Democrats James Talarico in Texas and Adam Hamilton in Kansas won their Senate races in Tuesday’s election. A Rolling Stone columnist says their faith-based messaging helped, particularly in states where most people attend church.
The writer recalls traveling through Alabama and Georgia two years ago on a blue bus chartered by Vote Common Good. The group urged voters to back candidates it believed would serve the common good — largely Democrats — and challenged the idea that Republicans held an exclusive claim to religious voters.
Doug Pagitt, a Minnesota pastor and the group’s executive director, described changing evangelical voting patterns as a long-term effort. Even the most committed supporters of the Christian left expected the shift to take years.
Hamilton, the senior pastor of Kansas’ largest church and the country’s largest United Methodist congregation, frequently cited scripture on fairness, justice and equality. Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian, has linked his support for gun control, LGBTQ rights and abortion access to his faith, arguing that these positions follow from biblical teachings.
The columnist argues that Democrats should keep the door open to people of faith and put forward candidates whose values are not defined solely by the party. That does not mean making the party more religious or trying to impose religious beliefs through law, the writer says.
Citing a recent Pew Research Center poll, the article says most Americans support separation of church and state while also believing religion has a positive role in society. It also points to a long US tradition of progressive Christians using their faith to fight poverty, child labor, domestic abuse and war.
