{"id":33326,"date":"2026-11-04T08:53:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T13:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=33326"},"modified":"2026-11-04T08:53:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T13:53:12","slug":"on-election-night-the-religious-left-is-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/11\/on-election-night-the-religious-left-is-back","title":{"rendered":"On Election Night, the Religious Left is Back"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Left: Adobe Stock | Right: kovop \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Asked Tuesday night (Nov 3) about the state Rep. James Talarcio\u2019s victory in Texas U.S. Senate race, the Rev. Jim Rigby, who has long pastored the Presbyterian church Talarico grew up in, said he was still grappling with the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just too surreal,\u201d Rigby said, who was watching the returns from home. \u201cIt\u2019s going to take a while to completely take that in.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Rigby, a staunch liberal who has long advocated for immigrants and LGBTQ people, also reflected on what he sees as the broader dynamic of Election Night, which saw Democrats such as Talarico \u2014 himself a Presbyterian seminarian \u2014 win sweeping victories across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an awakening taking place,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not even so much one religion as opposed to another religion, but an idea that everybody counts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The victories marked a striking moment for the religious left, which has long struggled to match the influence and visibility of conservative Christians. Across the country, candidates and faith leaders embraced a message that put values such as compassion and inclusion at the center of their campaigns.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo thousand years ago, when the people at the top hurt his neighbors, that barefoot rabbi didn\u2019t stay in his room and pray,\u201d Talarico said in his victory speech, as he stood in front of a placard that read \u201cLove thy Neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus \u201cwalked into the seat of power and flipped over the tables of injustice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In addition to Talarico in Texas, who made his religious beliefs a centerpiece of his campaign, Democrats saw a faith leader trigger an upset in the Kansas U.S. Senate race: There, the Rev. Adam Hamilton, who pastors a United Methodist megachurch, sailed to a resounding win in a state that hasn\u2019t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932.<\/p>\n

Democratic Senate candidate Adam Hamilton speaks to supporters at an election night event with his wife LaVon Bandy, left, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Overland Park, Kansas. (RNS photo\/Kit Doyle)<\/p>\n

Hamilton\u2019s popularity \u2014 spurred in part by his church, which boasts more than 20,000 attendees on an average Sunday \u2014 was rooted in a centrist message intertwined with faith: While critical of incumbent Republican Senator Roger Marshall and President Trump, Hamilton has said he intends to lead from the middle, and that he can work with colleagues on the other side of the aisle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said: wouldn\u2019t it make more sense if you had a moderate Democrat working the Democratic side of the aisle for Kansas, and you had a moderate Republican working the Republican side of the aisle?\u201d Hamilton told RNS in August. \u201cThen we\u2019re both working together with the entire Senate to fight for the people of Kansas. I\u2019ve not met a Republican yet who doesn\u2019t say, \u2018that actually makes a lot of sense.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

And while Hamilton\u2019s campaign focused on economic issues, he also made a point to reference his faith throughout. During one of his final campaign events on Monday, the pastor cited Scripture no less than three times in his stump speech.<\/p>\n

Among the passages he referenced was Micah 6:8, which reads: \u201cAnd what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a religious message that appeared in various forms among the nine pastors, former pastors and seminarians who ran for Congress as Democrats this cycle. It\u2019s also one Trump, Republicans and their religious allies tried to counter, casting aspersions on the faith of the Democratic clergy and seminarians and framing their support for LGBTQ people as evidence that they weren\u2019t true Christians.<\/p>\n

At campaign events, the president dismissed Talarico as \u201cTalafreako,\u201d and called Hamilton a \u201cpossibly perverted pastor.\u201d Vice President JD Vance suggested that Talarico is attracted to men, and accused Hamilton of wearing the \u201cskin suit of our religion\u201d \u2014 referring to Christianity. Pastor Robert Jeffress, a longtime Trump supporter who leads the megachurch First Baptist in Dallas, told RNS last month that Talarico\u2019s views \u201cdisqualify him from being a Christian, and especially a Christian pastor.\u201d The Rev. Kyle Lammott, who leads a church in Kansas affiliated with a deeply conservative denomination known as the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, condemned Hamilton in public letters and prayers, calling on him to \u201crepent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same pattern showed up in other races. In Iowa, Republican Joe Mitchell, who was running in the state\u2019s second district, said his opponent, Presbyterian minister and state house member the Rev. Lindsay James, was not a \u201creal pastor.\u201d He said the same was true of the Rev. Sarah Trone Garriott, a Lutheran minister and state senator running for Congress in Iowa\u2019s third district, and said neither pastor professes \u201cthe true gospel of Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iowa Democratic congressional candidate the Rev. Lindsay James speaks during a campaign event.<\/p>\n

But as results rolled in on election night, it became clear that the attacks didn\u2019t work. Like Talarico and Hamilton, James and Garriott won their seats too \u2014 both pickups for Democrats.<\/p>\n

And while not all of their races have been called, religious Democrats keep winning: the Rev. Frederick Haynes III, who leads Black Protestant megachurch Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, was elected to be the next U.S. congressman from Texas\u2019 deep-blue 30th district. And Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a longtime congressman in Missouri\u2019s 5th congressional district, defended his seat. Along with Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, there will now be three Black pastors in Congress come January \u2014 all of them Democrats.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Democrat Amy Acton was elected Ohio\u2019s first Jewish governor, and Abdul El-Sayed, a Michigan Democrat, became the first Muslim U.S. Senator in history. El-Sayed ran a campaign that did not shy away from his Muslim faith, despite being falsely cast as a \u201cjihadist\u201d by Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou might have noticed I always say \u2018Inshallah,\u2019 or God willing, whenever the outcome of this race is mentioned,\u201d El-Sayed said in his victory speech. \u201cTonight, we can turn that \u2018Inshallah\u2019 into \u2018Alhamdulillah.’\u201d<\/p>\n

As the crowd cheered, he added: \u201cFor the right-wing ops, that just means \u2018praise be to God.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Not all of the faith-forward Democrats were victorious. Anna Golladay, a former Methodist pastor running as a Democrat in Tennessee\u2019s third district, fell short. She faced long odds in the deep-red area, which has one of the highest percentages of evangelical Christians of any district in the country, according to a recent analysis by political scientist and researcher Ryan Burge. Her opponent, incumbent Republican Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, who is Catholic, appears to be headed toward a decisive victory.<\/p>\n

Another democratic challenger, Robb Ryerse, a progressive evangelical running in Arkansas\u2019 third district, lost to incumbent Rep. Steve Womack by nearly 13 points.<\/p>\n

But Republican faith leaders struggled as well. Pastor John Elleson, who ran in Illinois\u2019 deep-blue 9th district, was soundly defeated. And Rep. Mark Harris, a Southern Baptist minister who won North Carolina\u2019s 8th district by nearly 20 points in 2024, was only leading his Democratic opponent by less than 2 points with 99% vote counted at midnight.<\/p>\n

As the hours ticked by Tuesday night, the mounting defeats handed out to Republicans spurred elation among Democrats, and some expressed a sense of catharsis at finally seeing their own approach to faith reflected in the halls of power.<\/p>\n

Among the crowd at a Texas Democratic watch party was Emma Borders, Travis Country Precinct Chair 294 and Austin Young Democrats Membership Director. She is also a member of St. Andrew\u2019s Presbyterian, Talarico\u2019s church, and said his victory felt like an extension of a faith community she has come to know.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a food pantry. They have a homeless ministry. They built showers into the church so people can come in and take showers, and we serve them hot meals,\u201d Borders said, referring to St. Andrew\u2019s.<\/p>\n

When asked if the church embodied Talarico\u2019s \u201clove thy neighbor\u201d platform, she said: \u201cit is very much that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Article written by Jack Jenkins and originally appeared on Religion News Service<\/a>. Ellie Ashby contributed to this story.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Asked Tuesday night (Nov 3) about the state Rep. James Talarcio\u2019s victory in Texas U.S. Senate race, the Rev. Jim Rigby, who has long pastored the Presbyterian church Talarico grew up in, said he was still grappling with the moment. \u201cIt\u2019s just too surreal,\u201d Rigby said, who was watching the returns from home. \u201cIt\u2019s going…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":630,"featured_media":32465,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOn Election Night, the Religious Left is Back<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From Texas to Kansas, Democratic candidates drew on their religious values, securing wins and signaling a shift in the relationship between faith and politics.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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