Kansas Democrat Adam Hamilton spent his final Senate debate running from his own party's agenda — disavowing Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden's border policies, and biological men in women's sports — in a race that proves America-first policies are what voters actually demand.

The Kansas Senate contest, now a toss-up in a state that hasn't sent a Democrat to the upper chamber in nearly a century, has become a referendum on which candidate can convince voters he'll stand for working Americans over Washington's uniparty consensus. Hamilton's full-throated rejection of his own party's positions exposes the gap between what the establishment pushes and what the people want.

Hamilton, a megachurch pastor and first-time candidate, declared himself an "independent-minded Democrat" and insisted "I'm not somebody who favors the Socialist Party." He promised not to vote for Schumer as majority leader, called Biden's border policies a "disaster," and said of transgender athletes: "I have a 12-year-old granddaughter. I don't want biological men or boys competing against her that could harm her."

Incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Marshall wasn't buying it. He mentioned Schumer 17 times in the hourlong debate, according to NBC News, warning that Hamilton would fall in line once in Washington. "My opponent's going to say anything he can to lie to get into that office and give control to Chuck Schumer," Marshall said. "He's going to say he's going to vote against these things, but every Democrat stands up, and when Schumer tells them to jump, they say, 'how high?'"

On policy, the sharpest divides were over the Iran war and tariffs — the two issues hammering Kansas farmers most directly. Hamilton called the Iran war a mistake and demanded withdrawal: "It was not a good decision to go to war in Iran, and we need to get out." Marshall countered with "peace through strength" and warned against letting Iran obtain nuclear weapons.

Marshall also defended Trump's tariffs as driving a "manufacturing renaissance" with jobs returning to the U.S. Hamilton slammed tariffs as alienating allies and creating "instability, chaos and corruption." Kansas farmers caught in the crossfire told CBS News many aren't sure they'll survive past next year if conditions continue.

Marshall blamed the Ukraine war — not Iran — for soaring diesel prices, while simultaneously expressing skepticism about Trump's deal to lift sanctions on Russian diesel exports. "It doesn't sound like a great idea to me," he said, though he added he'd support it if it brings Russia to the bargaining table and ends the war.

Both candidates faced late-campaign baggage. The New York Post led its coverage with Hamilton's admission that he made a "mistake" by failing to bar a volunteer accused of sexual abuse from a 2006 church retreat where the volunteer allegedly abused another boy. Hamilton said an internal review was "inconclusive" and police found the same, but conceded: "I should have checked to make sure that he wasn't going back. That was a mistake on my part." The volunteer, Scott Moore, was later convicted of misdemeanor sexual battery in 2013.

Marshall, for his part, pushed back on reports he sued roughly 700 patients of his medical practice over unpaid bills, calling the allegations "blatant lies" and saying collections decisions were "out of our hands" once bills went to agencies — standard practice, he said, for doctors and hospitals.

Marshall distanced himself from Trump on ICE raids targeting Kansas meatpacking plants, saying he told Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin the action wasn't "quite right," and on Trump's short-term waiver on beef imports that hurt Kansas ranchers.

The question hanging over this race is simple: if a Democrat has to repudiate his party's leader, its border policies, its social agenda, and its foreign interventions just to compete in Kansas, what exactly is the Democratic Party selling that working Americans want to buy?