dole out massive amounts of taxpayer funded research grants… We will be increasing our oversight of institutions that have received public funding and cracking down on those who are in violation of the Civil Rights Act.”

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) said that his panel was reaching out to the State Department and Homeland Security Department to find out “how many students on a visa have engaged in the radical activity we’ve seen now day after day on college campuses.”