Sarah Trone Garriott, an Iowa state senator and Lutheran minister, has never shied away from putting faith at the center of her political campaigns.
This year, she is among an unusually high number of Democrats running for Congress who are infusing their campaigns with explicit appeals to religious doctrine, an effort national Democrats hope will peel away some Christian voters from the Republican column in November’s midterm elections.
Christian voters have long gravitated to the Republican Party, but some experts say President Donald Trump’s second-term policies, particularly his crackdown on illegal immigration, could provide an opening for Democrats.
In some cases, the Democrats are themselves members of the clergy or studying to join it, including Trone Garriott; Alaska congressional candidate Matt Schultz, a Presbyterian pastor; and Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian.