Six current or former pastors and a seminarian among those in races for Congress this year
Latest to get on ballot is head pastor at largest United Methodist church in country
Half a dozen current and former pastors have received major-party nominations for U.S. Congressional races this year, and collectively they are divided as much as the country is: Three are Democrats and three are Republicans.
You might say, however, that Democrats have a slight edge: A Presbyterian seminarian, James Talarico, is also in the running, drawing plenty of attention as a Democratic candidate from Texas who could who could take away what was once seen as a reliably Republican seat in the Senate.
The most recent minister to get on November’s ballot was Adam Hamilton, head pastor of the Church of the Resurrection, a United Methodist congregation in Kansas City, Kan. He topped a field of 11 candidates earlier this month with about 35 percent of the vote to earn the Democratic nomination.
The seven candidates are true to the stereotypes of their branches of Christianity: The four Democrats come from mainline Protestantism, while the three Republicans come from evangelicalism.
Three of the candidates are already members of Congress: Missouri’s U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat and a former United Methodist pastor, chairs the the Congressional Black Caucus. Republicans Reps. Mark Harris and Tim Walberg represent districts in North Carolina and Michigan, respectively.
Two of the Democrats running, Sarah Trone Garriott and Lindsay James, are seeking to represent districts in Iowa. John Elleson is seeking an Illinois seat.
Here are quick looks at the candidates and races:
Talarico aims to flip Senate seat to Democrats
Go to a James Talarico rally and you’re likely to hear portions of a sermon embedded in the candidate’s speech. Talarico, a divinity student at the Presbyterian-affiliated Austin (Texas) Seminary, frequently quotes from the Bible as he emphasizes its teachings to love one’s neighbors and care for the needy. As someone who has denounced Christian nationalism in no uncertain terms, Talarico clearly has been aiming a part of his campaign at those disturbed by seeing the Christian faith used as a weapon against immigrants and LGTBQ persons, among others.
Talarico faces the scandal-ridden Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, who got on the ballot by handily defeating the incumbent, John Cornyn, in a runoff election in May. Talarico earned his spot in the general election with a 6-percentage-point win over U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett. Four minor-party candidates are also in the race.
At 37, Talarico is one of the youngest U.S. Senate candidates in this election cycle. A former teacher and a representative in the Texas Legislature, Talarico earned a master of arts in theological studies at Austin Seminary last year and is on track to earn a master of divinity degree at the school. He has long been a member of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin.
Talarico entered the race as an underdog: Despite Democratic strength in parts of the state, the last time a Democrat was elected to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate was in 1988 with the election of Lloyd Bentsen. Talarico’s task was made easier when Paxton won the Republican primary, as Paxton has had a stormy history in Texas politics. Most notably, he was impeached in 2023 by the Texas House of Representatives on allegations that he had abused the powers of his office to help a political donor. He was acquitted of the charges by the Texas Senate, however.
Politically in the mainstream of the Democratic Party, Talarico has been running a populist campaign against both Paxton and the Trump administration, saying it is time to begin “flipping tables,” an allusion to an incident in the life of Jesus. Most of his views are within the mainstream of the Democratic Party.
One of the most recent polls, conducted by Texas Southern University, shows a tight race, within the margin of error. It showed Talarico leading with 47 percent compared with 45 percent for Paxton. The remainder were undecided or supported a Libertarian candidate.
Hamilton also hopes to turn a red seat blue
Adam Hamilton, who heads the largest United Methodist congregation in the country, is running a centrist campaign in which he is emphasizing affordability and the need to bring civility and cooperation back to politics. The race, in which he is pitted against the incumbent, Roger Marshall, is, like the Talarico-Paxton matchup, expected to be one of the most expensive in the country, with as much as $50 million projected to be spent in total by the two candidates.
Hamilton’s Church of the Resurrection, which he founded in 1990 with some of its earliest worship services held in a funeral home, and thus its name, has followed the trajectory of many evangelical megachurches. It is reported to have more than 20,000 members spread across several campuses, and its sanctuary holds more than 3,000. Because of the campaign, Hamilton has temporarily separated himself from his ministry to avoid raising ethical concerns.
Hamilton had originally planned to run as an independent, he has told news media, but decided to join a crowded Democratic field in the primary as supporters told him he would have a better chance of victory as a Democrat.
Marshall entered the Senate in 2021 after having served in the House for two terms. An obstetrician, Marshall has run using the moniker of Doc Marshall. He has been running largely on his record of supporting Kansas agriculture and industry.
A glance at the House races
Incumbent parties appear to have an edge in the House races involving a minister, but at least in the first two races listed below there is a chance for an upset:
🟪 Sarah Trone Garriott, a former pastor affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is the Democratic nominee in Missouri’s 5th Congressional District. She is hoping to unseat the Republican incumbent, Zach Nunn, who is in his second term. Nunn was elected by fairly narrow margins in both of his races, earning 50.3 percent of the vote in 2022 and 51.8 percent in 2024.
🟪 The Democratic nominee in Iowa’s Republican-leaning 2nd District is Lindsay James, a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary who has been a Presbyterian Church (USA) pastor as well as a college chaplain. The seat is open because the incumbent, Republican Ashley Hinson, decided to run for the U.S. Senate. James’s Republican opponent is Joe Mitchell, a businessman and a former member of the Iowa house and at one time its youngest-ever member at the age of 21.
🟪 Democrat Emanuel Cleaver appears to have a safe seat in the 5th Congressional District seat of Missouri, having held that post since 2005. He served as pastor of a United Methodist Church in Kansas, Mo., until 2009. He currently is the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. His Republican opponent is state Sen. Rick Bratten.
🟪 Mark Harris, the lead pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in Mooresville, N.C., is no stranger to political campaigns: He ran for the U.S. Senate in 2014, placing third in the Republican primary, and followed that up with stronger results in 2016, losing a race for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District seat in a recount. Two years later, he appeared to have won the 9th District seat, but the election was invalidated after allegations of election fraud. State officials reran the election, but Harris did not run that time. In 2024, he successfully ran in the 8th District and won with nearly 60 percent of the vote. That is the seat he currently holds and is favored to win this year. His Democratic opponent is businessman Colby Watson.
🟪 John Elleson, a pastor at Lakewood Chapel located in Arlington Heights, Ill., has an uphill fight for an open seat in his state’s strongly Democratic 9th Congressional District. His Democratic opponent is Daniel Biss, a former member of the Illinois House. The incumbent is Jan Schakowsky, who decided not to seek re-election after having served since 1999, last won re-election with 68 percent of the vote.
🟪 U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, a former pastor now in Michigan’s 5th Congressional District, is seeking his third term. He was pastor of Grace Fellowship Church in New Haven, Ind., during the 1970s. He is strongly favored to win, as he earned more than 60 percent of the vote in his two earlier House elections. His Democratic opponent is Christian Vukasovich, a teacher who, according to his website, descended from a long line of Michigan ministers on his mother’s side of the family.