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Up First from NPR
Up First from NPR

Sep 27, 2026 · 36 min

Clergy candidates test faith’s reach in red-state races

Can clergy candidates help Democrats win in red states?

The campaigns show how religious conviction can guide Democratic public service while economic concerns and secular voters limit faith-based appeals.

3 key takeaways
  1. 1Four Democratic clergy or clergy-trained candidates frame health care, poverty, and care for marginalized people as religious obligations.
  2. 2Republican attacks question the candidates’ Christianity, forcing them to distinguish pastoral calling from political persuasion.
  3. 3Voters may welcome faith-informed service, but grocery prices, rural health care, and public services often matter more than scripture.

Don't miss

Lindsey James reinterprets the Good Samaritan as a call to repair dangerous public systems, not merely aid their victims.

The brief

Jason DeRose tells Ayesha Rascoe why an unusual group of Democratic clergy and clergy-trained candidates entered competitive races in Texas and Iowa, describing campaigns as calls to ministry and public service rather than coordinated recruitment.

James Talarico and Frederick Haynes connect Texas campaigns to scripture, solidarity, and the fallout from Republican redistricting, while Iowa candidates Lindsey James and Joan Garriott emphasize rural health care and neighbors’ everyday needs.

Republican opponents challenge whether the candidates are genuine Christians and accuse them of politicizing the gospel; the candidates answer that hunger, homelessness, health care, and marginalized communities are moral concerns.

Churchgoers respond with both enthusiasm and skepticism, while secular voters often focus less on religious language than grocery prices, emergency services, public health, and rural care.

Lindsey James invokes the Good Samaritan through Martin Luther King Jr.: government should not only help people hurt on a dangerous road, but repair the underfunded systems that make it dangerous.

Featuring

JDJason DeRoseLJLindsey JamesJames TalaricoJames TalaricoFHFrederick Haynes

Mentioned

TexasTexasThe Sunday StoryThe Sunday Story1 Corinthians1 Corinthians

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