Meet the “Pastors” Running for Office

Democrats know that when it comes to people of faith, the Republicans clean up. This explains why in this election cycle they are trying hard to appeal to religious folks: several “pastors” are running for office. The quotes are necessitated because there are good reasons to question just how representative they are of their Protestant base. Meet the “pastors” running for office.

He is running to represent Texas in the United States Senate. He is a Presbyterian seminarian and currently serves in the Texas House of Representatives.

When he gave his first sermon, he chose to discuss abortion. He asked the parishioners, “Did they teach you in Sunday school that Jesus Christ himself was a radical feminist?” In 2022, he wrote to Biden asking him to issue several executive orders to expand access to abortion. It is for reasons like this that in 2019 Texas Right to Life awarded him a score of 0%. He has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood.

He strongly opposes school choice measures, calling them “welfare for the wealthy.” He has received the endorsement of the Texas State Teachers Association (the state affiliate of the National Education Association) and the Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers.

He supports allowing minors to undergo sex-reassignment surgery. He believes that boys and men should be able to compete against girls and women, and to shower together. He told his fans that those who oppose genital mutilation, chemical castration and puberty blockers are “pushing us to waste time on these culture war issues” and accuses his critics of wanting to “hurt trans kids.” He has attempted to walk back his more extreme positions such as claiming there are six sexes and that God is nonbinary.

He defines religious liberty as defending a strict separation of church and state. For instance, he described a bill to mandate the display of the Ten Commandments as “deeply un-Christian,” “idolatrous” and “un-American.” He has spoken out on Christian nationalism, describing it as “a problem in our religion since Constantine. You know, 300 years after that carpenter was crucified by the Roman Empire.” He describes himself as “a Christian who hates Christianity.”

He is running to represent Kansas in the United States Senate. He is the senior pastor of a United Methodist mega-church. He is the only person on this list with no political experience.

He campaigns for “safe and legal access to abortion.” In 2022, he opposed Kansas’ “Value Them Both” constitutional amendment, which would have given lawmakers the authority to restrict abortion access in the sunflower state.

He does not appear to support school choice. His primary talking point regarding education policy is his promise to make sure federal special education funds make it to public schools.

While extremely coy, he is broadly supportive of transgenderism. Framing the issue as the need for all Christians to treat everyone with love and respect, in a November 2024 newsletter to his parishioners, he revealed his true feelings when he confessed that he is unsure of “how we resolve the issues surrounding athletics and bathrooms” before saying that his church has “a number of gender-neutral restrooms.” Further, he fed into the hysteria that transgender people are “frightened by the national conversations of the last few months,” referring to policies that were adopted across the country to push back on transgenderism and the election of Donald Trump. He has been endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign, a radical LGBT organization.

He claims he strongly supports a strict implementation of “a separation of church and state.” Further he has portrayed his campaign as a referendum on “Christian nationalism.”

She is running for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. She is a Presbyterian minister and currently serves in the Iowa House of Representatives.

She is a strong proponent of abortion and has pledged to restore and codify Roe v. Wade. She has been endorsed by EMILYs List and Planned Parenthood.

She is vehemently opposed to school choice. Particularly, she condemns vouchers for private schools as a “scheme designed to benefit the most fortunate amongst us” and argues that taxpayer funds should be used for public schools and not religious ones. She has been endorsed by the National Education Association.

While serving in the Iowa State House, she was a champion of transgender causes. She voted against legislation that would protect minors from “gender affirming care” (i.e. chemical castration and genital mutilation) calling such treatments “medically necessary” and “lifesaving.” She opposed several bills that aimed at keeping transgenderism out of schools such as requiring boys to use boys’ bathrooms, banning all curricula that delved into this perverse ideology, and requiring schools to notify parents if their children sought “gender affirming accommodations.” She even voted against legislation that would allow boys to compete in girls’ sports. However, now that she is facing a more conservative electorate, she is trying to walk back these positions arguing in favor of “fairness in sports” and supporting parental rights.

She claims to support religious freedom, but her voting record undermines these assertions. She voted against Iowa’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act law. She described it as “weaponizing religious beliefs to justify discrimination.” She has made combating Christian nationalism a central pillar of her campaign rhetoric. She has received the endorsement of Vote Common Good.

She is running for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. She is an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America minister and currently serves in the Iowa State Senate.

As a state senator, she voted against a six-week abortion ban and sponsored legislation to create a constitutional right to abortion. She is endorsed by Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL) and EMILYs List.

She is an outspoken critic of school choice initiatives. She voted against Iowa’s school voucher program, and she has condemned allowing religious schools to participate in the voucher programs as a blurring of the line of separation between church and state.

She voted against legislation that would protect minors from “gender affirming care.” She opposed several bills that aimed at keeping transgenderism out of schools such as requiring boys to use boys’ bathrooms, banning all curricula that delved into this perverse ideology, and requiring schools to notify parents if their children sought “gender affirming accommodations.” She even voted against legislation that would allow boys to compete in girls’ sports. She has been endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign. However, in a high profile ad blitz, she is currently trying to walk back these positions.

She voted against Iowa’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act law. During debate over the bill, she argued that the law provides a blank check to legally discriminate against LGBT people and other marginalized groups in the name of religious freedom. Likewise she portrays her campaign as a fight against “Christian nationalism.”

He is running for Tennessee’s 2nd Congressional District. He leads a Sunday school class with his wife at the First United Methodist Church in Columbia. He is also the mayor of Columbia.

Although he has not made public comments on abortion, he has been endorsed by Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL).

He strongly opposes school choice. He is critical of Tennessee’s universal voucher system, and as mayor he limited the expansion of charter schools in Columbia.

Running in a more conservative district, he has worked to avoid speaking about transgenderism. He has claimed he opposes medical transitions for children, but he has not taken a position on allowing boys to compete in girls’ sports. He has not received the support of any major LGBT activist group. He has publically stated he views transgenderism as a state issue and something he would not have jurisdiction over as a congressman.

He is running for Utah’s 1st Congressional District. He is a volunteer Sunday school teacher at his Mormon church in Salt Lake City. He previously represented Utah’s 4th Congressional District from 2019-2021.

He began his political career describing himself as “pro-life” and claimed to oppose abortion because he believed in the sanctity of life. However, he has shifted into the pro-abortion camp and pledged to codify Roe v. Wade into law if elected. He now believes that abortion is a form of healthcare and has become a vocal defender of Planned Parenthood.

While he supports charter schools, he is opposed to providing vouchers to allow parents to send their children to private schools, including religious ones. He has been endorsed by the Utah chapter of American Federation of Teachers.

He has campaigned on championing the cause of transgenderism. He believes minors should undergo transition procedures and boys should be allowed to participate in girls sports. He has been endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign.

He portrays himself as a moderate on the question of religious liberty. He has staunchly defended providing tax exempt status to churches, and he has called for greater protections for houses of worship. However, he voted for the Equality Act during his previous term in Congress. While sounding benign, the Equality Act would promote the most comprehensive assault on Christianity ever written into law. It would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity to the definition of sex. It would also undermine the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by allowing gay rights to trump religious rights.

Adam Hamilton was the darling of Methodism (and Cokesbury Publishing) and wrote several Bible studies. He eventually revealed himself as a universalist (everybody eventually gets to heaven) and a wacky liberal.

In support of no gov’mt support to any religion I feel that no one holding a religious office may either run or hold any elected office. Choose yer side, Gawd or Caesar.

Early voting is historically high in Texas. This is true for both Republican and Democrat counties. I think Talarico is just disgusting and dangerous enough to have drawn out the Republican vote.

If he is a pastor, then I am Ben Franklin.

6 posted on 10/21/2026 2:17:22 PM PDT by RetiredArmy (The Bible speaks truth! Don't believe it, you do so at your own peril. You'd better be right!!)

That’s ridiculous. Holding an official position within the hierarchy of an organized religion doesn’t necessarily indicate anything more than simply being a member of a religious sect does.

7 posted on 10/21/2026 2:21:56 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")

Pastors in politics...even s few of the signers of The Declaration of Independence were pastors.

Yet today, it comes down to Gawd / politics. Politics = money.

In my days as a Pentecostal, the church leadership invited local politicians to come and speak. IMHO, they wove webs that shone of gold.

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