Across multiple states, a notable number of Democratic congressional and state-level candidates are foregrounding religious belief in their campaigns, seeking to appeal to Christian voters who have long favored Republican candidates. Among them are an Iowa state senator who is also a Lutheran minister, an Alaska congressional hopeful who serves as a Presbyterian pastor, and a Texas candidate studying in a Presbyterian seminary. Campaigns and organizers within the party say this religiously oriented outreach is part of a deliberate effort to win over churchgoing voters ahead of the midterm elections.
Campaigns that tie scripture to public policy have become more visible this year, organizers say, with faith leaders now running on Democratic tickets in numbers that surpass recent cycles. Doug Pagitt, a pastor who leads the group Vote Common Good, described the field as larger than in prior election years, reflecting a strategic push to place moral and religious language at the center of political debate.
For candidates like the Iowa state senator who is also a Lutheran minister, faith has never been peripheral. "It is really important that people of faith speak to issues in the public realm, because faith is about how we live together," she said. "So is politics." Those words underscore the explicit posture of these campaigns: religious conviction as a foundation for public policy positions rather than a private matter kept separate from political life.
Many of this cycle's faith-oriented Democrats differ from previous generations of religious candidates. Historically, several prominent Democratic clergy came from the Black church community, a constituency closely tied to the party's base. By contrast, this year's group of white clergy and seminary students marks a divergence from that pattern. Observers note that the last white clergy member to serve as a Democrat in Congress appears to have been a representative who left office roughly four decades ago, highlighting how uncommon this development is.
What sets the current crop of candidates apart is the explicit way they link religious doctrines to policy choices. Political scientists say that declaring religiosity usually prompts voters to assume conservative politics, yet this new cohort is deliberately using religious language to advocate for positions associated with the political left. "When you say that a candidate is religious, most voters then assume that they’re Republican, that they’re pretty conservative," a University of Notre Dame political science professor observed. "What you’re seeing now is a small group of Democrats who are using religious language to speak about issues on the left."
The strategy is not without risks. Recent voter analyses show the scale of the challenge: in 2024, the Republican challenger secured 83% of white evangelical votes, a level described as the highest on record, while also winning the backing of majorities of mainline Protestants and Catholics, according to an academic analysis cited by the campaigns. At the same time, the Democratic electorate has become noticeably more secular. A large-scale 2023-24 survey found that 40% of those who prefer the Democratic Party identify as religiously unaffiliated, more than double the share recorded in 2007. That shift in the base complicates messaging for candidates who want to use faith language while not alienating secular Democratic voters.
"If you’re a Democratic candidate, you actually have a pretty tricky road to navigate, because on the one hand, you do have a very secular base, people who are not very comfortable with religion," the Notre Dame professor said. "But on the other hand, there are a lot of moderate voters out there who are up for grabs who are very comfortable with religious language."
Some candidates say they are not deterred by the prospect of turning off non-religious voters. The Alaska candidate, who is challenging the incumbent Republican in his district, asserted that voters have a nuanced view of religion and that being open about faith will not necessarily alienate those who are not religious.
Republican campaign officials, meanwhile, have downplayed the prospect that faith-forward Democratic candidates will erode their advantage with religious voters. A spokesman for the Republican National House campaign arm dismissed those Democratic appeals, arguing that Republicans have consistently performed well with faith-based voters because they are "delivering on common sense," while portraying Democrats as out of step with those voters' religious beliefs.
Faith is being tied to specific policy battles, even on issues that have traditionally been politically fraught. Several of the candidates who are clergy or seminary students explicitly link their biblical commitments to their positions on abortion rights, an issue that is among the most delicate for Democrats to navigate. Their approach reframes the debate: some say scripture does not dictate a clear timeline for when human life begins, and they argue that policies commonly associated with the political left - expanded access to healthcare, broader contraceptive availability, and increased child care supports - would reduce the number of abortions.
"I am pro-choice, not despite my Christian faith, but because of it," one candidate said, articulating the logic behind carving out a faith-based rationale for supporting abortion rights while emphasizing public-health measures that could reduce abortion rates.
Other campaign messages draw directly from religious teachings about compassion and care for vulnerable populations. One statewide Democratic candidate and practicing Lutheran said his understanding of Christian duty - "looking out for the little guy" - was a major factor in his decision to run as a Democrat. He acknowledged uncertainty about whether foregrounding faith is a winning electoral strategy, but insisted he could not run without discussing his beliefs.
Immigration enforcement actions under the current administration have become a focal point for many of these faith-inflected campaigns. After federal agents in Minneapolis fatally shot a 37-year-old nurse, one pastor and candidate called the death "murder" from the pulpit and condemned the administration's policies as producing "murder and tears and loss and grief." The Minneapolis shooting, and another fatal shooting in the same context, have drawn heightened scrutiny from faith leaders and prompted remarks from administration officials to a U.S. Senate committee that the incidents would need to be investigated. The more recent statements marked a change from the immediate aftermath, when some senior officials, including the Homeland Security Secretary, had labeled the two individuals involved "domestic terrorists," a characterization that officials made despite video evidence that contradicted that description.
Faith-based candidates have also emphasized economic justice as a scriptural imperative, aligning those moral arguments with the Democratic Party's broader campaign focus on affordability. Candidates have cited the Bible's calls to care for the poor and afflicted when outlining positions on food security, healthcare access, housing and the capacity of immigration enforcement agencies to respect people's rights.
"I think a person of faith sees these moral problems of the day and already has the lens and the framework with which to deal with it," a House Democrat involved in candidate recruitment said, posing a set of policy questions - Do we have food? Do we have healthcare? Do we have housing? Do we have an ICE agency which is even capable of respecting people’s rights? - that these campaigns seek to answer through a faith-informed perspective.
As the midterm campaign season unfolds, these candidates are testing whether a marriage of religious language and progressive policy can shift the traditional partisan calculus of religious voters. Their messages attempt to reframe issues such as immigration enforcement, reproductive rights and economic security as faith concerns, while navigating the tension between appealing to moderate religious voters and retaining a secular Democratic base. How voters respond to that calculus will be a key question in the coming months as parties work to mobilize their respective coalitions.