In a development that will surprise absolutely no one who has ever looked at a map of the United States, Kansas Democratic Senate nominee Adam Hamilton said "please, no" on Thursday to the idea of former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigning alongside him ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Appearing on Politico's "The Conversation," Hamilton was asked which national Democrats he'd actually welcome on the trail. His answer was, essentially, a very polite bouncer routine.

"It wasn't like I was a huge champion for Kamala Harris," he said. "People ask me, should she come here and campaign for you? Please, no. Don't come here to campaign for me."

He added, with the diplomatic grace of someone who has clearly rehearsed this: "Harris can stay in California. Yeah, and I mean no disrespect for her. I just think she is not somebody who would win votes here in Kansas."

Hamilton has campaigned with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), which is fine and normal. But he similarly declined the opportunity to campaign with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) - and then shared a story that Schumer presumably wishes had stayed in the room.

Hamilton recounted asking Schumer what the biggest challenge in the Kansas Senate race would be. Schumer, apparently expecting a thoughtful answer about fundraising or grassroots organizing, instead got: "I said, 'You, you know, you are.'"

"I am only saying in Kansas, you're a liability," Hamilton continued. "You're not a, you're not a help."

For context, Harris has been out campaigning with Democrats in battleground states, including Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. At a discussion on Black maternal healthcare alongside El-Sayed, Harris offered a gentle reminder that "the Senate seat is six years. So let's think about that in the lives of all the people that the leaders here serve."

Her involvement in red-state Democratic campaigns has divided the party - a sentence that could probably be its own news category at this point. Former Rep. Mary Peltola's (D-Alaska) Senate campaign has distanced itself from the former vice president, presumably by walking briskly in the other direction.

"The VP did very well in some places and didn't do great in others, and if you're in a state where she didn't perform well, it may not help you to have her campaign with you this fall," Democratic strategist and former Harris aide Jamal Simmons told The Hill in August - a sentence that is technically analysis but reads more like a weather report for a hurricane.

President Trump won Kansas in 2024 by nearly 16 points over Harris. But his approval rating in the Sunflower State has slipped to around 40 percent, according to a September Emerson College and Nexstar poll. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) is the favorite to win his race against Hamilton, though the generally bad political atmosphere for Republicans could open a window for the Democrat.

The same Emerson poll found Hamilton slightly ahead of Marshall at 45 percent support to the Republican's 43 percent.

Kansas is generally a red state, and although it has sometimes elected moderate Democratic governors, it has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932. So Hamilton's strategy appears to be: run as a Kansan first, a Democrat second, and a person who would rather not be photographed with anyone from California or New York, thank you very much.