The current election cycle has been marked by the emergence of prominent Christians who have won Senate primaries for the Democratic Party, such as Pastor Adam Hamilton in Kansas and Presbyterian seminarian James Talarico in Texas. But observers are pointing out that in the Democratic Party’s attempt to appeal to Christian voters, they are sacrificing Biblical truth regarding their stances on the nation’s most sensitive human dignity issues.
The trend of pastors running as Democrats for office became a true phenomenon last November, when Axios reported that a “shocking” number of 30 white pastors were tracked as running for elected office. “This wave of clergy is weaving Scripture into online defenses of Democratic politics, and joining other progressive faith leaders in challenging President Trump on immigration, civil rights and poverty,” the outlet noted.
The development marks a clear strategy shift for Democrats, who desperately want to eat into the Christian voter demographic that has been firmly dominated by the GOP for decades. The pattern held firm in 2024, with a Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) survey reporting that Trump captured 85% of the white evangelical vote and 57% of the white mainline/non-evangelical Protestant vote.
The strategic Democratic foray into turning clergy into political candidates has led to some awkward headlines for the party. On Tuesday, past comments of Pastor Adam Hamilton came to light in which he claimed that Christians don’t have to believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. Hamilton has also claimed that the Bible contains errors and has celebrated homosexual practices, which are clearly condemned in Scripture (Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 1 Timothy 1:9-10).
In like manner, James Talarico ignited controversy last week when he claimed during a town hall election event that “the Bible is silent on abortion,” contradicting passages such as Psalm 139:13 and Luke 1:41. The Senate candidate also explicitly supports same-sex marriage, a concept that is firmly contrary to Scripture (Genesis 1:27, 5:2, Matthew 19:4).
Pastors like Jim Garlow, who serves as founder and CEO of Well Versed, are pointing out the dangers of clergy who jettison the Bible out of political convenience.
“Scripture [states that] the purpose of government is to protect the citizenry,” he emphasized during “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” Wednesday. “That would include a baby in the womb. So if you’re in favor of killing babies in the womb, you’re not in a position to be in government according to Scripture. Or we think of Genesis chapter[s] 1, 2, and 4. It starts with gender specificity — male and female, only two genders. The next thing we have is a marriage of a man and a woman, and next thing we have in Genesis 4 is procreation. … [The] redefinition of marriage has tried to kill off God’s definition of marriage. And then we have the loss of gender specificity. … So now we have people who call themselves pastors [who support these positions].”
Analysts like Suzanne Bowdey, who serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand, are also noting that the sudden surge of Democratic pastors on the political scene is yet another manifestation of performative politics.
“They just want to win, so they’re willing to lean into any trend,” she observed during “Washington Watch” Wednesday. “They’ll stick their fingers in the political winds [to] see where the American people [are] right now. They’ll throw people into a race that supposedly espoused those values. But if I’m a voter right now, I’m sitting there thinking, ‘What does the Democratic Party actually stand for?’ Because we keep hearing, ‘Oh, it’s a big tent.’ Well, okay, it’s a big tent, but at some point, you have to have a center pole holding up that tent that’s anchored in some core values. On one hand, we hear that this is the party that cares about [Christianity]. On the other hand, they kick God out of their platform. On one hand, we hear, ‘Oh, we don’t embrace socialism.’ On the other hand, we hear they do embrace socialism. So it’s very incoherent. … What do they stand for? And the American voter right now, I don’t think, knows.”
