Good morning dear Ones,
How are you?
On Monday, November 9, the New York Times offered an interesting analysis, examining the presence of clergy members in Congress—or, more precisely, the growing number of religious figures within the incoming Congress. Next year, Congress will include at least seven Democratic members who are also members of the clergy.
Where would that be possible but in the United States of America alone?
Long live religious diversity!
The influx of religious influence in higher spheres brought an interesting question to the fore, thanks to the newly elected senator from Texas, James Talarico.
“Can Love heal a broken America?”
While it is certainly too early to gauge the influence this “labor of love” might exert on the political scene, it sets an interesting precedent and offers a path worth exploring.
At this early stage—in a month when the United States celebrates its “festival of Gratitude” holiday—one can only hope that 2027 will be a fruitful year, steering the United States—and perhaps the entire world—in a new, hope-filled direction.
Topic: Can Love heal a broken America?
Time: Nov 12 @ 2:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Meeting ID: 886 7152 3256
Congressional clergy
Democrats swept the midterms by promising to make America more affordable. But some winners also won with a surprisingly sentimental pitch: to make it more loving. It’s an unlikely suggestion in 2026. The midterms got ugly — with dirty tactics that pulled in a candidate’s estranged mother, peddled Islamophobia and plotted to split votes.
A few religious Democrats insisted that a biblical commandment was the solution. “My faith teaches me that love is the strongest force in the universe,” James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian in Texas, said in his Senate election victory speech — which included the word love 27 times. “Love can heal what’s broken in America.”
Adam Hamilton, a megachurch pastor who won a Senate seat in Kansas, and Sarah Trone Garriott, a Lutheran minister who won an Iowa congressional seat, also cited biblical calls to “love your neighbor” on election night.
A wave of religious Democrats will enter Congress next year, and the party will more than triple its number of clergy members in the chambers. They weave scripture into their stump speeches, read progressive policies into the Bible — and offer an alternative to the Christian nationalism that has dominated Republican politics.
Their victories have made the religious left more prominent and more powerful — and have given their party, grappling with an identity crisis, one strategy to consider as it maps a path to 2028.
Who they are, how they ran
There will now be at least seven ordained Democratic clergy members in Congress, including Frederick Haynes III of Texas and Lindsay James of Iowa. Two Black pastors already in Congress, Representative Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri and Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia — who calls himself a “Matthew 25 Christian” after the Gospel chapter that says we’ll be judged by how we treat the vulnerable — fuse their faith with their politics. At least three other Democrats have attended seminary or divinity school.
And many more Democrats ran faith-forward campaigns, including Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, who will be the first Muslim senator. (He released an ad about prayer in the final days of his campaign and spliced “Alhamdulillah!” — Arabic for “Praise be to God” — into his victory speech.)
All of the incoming clergy members, though, are Christian, mostly from shrinking Protestant denominations. They’ll be outliers in a Congress where evangelical Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson, have been the most prominent religious voices in recent years.
This class of Democrats makes a scriptural argument for progressive policies. Talarico cited Matthew 25 in his pitch for expanding access to health care. Hamilton referenced it to make the case for a more welcoming approach to immigration. “‘I was a stranger’ — and the Greek word is immigrant — ‘and you welcomed me,’” he said during his campaign, quoting the Bible chapter.
The approach may have earned the trust of some moderate religious conservatives and independents. In Texas, Talarico helped swing every single county toward the left. At a town hall last month, an audience member asked him: “Do you believe that the Bible is the absolute source of truth and God’s final authoritative word, even when our culture says otherwise?”
“Yes,” Talarico said. (My colleague Ruth Graham reports on Talarico’s ability to sway the faithful in this great piece.)
