Evangelicals for Harris? Democratic Ticket Draws Surprising Support

The new, energized electorate that supported Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is gaining ground in religious circles, even among people whose votes were not expected.

Harris and her vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are looking to drum up more support from different voting blocs at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week, Aug. 19-22. The candidates are expected to outline their vision for the country, a message that will resonate deeply with some supporters while others will simply be looking for a different message than that of former President Donald Trump.

That latest sentiment among voters seeking an alternative to Trump is emboldening a subset of voters to express support for Harris, prompting public declarations from those who did not show the same support for President Joe Biden when he was a candidate. One person who has recently made such a declaration is New York Times columnist David French, a Nashville-area writer and visiting professor at Lipscomb University, who said in a Monday column that he was voting for Harris “to save conservatism from itself.”

There are other voices of faith in a similar situation to French. Meanwhile, faith groups that were already expected to endorse Harris are capitalizing on newfound enthusiasm and generating participation in faith-based voter engagement initiatives. Here’s how Harris’ campaign is mixing religion and politics.

Existing Democratic religious support is disrupted by Kamala Harris’ run

The Harris-Walz campaign is stepping up its commitment to faith-based choice advocacy, which already largely aligns with Democratic goals.

Black Protestants and white non-evangelical Protestants already showed majority support for the Democrat in a Pew Research poll in April, when Biden was still a candidate. Now, Harris’ entry as a black woman who identifies as a Baptist has fueled that excitement among various religious groups.

Religion News Service reported that more than 16,000 people attended the “Win With the Black Church Kick-Off Organizing Call” event organized by the Black Church PAC, which also collected 8,000 signatures on petitions urging lawmakers to support Harris. Additionally, the Progressive National Baptist Convention discussed opportunities to encourage Harris to vote at the denomination’s recent annual meeting, according to Religion News Service.

Meanwhile, the National Catholic Reporter said young Catholics are more interested in voting and supporting Harris. Biden received some support from Catholics when he was a candidate because of his Catholic faith. But these newly engaged Catholic voters are less inspired by Harris’ religious affiliation and more by her positions on various social justice issues.

‘Harris Evangelicals’ Are Starting to Speak Out

Harris’ campaign drew more direct support from those who may have been sympathetic to Democratic ideals but did not necessarily support Biden’s previous candidacy.

Such religious leaders have now coalesced around Harris through groups like Evangelicals for Harris. With a mix of progressive and moderate voices, Evangelicals for Harris seeks to provide a counternarrative to the overwhelming support of evangelicals for Trump.

Among the group’s distinguished supporters is Texas pastor Dwight McKissic, who has been active in both the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention, a group that typically supports Republicans, and the Nashville-based National Baptist Convention, USA, an association of Black Baptists that typically supports Democrats. McKissic disagrees with Harris’ position on abortion, but bases his decision to support Harris on the fact that she is the more qualified candidate, Christianity Today reported.

Views like McKissic’s have sparked a wave of criticism from the Christian right.

“Nevertheless, the group aims to convince evangelicals of Kamala Harris’ Christian bona fides, but they have to distort orthodox Christianity to do it,” said Denny Burk, president of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, a prominent advocacy group for traditionalist positions. “That’s really a betrayal of the gospel.”

Shocking support

Outrage over groups like Harris’ evangelical supporters has flared anew since the New York Times published French’s latest op-ed, titled “To Save Conservatism from Itself, I’m Voting for Harris.”

French, who holds typical traditionalist views such as opposition to abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, said Trump overall poses more of a threat to French’s conservative religious worldview than he brings.

“It’s hard to overstate the cruelty and intolerance of MAGA Christians toward their political enemies,” French said in the column. “There are many churches and Christian leaders who are now more culturally Trumpian than culturally Christian. Trump is changing the church.”

Many of French’s critics on the right saw the column as an indictment of evangelical leaders who compromise their values for the sake of broader cultural acceptance.

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Yet French believes the same subservience he is accused of is exactly what he is incapable of doing with Trump.

“Trump voters often ask me if I’m ‘still a conservative,’ and I say I can’t vote for Trump precisely because I’m a conservative. I abhor sexual harassment, pornography, and adultery,” French wrote in the column. “Trump has brought these vices into the mainstream of the Republican Party.”

Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Contact him at [email protected] or on social media @liamsadams.