Democrats are betting on pastors and ministers in the midterms

Amna Nawaz:

Well, with just a few weeks to go until Election Day, Democrats are hoping to flip some seats in deep red states. And some are doing that by talking about religion.

Our Lisa Desjardins has more.

Lisa Desjardins:

Fusing faith in politics is almost a no-brainer for many Republicans hoping to hold public office. But this election cycle, 12 pastors, seminarians, and former clergy ran as Democrats, with about half managing to secure their nominations.

Coming from the pulpit to the political stage, these candidates have used their experience as religious leaders to talk about their call to run.

James Talarico (D), Texas Senatorial Candidate: I want to speak to you this morning, not as a candidate, but as a fellow Christian.

Frederick Haynes III (D), Texas Congressional candidate: But this Republican Party has demolished and torn down. It's time for us to reconstruct this nation and make it truly one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Adam Hamilton (D), Kansas Senatorial Candidate: Jesus himself, there were times he turned over the money changers' tables in the temple, and he still taught us to love our neighbor and even love our enemy.

Lisa Desjardins:

For more, we are joined by NPR's religion correspondent, Jason DeRose, who recently spent time on the campaign trail with several of these candidates.

Thank you for joining us, Jason.

Jason DeRose, NPR Religion Correspondent:

Happy to be here.

Lisa Desjardins:

This is a small, but noteworthy group. On the ballot in November, there will be five Democrats in congressional races who are clergy or in training to be clergy.

Of those candidates, four of them are in competitive races that could determine the fate of the House or the Senate. Now, we have seen Republican clergy run before. We have seen that this year also, but what's new here is this Democratic cohort. Why do you think this is emerging now?

Jason DeRose:

Well, for many years, as you said, Republicans really had the market cornered on this. And I think that Democrats finally figured out a way to have clergy, the people best trained and most trained and most used to talking about their faith and how it -- how they use it in public life.

And these people emerged through state legislatures. Three of these candidates serve in state legislatures right now. So they realized, this is our moment, I think. I don't think there was a big campaign to get them to run, say, from the Democratic Party. It was much more -- these were people serving their neighbors in state legislatures who said it's now time for a larger stage.

Lisa Desjardins:

There is news regarding one of these candidates. That's Adam Hamilton in Kansas. The Cook Political Report rated that Senate race in Kansas a toss-up, which is rather incredible for a state that has not voted for a Democrat for Senate in decades.

What can you tell us about that race? What does it tell you about what's happening?

Jason DeRose:

Well, what's interesting to me there is that, when I first started this reporting, it was a pretty solidly Republican race, and this has moved very quickly from solidly red to leans red and now to toss-up, a very big deal.

Hamilton is the pastor of a very large, one might call it a megachurch, a Methodist megachurch. He's written many, many books. But he was actually a Republican for many years who, in fact, thought of running as an independent, but decided to run as a Democrat. And it seems to be working out for him, becoming a toss-up.

Lisa Desjardins:

How do these candidates thread this needle -- we have separation of church and state here -- between talking into a secular crowd and then also speaking of their faith to a religious one?

Jason DeRose:

Well, it's a really difficult needle to thread for clergy because they're so used to talking about their faith.

But, again, these people, some of them have spent time in legislatures talking about their -- how their faith influences their politics, but not how it dictates their politics. And I think that, for James Talarico in particular, he came to prominence talking out against Christian nationalism while being a seminarian, while being a politician.

So he's figured out how to do it as well. I think part of what he says and part of what Sarah Trone Garriott in Iowa and Lindsay James in Iowa also do is, they say that their faith influences their politics, it doesn't dictate their politics, and they don't dictate other people's faith.

Lisa Desjardins:

Republicans are countering some of these candidates by questioning if they are true Christians. I want to play some sound from one of those opposing Republicans. This is Joe Mitchell in Iowa.

Joe Mitchell (R), Iowa Congressional Candidate: I call them PINOs, pastor in name only. That's what I call them, pastors in name only, because they're not real pastors, right? They don't profess the truth, Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lisa Desjardins:

In our last-minute or so, these are ordained or to-be-ordained members of clergy. That is a fact. But are these attacks working? And what does this say about kind of the battle to define Christianity?

Jason DeRose:

Well, I don't know that they're working because throughout -- all of these candidates are being attacked that way for not being true Christians, and they have all gained ground. They have all been moved from either solidly Republican to toss-up or in that direction.

I think it might actually be backfiring a bit. People say, these aren't people who we might question their religiosity. They have served for 20, 30 -- one of them even served for 40 years in a congregation with 13,000 people. How can you question whether that person is a real pastor?

Lisa Desjardins:

Jason DeRose of NPR, thank you so much for sharing your reporting.

Jason DeRose:

Happy to be here.