Anti-Trump Group Rehearsed an Election Crisis. Now It’s Launching a 15-State Midterm Operation.

...Its senior adviser previously ran a faith-based partnerships office in Biden’s Education Department.

https://open.substack.com/pub/nataliegwinters/p/anti-trump-group-rehearsed-an-election?utm_source=web&redirect=app-store&utm_campaign=tts-listen-button&play_audio=true )

... Interfaith Alliance has already gathered religious leaders to rehearse an election crisis. Now the organization is taking its operation nationwide—and explicitly identifying the Trump administration as the threat.

The rehearsal accompanies a six-week training program, a pledge of $200,000 for local election-protection activities, and a 15-state bus tour. The announcement says local religious communities will receive training about:

Interfaith Alliance calls the campaign nonpartisan. Its own announcement makes clear which administration participants are being mobilized to scrutinize.

https://www.interfaithalliance.org/post/interfaith-alliance-launches-15-state-the-vote-is-sacred-tour-for-2026-midterms

The campaign’s website supplies details beyond the press release. It links an election-crisis planning toolkit, described as a 90-minute exercise with six scenarios for 2026, developed with Protect Democracy.

The operation combines voter registration and canvassing with a trained, peaceful presence at polling places. One of its four advertised components is bluntly titled:

...Fund the local organizers.”

Its training partners include the League of Women Voters, Interfaith America, Protect Democracy, and Sojourners. The fall schedule includes instruction for trusted messengers, election engagement by houses of worship, and a September 23 session on de-escalation and bystander intervention at the polls. Campaign website and training schedule.

On a separate training page, Interfaith Alliance recruits religious leaders, organizers, and supporters for:

“nonviolent civil resistance ahead of the 2026 elections.”

The page offers instruction in nonviolent action, voter mobilization, and faith-based organizing. Congregations are being recruited into a national organizing effort with training and financial support. Interfaith Alliance’s training portal.

Mobilizing a thousand people

An August 8 conversation between Interfaith Alliance president Paul Brandeis Raushenbush and Protect Democracy executive director Ian Bassin shows how the organizations envision that mobilization working.

Raushenbush said the groups were already conducting scenario planning to prepare religious leaders for their role. He described using pulpits, opinion pieces, and public appearances to defend confidence in elections.

He also urged contact with election officials, explaining what faith communities could offer:

“If you experience pressure, we’ll bring a thousand faith folks out to say, actually, stand your ground.”

The stated purpose was to support officials facing pressure. Raushenbush then raised the possibility of ICE or National Guard deployments intimidating voters.

That discussion grew out of an existing partnership. The two organizations had collaborated on the anti-ICE advertising campaign “Choose Love Not ICE.” During the interview, Bassin argued that public opinion would help determine the country’s direction and discussed the political backlash that militarized deployments could generate.

The organizations were connecting their immigration-enforcement messaging to their preparations for the midterms. Both emphasized nonviolent mobilization. Interfaith Alliance’s published interview transcript.

The Biden administration connection

Interfaith Alliance’s senior adviser Maggie Siddiqi previously directed the Education Department’s Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships in the Biden-Harris administration.

Before entering government, she led the Religion and Faith team at the Center for American Progress. Her current biography says that work included engaging religious leaders to:

“advance progressive policies.”

The group has also cultivated local organizers through its Interfaith Leadership Network. Its published 2025–26 program offered project grants of up to $5,000 alongside training in fundraising, media engagement, advocacy, and coalition-building. Those grants belong to a separate leadership program; the newly announced election pledge is $200,000. Leadership Network program.

Taking the operation on the road

The tour officially launches October 6 in Omaha, following an October 5 preview in Kansas City. Announced stops include Milwaukee, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Phoenix. Interfaith Alliance says Voting Rights Lab’s election-risk map helped shape the route. Tour announcement and itinerary.

The linked election playbook instructs religious organizations to avoid favoring candidates when distributing voting information. That is an explicit rule in the materials. Faith in Elections Playbook, page 10.

The political framing is equally explicit: Trump is named as a source of danger, religious leaders are preparing their response, and local organizers have been promised money. Voters deserve to know who participated in the crisis rehearsal, which scenarios they practiced, and who will receive the grants.

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