Free Republic

The national GOP’s director of evangelical outreach is quitting, and lodging complaints about what he calls the party’s “tone deaf attitude” toward a crucial Republican voting bloc. Chad Connelly, who served as the Republican National Committee’s director of faith engagement for the last four years, announced his resignation in an email circulated to close friends late Thursday. He complained that religious outreach has not been prioritized at the RNC under the leadership structure implemented by President Donald Trump’s White House. “The treatment I received from the new political department has been disrespectful, antagonistic and unacceptable,” Connelly wrote in an email...

An email message sent out Friday morning by the campaign of Republican presidential contender Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) claims the junior senator from Florida "is leading the Billy Graham wing" of evangelical Christians, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) "is leading the Jerry Falwell wing," and GOP frontrunner Donald Trump "is leading the Jimmy Swaggart wing." The email was signed by Eric Teetsell, who was hired by the Rubio campaign in November to serve as its director of Faith Outreach. It began with a controversial quote made at Roll Call last week by Russell Moore, an advocate of amnesty for illegal...

WASHINGTON–Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign on Thursday named, Lindy M. “Buddy” Pilgrim, the former president of poultry giant Pilgrim’s Pride, to lead its faith outreach initiative. Pilgrim, an ordained minister, will serve as National Director of the Faith and Religious Liberties Coalition. Along with leading the multi-billion dollar poultry company from 1993 to 1998, Pilgrim was a top bundler for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s 2008 presidential campaign, and has a long track record in conservative politics. “Now, more than ever, we must pick the one person who will most unwaveringly and fearlessly take a stand to protect our Judeo-Christian conservative...