Kansas Democratic attorney general candidate Chris Mann and U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hamilton have something in common beyond their political affiliation. Both have received endorsements from CAIR Action, the political advocacy affiliate of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization whose history includes controversial statements concerning Hamas, associations with individuals convicted of terrorism-related offenses, and recent terrorist-organization designations by officials in Texas and Florida.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) states that its mission is to promote understanding of Islam, protect civil rights and religious freedom, and empower American Muslims through litigation, government advocacy, public education, and media outreach, while supporting full participation of Muslims in American civic life. Its political affiliate, CAIR Action, is a 501(c)(4) organization that endorses political candidates, mobilizes voters, and advocates public policies aligned with its priorities.
Mann and Hamilton find themselves in select political company.
Mann is among five Democratic candidates for state attorney general identified in CAIR Action’s 2026 endorsement records. The others include Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Michigan attorney general candidate Eli Savit, and Ohio attorney general candidate John Kulewicz.
Ellison, a former member of Congress and Minnesota’s attorney general since 2019, has long been associated with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. The other endorsed candidates have likewise support progressive policies such as restrictions on cash bail, declining prosecution of offenses and consensual sex work, immigration enforcement and transgender rights.
Among the issues attracting Republican criticism are policies allowing transgender girls and women to participate in female athletic competitions and protecting access to gender-affirming medical treatment. This is the far-left political agenda that, in their view, places progressive social priorities and criminal justice reforms ahead of traditional law enforcement, criminal accountability, and public safety.
Hamilton is likewise among six U.S. Senate candidates identified in CAIR Action’s 2026 endorsement records. That group includes Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed who advocates for Medicare for All, higher taxes on Americans and substantial changes to American foreign policy. His positions have attracted support from prominent progressive Democrats, including Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Hamilton, by contrast, has presented himself to Kansas voters as a political moderate seeking bipartisan solutions. Nevertheless, both Hamilton and El-Sayed have received CAIR Action’s endorsement. The organization’s congressional endorsements extend to prominent progressive Democrats, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Summer Lee.
What political priorities connect these candidates?
In January 2026, CAIR and CAIR Action jointly released their legislative priorities for the 119th Congress. Among their objectives were ending American military assistance supporting Israeli operations in Gaza, supporting a ceasefire and Palestinian rights, opposing legislation restricting participation in boycotts of Israel, reforming immigration enforcement, protecting nonprofit advocacy organizations, and changing federal terrorism-watchlist and surveillance policies.
CAIR has also supported the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel and opposed expanded American military and intelligence cooperation with the Israeli government.
These are significant policy positions, particularly for candidates seeking offices with responsibilities involving national security, foreign relations, civil rights, and law enforcement.
The organization’s history has also generated considerable controversy.
In March 1994, Nihad Awad, who subsequently became CAIR’s national executive director, participated in a discussion at Barry University in Florida. During the discussion, Awad stated, “I’m in support of the Hamas movement more than the PLO.” Awad again generated controversy following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks against Israeli civilians. Speaking at a Palestinian rights conference in November 2023, Awad said he was happy to see Palestinians breaking through barriers surrounding Gaza on October 7. Those remarks can be taken as celebrating the Hamas attacks, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and hundreds taken hostage.
The organization’s history also includes associations with individuals convicted of serious terrorism-related offenses.
Ghassan Elashi, a founding board member of CAIR’s Texas chapter, was also a founder and chairman of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. In November 2008, a federal jury convicted Elashi and four other foundation officials of crimes involving material support for Hamas. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the foundation provided approximately $12.4 million in support to Hamas through affiliated organizations. On May 27, 2009, Elashi was sentenced to 65 years in federal prison.
Another former CAIR associate, Randall Todd Royer, previously worked as the communications specialist for the terrorist organization. Royer pleaded guilty to federal weapons and explosives offenses arising from his involvement in helping individuals obtain access to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan operated by Lashkar-e-Taiba. He received a 20-year federal prison sentence in April 2004.
The federal government’s concerns about CAIR were also documented in a 2013 Department of Justice Inspector General report. The report explained that the FBI had restricted certain non-investigative contacts with CAIR beginning in 2008 because evidence presented during the Holy Land Foundation prosecution linked CAIR leaders to Hamas. CAIR had also been identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in that prosecution. However, CAIR itself was not convicted of financing terrorism.
The controversy intensified on November 18, 2025, when Texas Governor Greg Abbott designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations under Texas law. Abbott points out that CAIR maintained connections to extremist organizations and posed a threat to public safety.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued a similar executive order in December 2025. Florida subsequently enacted a separate statutory designation process. On September 29, 2026, DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet approved designating CAIR and its Florida chapter as domestic terrorist organizations. CAIR disputes those allegations, and litigation concerning the state actions continues.
Nevertheless, the documented historical controversies and state actions provide context for examining the organization’s political influence. That brings us to the central question: Why did CAIR Action endorse Chris Mann and Adam Hamilton?
CAIR Action explains that its endorsement process includes candidate questionnaires, examinations of public statements and policy positions, and consultations with community leaders. The organization states that candidates receiving its full endorsement strongly align with its organizational values.
Did either candidate complete CAIR Action’s questionnaire? Did either campaign participate in interviews or discussions with the organization? What public statements, policy positions, or commitments persuaded CAIR Action to endorse these two Kansas Democrats?
More specifically, do Mann and Hamilton agree with CAIR Action’s positions concerning American military assistance to Israel, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, immigration enforcement, or federal counterterrorism policies? The publicly available endorsement records do not establish those answers. The endorsements do, however, establish that CAIR Action has publicly selected Mann and Hamilton as candidates it supports.
Mann seeks to become Kansas’s chief legal officer, responsible for defending Kansas laws, protecting constitutional rights, and representing the state’s interests in civil and criminal matters. Hamilton seeks to represent Kansas in the United States Senate, where he would vote on national security, military assistance, immigration, and American foreign policy.
Political endorsements are intended to communicate support. They offer voters information about the organizations that believe candidates will advance, or at least be receptive to, their priorities.
CAIR Action’s endorsements place Mann alongside Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and other progressive Democratic attorneys general. They place Hamilton alongside Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed and other nationally prominent Democrats advocating substantial changes to American domestic and foreign policy and the American way of life.
The question is not simply who else received an endorsement. The more meaningful question is why CAIR Action selected Chris Mann and Adam Hamilton and what those endorsements reveal about their respective political positions.
Kansas voters are entitled to examine the far-left organizations supporting candidates for important public offices, the policies those organizations advocate, and the reasons behind their endorsements. The Kansas Informer reached out to both the Hamilton and Mann campaigns regarding the endorsements and got no response.
Chris Mann and Adam Hamilton have received CAIR Action’s endorsement. What remains unanswered is precisely – why?
