Can religion help Democrats win in red states? These faith leaders hope so

Republicans have long appealed to Christian conservatives. But is there an opening for Democrats to rally religious voters in right-leaning states?

Reverend Adam Hamilton speaks at the Washington National Cathedral during a service attended by then-President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on January 22, 2013 [Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo] Reverend Adam Hamilton speaks at the Washington National Cathedral during a service attended by then-President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on January 22, 2013 [Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo]

In the landscape of religious life in the United States, Reverend Adam Hamilton has a massive pulpit.

The organisation he founded, the Church of the Resurrection, is considered the largest United Methodist congregation in the country. It spans nine campuses and 23,000 members. Hamilton himself has authored more than 30 books.

But this November, Hamilton is eyeing an even bigger platform: the US Congress.

A mild-mannered pastor with square glasses and a receding swoop of white hair, Hamilton is hoping to achieve what many political observers once dismissed as far-fetched.

He is hoping to win a seat representing Kansas in the US Senate – as a Democrat.

Not since 1932 has a Democrat won a Senate race in the Midwestern state. Kansas is considered ruby red, with a conservative base that leans towards right-wing leaders like President Donald Trump.

But Hamilton is part of a trend in the 2026 midterm election cycle. Largely in right-leaning states, several Christian leaders have stood for election as Democrats, bucking the stereotype that religion is the domain of conservatives.

Approximately nine Democratic faith leaders, seminary students and Sunday school teachers are in the running for federal office in the November 3 election. At least a dozen were on the ballot during the primary elections earlier this year.

Many are competing in states like Iowa, Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee, which have a history of backing right-wing candidates in statewide elections.

Their campaigns have raised questions about whether appealing to Christian voters can be a path to victory for Democrats in the hotly contested midterms.

Reverend Shannon Fleck, executive director of Faithful America, a progressive Christian advocacy organisation, believes some voters have grown disenchanted with the Republican claim on religious values.

Democratic candidates, she argues, can offer an alternative.

"This is going to move the needle even more in red states because, in our homes, faith has been a part of our ecosystem for forever, but it’s also been manipulated by our leaders for forever," Fleck, an Oklahoma resident, said.

She added that faith-inspired Democratic candidates have "more opportunities for turnover" in right-leaning states, "because we are so intimately familiar with the other option".

Senate candidate Adam Hamilton is the pastor of the Church of the Resurrection, a megachurch that boasts more than 23,000 members [File: Colin E Braley/AP Photo] Senate candidate Adam Hamilton is the pastor of the Church of the Resurrection, a megachurch that boasts more than 23,000 members [Colin E Braley/AP Photo]

Harnessing the evangelical bloc

More than 60 percent of Americans identify as Christian. But in the last three decades, white evangelical Protestants in particular have shifted steadily rightwards on the political spectrum.

In 2024, the Pew Research Center suggested that 85 percent of white evangelicals leaned towards the Republican Party, up from 65 percent in 1994.

Overall, 59 percent of Protestants, 52 percent of Catholics and 75 percent of Mormons identified with right-wing politics.

Experts say the Republican Party began cultivating Christian votes largely in the 1970s and 1980s. At the time, faith leaders like mega-pastor Jerry Falwell had grown disillusioned with the social policies of left-wing leaders like Jimmy Carter, himself a Sunday school teacher.

They founded groups like the Moral Majority in 1979 and the Christian Coalition of America in 1987 to support issues popular on the religious right, including restricting access to abortion and limiting the government's reach.

Trump himself has harnessed that evangelical voting bloc, pledging to protect its interests while in office. Since starting his second term, Trump has established a "religious liberty commission" and pledged to eradicate "anti-Christian bias".

But findings from the Pew Research Center have suggested Trump's hold on the white evangelical vote has started to wane.

As of January, the president's approval rating among the demographic had slipped from 78 percent in 2025 to 69 percent this year.

Only 40 percent of respondents expressed confidence that Trump has acted ethically while in office.

Democrats are hoping to capitalise on Trump's falling approval ratings in the midterm elections, which will decide which party controls the two chambers of Congress.

Reverend Frederick D Haynes III is running as a Democrat in the race for Texas's 30th congressional district [File: Gabriela Passos/AP Photo] Reverend Frederick D Haynes III is running as a Democrat in the race for Texas's 30th congressional district [File: Gabriela Passos/AP Photo]

Deep left-wing roots

Faith leaders running as Democrats are not new. If anything, experts say the candidates are tapping into a long lineage of religious advocacy on the left.

“There have always been progressive Christians throughout American history,” said Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, the vice president of programmes and strategy at the Interfaith Alliance, an advocacy organisation for religious freedom.

In his work as a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a research nonprofit, Graves-Fitzsimmons studies the intersection of religion and politics.

He has tracked the influence of religious leaders to a range of critical moments in US history, from the civil rights movement – with figures like Reverend Martin Luther King Jr – to the push for women's rights.

Even conservative groups like the Moral Majority once participated in efforts like the environmental movement, championing a Christian responsibility to engage in the stewardship of nature.

"Every movement that we associate with the left or progressive movement in American history has been full of Christians, as well as people of other faiths and the non-religious,” Graves-Fitzsimmons explained.

Ryan Burge, a political scientist at Washington University in St Louis, traces the roots of the religious left even further back in US history, to the 19th-century fight over slavery.

"The abolitionist movement was largely a religious movement involving a lot of liberal and progressive Christians in the North,” Burge said.

Fast forward to the turn of the 20th century, and Burge said the country witnessed its "Social Gospel movement", a period in the early 1900s when theologians and pastors sought to apply Christian principles to issues like poverty and social justice.

“The best-selling book in America was A Theology for the Social Gospel for three years in a row around the turn of the century, which is a very liberal Christian book," Burge added.

But while the religious right tends to be a more homogeneous group, Burge explained that the religious left is more diverse, with faiths outside of Christianity better represented.

“On the religious right, it’s almost all Protestants and Catholics,” he said.

The religious left, meanwhile, has stronger representation among other faith groups. “You also have Muslims, who are a strong Democratic constituency, as well as Jews," Burge said, noting that African-American Christians also lean overwhelmingly left.

Pastor Sarah Trone Garriott, a candidate for the House of Representatives, celebrates communion at Grace Lutheran Church in Des Moines, Iowa, on March 15 [Krysta Fauria/AP Photo] Pastor Sarah Trone Garriott, a candidate for the House of Representatives, celebrates communion at Grace Lutheran Church in Des Moines, Iowa, on March 15 [Krysta Fauria/AP Photo]

A shifting relationship to religion

There can be disadvantages to appealing to Christian voting blocs. Experts say Democrats have resisted being overtly religious in recent years as their coalition has grown more diverse.

Some 66 percent of Muslims identified with Democrats as of 2024. The number was 69 percent among Jewish voters.

“Candidates being overly religious is not a huge turn-on for a lot of Democrats,” Burge said. “They want strong separation of church and state. They don’t want their politicians to sound like Republicans. They don’t want to talk about Jesus.”

Burge also pointed out that the number of overtly religious voters may be shrinking.

In 2006, roughly 23 percent of Americans identified as white evangelical Christians, but that has fallen to 13 percent as of 2024, according to the Public Religion Research Institute.

The proportion of religiously unaffiliated Americans, meanwhile, has risen to 28 percent.

The shift has spurred questions about how powerful the religious voting bloc is, particularly for Democrats.

“I would even argue it’s probably the smallest it’s ever been in the last five years,” Burge said.

Still, several religious leaders have entered this year's midterm race, hoping to help the Democratic Party retake control of Congress.

They include figures like Hamilton in Kansas and Robb Ryerse in Arkansas, who founded their own churches.

Others, like Frederick Haynes III of Texas, Sarah Trone Garriott of Iowa, Anna Golladay of Tennessee and Lindsay James of Iowa, serve as faith leaders and pastors.

A couple – including Ben McAdams in Utah and Chaz Molder in Tennessee – have touted their work as Sunday school teachers. And then there is James Talarico, a seminary student in Texas locked in a heated race for the state's open Senate seat.

Democratic candidate James Talarico, a seminary student, faces a tight Senate race in deep-red Texas [File: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo] Democratic candidate James Talarico, a seminary student, faces a tight Senate race in deep-red Texas [File: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo]

'Love thy neighbour'

Several candidates have embraced similar themes on the campaign trail in the lead-up to the November 3 vote.

Burge has noticed a heavy emphasis on values like "Love your neighbour as yourself" from the Gospels.

“There’s a lot of emphasis on the dignity of each person, in terms of income inequality as a moral issue. That filters down to things like minimum wage, workers’ rights, unions – but also to things like healthcare and health insurance,” Burge said.

The religious left, he added, "cast these issues not as economic issues but as social justice issues motivated by religion".

On the night Talarico won the Democratic nomination, the 37-year-old stood in front of a throng of supporters, some of whom waved signs emblazoned with the phrase "Love thy Neighbor".

It was a theme he reprised in his victory speech, tying the phrase to an embrace of diversity.

“My faith teaches me to love my neighbour as myself. Not just my neighbour who looks like me, not just my neighbour who prays like me, not just my neighbour who votes like me," Talarico declared to the crowd. "I am called to love all of my neighbours the way I love myself.”

Hamilton struck a similar chord when accepting his party's nod on August 4, after he won the Democratic primary for Kansas's Senate seat. He used the same biblical command to encourage civic responsibility.

“Loving your neighbour includes making sure that kids don’t go to bed hungry at night. Loving your neighbour is making sure people who are living in your midst who are marginalised, or made to feel small or belittled, are not belittled," Hamilton said.

"Loving your neighbour means making sure people don’t have to choose between making their house payment and making sure they can get healthcare.”

Reverend Frederick D Haynes III, a Democratic candidate, leads an interfaith service in Dallas, Texas, on September 9 [Gabriela Passos/AP Photo] Reverend Frederick D Haynes III, a Democratic candidate, leads an interfaith service in Dallas, Texas, on September 9 [Gabriela Passos/AP Photo]

Religion as a battlefield

Religion has also been a springboard for attack during the midterm race, with both Democrats and Republicans pointing to Christian scripture to accuse their opponents of moral failings.

At the Iowa State Fair in August, Lindsay James, a Presbyterian minister running for Iowa's 2nd congressional district, painted her opponents as unfeeling by drawing on a biblical tale: the parable of the good Samaritan.

In the story, two religious leaders pass an injured man without stopping to help him. Finally, a Samaritan comes to his aid.

“That, to me, sounds a lot like what is happening in Washington, DC, right now,” James said. “Those who have the power and the authority to actually do something are turning a blind eye and walking away from people who are hurting and harmed.”

Republicans, for their part, have used the religious backgrounds of some Democratic candidates as a line of attack. Several have framed their opponents' beliefs as unorthodox or questioned their Christian faith.

At a conservative religious summit in July, Joe Mitchell, James's Republican rival in Iowa, even accused her of misrepresenting her credentials.

"She's also one of these people that calls herself a pastor, just like James Talarico, just like Sarah Trone Garriott," Mitchell said.

"I have a nickname for them. I call them PINOs," he added, defining the acronym as "Pastors in Name Only".

"They're not real pastors, right? They don't profess the true gospel of Jesus Christ."

Talarico has faced similar accusations in the Senate race in Texas. On a podcast, his opponent, Republican Ken Paxton, denounced the Democrat's beliefs as “antithetical to historical Christian views".

"They are literally the opposite of Christianity," Paxton said.

Democratic congressional candidate Lindsay James, a pastor, attends a homecoming parade in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on October 10 [Scott Olson/Getty Images via AFP] Democratic congressional candidate Lindsay James, a pastor, attends a homecoming parade in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on October 10 [Scott Olson/Getty Images via AFP]

'Looking for authenticity'

It is unclear whether the religious backgrounds of Democrats like Talarico will resonate with voters when it comes time to cast a ballot.

Burge believes Democrats campaigning on their Christian bona fides could enjoy a boost in certain parts of the country, but not in many traditional left-wing strongholds.

“That’s not going to be a winning message in some places, like California or Massachusetts,” Burge explained. “It might work in a purplish state in the Midwest, but it’s not going to work in a deep-blue place."

Graves-Fitzsimmons, meanwhile, suggested that religion could be an avenue to build connection with voters.

“I think people are looking for authenticity right now," he said. "There’s a wide, open field for those who can speak truthfully, honestly, compassionately and from a place of faith that’s not trying to impose your faith on others.”

So far, several Democratic faith leaders on this year's midterm ballot are enjoying closer-than-expected races in their deep-red states.

Recent polling suggests candidates like Talarico and Hamilton are neck-in-neck with their Republican adversaries, even exceeding them in some measures of support.

A Marist poll this month found Talarico was leading Paxton with 47 percent support, compared with the Republican's 45 percent.

An Emerson College poll from September suggested Hamilton was also slightly ahead of his opponent, incumbent Senator Roger Marshall, by two points.

The stakes are high for Democrats, particularly in the Senate. The party needs every victory it can get to achieve a majority in the 100-seat chamber, given that only a third of the Senate's seats are on the ballot this November.

But the stakes are perhaps even higher for Hamilton, who at 62 is attempting to achieve something very few have done. Only one senator in the last 100 years has continued to pastor a church while in office, as Hamilton intends to do.

That senator is Reverend Raphael Warnock, a Democrat from another battleground state, Georgia.

共和党长期以来一直争取基督教保守派的支持。但是，民主党是否有机会在倾向右翼的州争取宗教选民的支持呢？

2013年1月22日，亚当·汉密尔顿牧师在华盛顿国家大教堂的礼拜仪式上发表讲话，时任总统巴拉克·奥巴马和副总统乔·拜登出席了仪式。[卡罗琳·卡斯特/美联社照片]

在美国宗教界，亚当·汉密尔顿牧师拥有巨大的影响力。

他创立的复活教会被认为是美国最大的联合卫理公会教堂，拥有九个分堂和23000名成员。汉密尔顿本人著有30多本书。

但今年 11 月，汉密尔顿将目光投向了一个更大的平台：美国国会。

汉密尔顿是一位性格温和的牧师，戴着方框眼镜，头发花白，他希望实现许多政治观察家曾经认为遥不可及的目标。

他希望以民主党人的身份赢得堪萨斯州在美国参议院的席位。

自1932年以来，民主党就再也没有在这个中西部州赢得过参议院席位。堪萨斯州被认为是共和党的铁票仓，其保守派选民倾向于支持像唐纳德·特朗普总统这样的右翼领导人。

但汉密尔顿的情况反映了2026年中期选举周期中的一种趋势。主要在一些右倾州，几位基督教领袖以民主党人的身份参选，打破了宗教是保守派专属领域的刻板印象。

大约有九名民主党宗教领袖、神学院学生和主日学校教师将角逐11月3日的联邦公职。今年早些时候的初选中，至少有十二人出现在选票上。

许多候选人在爱荷华州、德克萨斯州、阿肯色州和田纳西州等州展开角逐，这些州历来支持右翼候选人参加全州选举。

他们的竞选活动引发了人们的疑问：在竞争激烈的中期选举中，争取基督教选民的支持是否能成为民主党的一条胜利之路。

虔诚美国（Faithful America）是一家进步基督教倡导组织，其执行主任香农·弗莱克牧师认为，一些选民对共和党关于宗教价值观的说法感到失望。

她认为，民主党候选人可以提供另一种选择。

“这将在红色州产生更大的影响，因为在我们的家庭中，信仰一直是我们生态系统的一部分，但它也一直被我们的领导人操纵，”俄克拉荷马州居民弗莱克说。

她补充说，在右倾州，受信仰启发的民主党候选人有“更多机会赢得选举”，“因为我们对另一种选择非常熟悉”。

参议院候选人亚当·汉密尔顿是复活教会的牧师，该教会是一座拥有超过23000名成员的大型教会。[图片：科林·E·布雷利/美联社]

驾驭福音派阵营

超过60%的美国人自认为是基督徒。但在过去三十年里，尤其是白人福音派新教徒，他们的政治立场一直在稳步右倾。

2024 年，皮尤研究中心的数据显示，85% 的白人福音派教徒倾向于共和党，高于 1994 年的 65%。

总体而言，59% 的新教徒、52% 的天主教徒和 75% 的摩门教徒认同右翼政​​治。

专家表示，共和党主要在上世纪七八十年代开始争取基督教选民的支持。当时，像超级牧师杰里·福尔韦尔这样的宗教领袖对吉米·卡特等左翼领导人的社会政策感到失望，而卡特本人也曾是一名主日学校教师。

他们于 1979 年创立了“道德多数派”，于 1987 年创立了“美国基督教联盟”，以支持宗教右翼所支持的议题，包括限制堕胎和限制政府的权力范围。

特朗普本人已经充分利用了福音派选民群体，并承诺在任期间保护他们的利益。自第二个任期开始以来，特朗普成立了“宗教自由委员会”，并承诺消除“反基督教偏见”。

但皮尤研究中心的研究结果表明，特朗普对白人福音派选民的控制力已经开始减弱。

截至1月份，总统在该人群中的支持率已从2025年的78%下滑至今年的69%。

只有 40% 的受访者表示相信特朗普在任期间的行为符合道德规范。

民主党人希望利用特朗普不断下降的支持率在中期选举中获胜，此次选举将决定哪个党派控制国会两院。

弗雷德里克·D·海恩斯三世牧师将作为民主党候选人竞选德克萨斯州第30国会选区议员。[图片：Gabriela Passos/AP Photo]

深厚的左翼根基

宗教领袖以民主党人身份参选并非新鲜事。专家表示，这些候选人实际上是在利用左翼长期以来倡导宗教权益的传统。

“在美国历史上，一直都有进步的基督徒，”宗教自由倡导组织“跨信仰联盟”的项目和战略副总裁格思里·格雷夫斯-菲茨西蒙斯说道。

格雷夫斯-菲茨西蒙斯是美国进步中心（一家研究非营利机构）的高级研究员，他的研究方向是宗教与政治的交集。

他追踪了宗教领袖对美国历史上一系列关键时刻的影响，从民权运动（以马丁·路德·金牧师等人物为代表）到争取妇女权利的运动。

甚至像道德多数派这样的保守团体也曾参与过环保运动等活动，倡导基督徒有责任参与自然管理。

格雷夫斯-菲茨西蒙斯解释说：“在美国历史上，我们所认为的每一个与左翼或进步运动相关的运动都充满了基督徒，以及其他信仰的人和无宗教信仰者。”

圣路易斯华盛顿大学的政治学家瑞安·伯格将宗教左派的根源追溯到美国历史上更久远的时期，即 19 世纪关于奴隶制的斗争。

伯格说：“废奴运动在很大程度上是一场宗教运动，涉及北方许多自由派和进步派基督徒。”

快进到 20 世纪初，伯格说，美国见证了“社会福音运动”，这是 20 世纪初神学家和牧师们试图将基督教原则应用于贫困和社会正义等问题的时期。

“在世纪之交前后，《社会福音神学》连续三年成为美国最畅销的书籍，这是一本非常自由派的基督教书籍，”伯格补充道。

但伯格解释说，虽然宗教右翼往往是一个更加同质化的群体，但宗教左翼则更加多元化，基督教以外的信仰得到了更好的体现。

他说：“宗教右翼几乎全是新教徒和天主教徒。”

与此同时，宗教左派在其他宗教团体中也拥有更强的代表性。“穆斯林是民主党的重要支持者，犹太人也是如此，”伯格说道，并指出非裔美国基督徒也绝大多数倾向于左翼。

3月15日，众议员候选人莎拉·特隆·加里奥特牧师在爱荷华州得梅因市的恩典路德教会主持圣餐仪式。[克丽斯塔·福里亚/美联社照片]

与宗教关系的转变

争取基督教选民的支持也可能存在弊端。专家指出，近年来，随着民主党联盟日益多元化，民主党人一直避免公开宣扬宗教信仰。

截至2024年，约有66%的穆斯林认同民主党。犹太选民中这一比例为69%。

“对很多民主党人来说，候选人过于虔诚并不是什么加分项，”伯格说。“他们希望政教分离。他们不希望自己的政治家听起来像共和党人。他们不想谈论耶稣。”

伯格还指出，公开信奉宗教的选民人数可能正在减少。

据公共宗教研究所称，2006 年，约有 23% 的美国人自认为是白人福音派基督徒，但到 2024 年，这一比例已下降到 13%。

与此同时，无宗教信仰的美国人比例已上升至 28%。

这一转变引发了人们对宗教选民群体力量的质疑，尤其是对民主党而言。

“我甚至认为这可能是近五年来最小的规模了，”伯格说。

尽管如此，一些宗教领袖还是参加了今年的中期选举，希望帮助民主党重新夺回国会的控制权。

其中包括堪萨斯州的汉密尔顿和阿肯色州的罗布·赖尔斯等人物，他们都创立了自己的教会。

其他人，如来自德克萨斯州的弗雷德里克·海恩斯三世、来自爱荷华州的莎拉·特隆·加里奥特、来自田纳西州的安娜·戈拉迪和来自爱荷华州的林赛·詹姆斯，则担任宗教领袖和牧师。

一对夫妇——包括犹他州的本·麦克亚当斯和田纳西州的查兹·莫尔德——都曾大力宣传他们担任主日学校教师的经历。此外，还有詹姆斯·塔拉里科，这位德克萨斯州的神学院学生正在激烈角逐该州空缺的参议员席位。

民主党候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科（James Talarico）是一名神学院学生，在深红州德克萨斯州面临激烈的参议院选举。[图片：Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo]

“爱你的邻居”

在11月3日投票前的竞选活动中，多位候选人都采用了类似的竞选主题。

伯格注意到福音书中非常强调“爱人如己”等价值观。

“人们非常重视每个人的尊严，把收入不平等视为一个道德问题。这不仅影响到最低工资、工人权利、工会等问题，也影响到医疗保健和医疗保险等问题，”伯格说。

他补充说，宗教左派“将这些问题视为由宗教驱动的社会正义问题，而不是经济问题”。

在塔拉里科赢得民主党提名的那晚，这位 37 岁的候选人站在一群支持者面前，其中一些人挥舞着印有“爱你的邻居”字样的标语。

他在胜选演讲中再次强调了这一主题，并将这句话与拥抱多元化联系起来。

“我的信仰教导我要爱人如己。不仅仅是爱那些长相与我相似的邻居，不仅仅是爱那些祈祷方式与我相似的邻居，不仅仅是爱那些投票方式与我相似的邻居，”塔拉里科向人群说道。“我蒙召要像爱自己一样爱我的所有邻居。”

汉密尔顿在8月4日接受党内提名时，也表达了类似的观点。当时他赢得了堪萨斯州参议员席位的民主党初选。他引用了同样的圣经诫命来鼓励公民承担责任。

“爱你的邻居包括确保孩子们晚上不会饿着肚子睡觉。爱你的邻居意味着确保那些生活在你身边却被边缘化、被轻视或被贬低的人，不会再受到轻视，”汉密尔顿说。

“爱你的邻居意味着确保人们不必在支付房贷和获得医疗保健之间做出选择。”

9月9日，民主党候选人弗雷德里克·D·海恩斯三世牧师在德克萨斯州达拉斯主持了一场跨宗教仪式。[Gabriela Passos/AP Photo]

宗教作为战场

在中期选举中，宗教也成为了攻击的跳板，民主党人和共和党人都援引基督教经文来指责对手道德败坏。

8 月在爱荷华州博览会上，竞选爱荷华州第二国会选区的长老会牧师林赛·詹姆斯引用圣经故事《好撒玛利亚人的寓言》，将她的对手描绘成冷酷无情的人。

故事中，两位宗教领袖路过一位受伤的男子，却没有停下来帮助他。最后，一位好心人伸出了援手。

詹姆斯说：“在我看来，这听起来很像华盛顿特区现在正在发生的事情。那些拥有权力和权威的人却对正在遭受伤害和痛苦的人们视而不见，置之不理。”

共和党人则利用一些民主党候选人的宗教背景作为攻击点。一些共和党人将对手的信仰描述为非正统，或质疑他们的基督教信仰。

在 7 月份的一次保守派宗教峰会上，詹姆斯在爱荷华州的共和党对手乔·米切尔甚至指责她虚报资历。

“她也是那种自称牧师的人，就像詹姆斯·塔拉里科和莎拉·特隆·加里奥特一样，”米切尔说。

“我给他们起了个绰号，叫他们PINO，”他补充道，并解释说这个缩写词的意思是“名义上的牧师”。

“他们不是真正的牧师，对吧？他们没有宣扬耶稣基督的真正福音。”

塔拉里科在德克萨斯州的参议员竞选中也面临过类似的指控。他的对手、共和党人肯·帕克斯顿在一档播客节目中谴责这位民主党人的信仰“与基督教传统观点背道而驰”。

“他们简直就是基督教的反面，”帕克斯顿说。

民主党国会候选人、牧师林赛·詹姆斯于10月10日在爱荷华州锡达福尔斯参加了一场返乡游行。[Scott Olson/Getty Images via AFP]

“寻找真实性”

目前尚不清楚像塔拉里科这样的民主党人的宗教背景是否会在投票时引起选民的共鸣。

伯格认为，民主党人如果以基督教信仰作为竞选卖点，可能会在某些地区获得支持，但在许多传统的左翼据点则不然。

“在某些地方，比如加利福尼亚州或马萨诸塞州，这种策略行不通，”伯格解释说。“它或许在中西部摇摆州有效，但在深蓝州肯定行不通。”

与此同时，格雷夫斯-菲茨西蒙斯认为，宗教可以成为与选民建立联系的途径。

“我认为人们现在追求的是真诚，”他说。“对于那些能够坦诚、正直、富有同情心地表达信仰，并且不试图将自己的信仰强加于人的人来说，未来一片光明。”

到目前为止，今年中期选举中几位民主党宗教领袖在他们所在的深红州都获得了比预期更接近的选情。

最近的民调显示，像塔拉里科和汉密尔顿这样的候选人与他们的共和党对手势均力敌，甚至在某些支持率指标上超过了他们。

马里斯特本月的一项民意调查显示，塔拉里科的支持率为 47%，领先于共和党候选人帕克斯顿的 45%。

艾默生学院 9 月份的一项民意调查显示，汉密尔顿的支持率也略微领先于他的对手、现任参议员罗杰·马歇尔两个百分点。

对民主党人来说，此次选举意义重大，尤其是在参议院。鉴于今年11月只有三分之一的参议院席位需要改选，该党需要赢得每一场胜利才能在拥有100个席位的参议院中获得多数席位。

但对于62岁的汉密尔顿来说，风险或许更高，他正试图完成一项极少有人能做到的事。过去一百年里，只有一位参议员像汉密尔顿一样，在任职期间继续担任牧师。

那位参议员是拉斐尔·沃诺克牧师，他是来自另一个摇摆州佐治亚州的民主党人。