WEBVTT

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I'm Aisha Roscoe,
and this is The Sunday Story.

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Election day is just weeks away,
and the stakes couldn't be higher.

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Democrats need to pick up four seats in
the House and four in the Senate to take

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control of Congress.
Something that might help them do it?

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A different kind of Democratic
candidate, one who talks about faith.

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Jesus tells the parable
of the Good Samaritan.

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Like Sarah Trone Garriott.
Everyone is your neighbor.

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I'm a Luke 4 Christian.
Frederick Haynes. Because Jesus says,

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the spirit of the Lord and God is upon
me because he's anointed me to preach good

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news to the poor. And Lindsay James.
It's about showing up for people.

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It's about listening without judgment.
It's about offering hope.

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And it's about telling the truth. Why
are these Democratic candidates so good

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at talking about religion?

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Well, they're clergy. Unlike Republicans
who aren't shy talking about religion

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on the campaign trail, these Democratic
clergy have to thread a very fine needle,

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appeal to people of faith, but do so
in a way that doesn't turn off the base.

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Meanwhile, Republicans are on their own
mission to discredit these candidates.

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Here's Texas Lieutenant
Governor Dan Patrick.

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office and Republican businessman
Joe Mitchell. I call them Pinos.

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Pastors are name only because
they're not real pastors.

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They don't profess the true
gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Today on the Sunday story, we'll take
a closer look at some of these Democratic

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clergy candidates, ask why they're running
and whether their messages are resonating

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with voters. Stay with us.

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Welcome back to the Sunday story. I'm
here with NPR religion correspondent Jason

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DeRose, who's been following
four Democratic clergy candidates

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in competitive races.
Welcome to the podcast.

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Hello, it's good to be here. So, Jason, at
Weekend Edition, you know, my other job,

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we've done like a number of interviews
about how religion is playing a role

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in politics right now.
You've been covering religion for years.

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Did you ever think you'd see a critical
mass of clergy running as Democrats?

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I think it's about like six or seven,
depending on who you count.

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the George W. Bush administration,
specifically his compassionate

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conservatism. But a lot of those efforts
never got off the ground or just really

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fizzled. What's different this time around
is not just talk about progressive values.

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This time around,
it's clergy who are the candidates,

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people trained to speak
about scripture and faith,

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and inspire people to live
out that faith in public life.

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As many pastors will tell you,
a big part of the job is rallying people

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So before we get into the specific
clergy who are running,

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what do you think is driving clergy who
identify as Democrats to actually run

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for office? Like, what do you think is
driving clergy who identify as Democrats

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to actually run for office? Like, what do
you think is driving clergy who identify

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as Democrats to actually run for office?

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Was this coordinated in some way?
Well, nobody I spoke with says they were

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recruited specifically
because they're clergy.

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They say they decided to run as a
response to their calls to ministry,

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their calls to faith, their calls
to public life and a service to neighbor.

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They see some of the actions of the Trump
administration and they say their faith

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compels them to take action and run.

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That's very interesting to see it
showing up like on the left in that way.

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So Jason, tell me about some
of these candidates. Like,

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who are we talking about here? Yeah.

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I reported on two candidates from
Texas and two candidates from Iowa,

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both states that voted
for Trump in 2024. In fact,

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Trump carried both states by a
margin of more than 13 percent,

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so very red states. Probably the most
high-profile candidate is James Tallarico.

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He's the Democratic
nominee for Senate in Texas.

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So he's not quite clergy yet.
He's a minister in training,

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but he does preach regularly.

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I want to speak to you this
morning, not as a candidate,

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but as a fellow Christian.
On a Sunday this summer,

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he stood at the pulpit of Brentwood
Baptist Church in Houston.

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My granddad was a Baptist
preacher in South Texas.

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And when I was real little, he told me
that Christianity is a simple religion.

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Simple, he says, but not easy. Because
Jesus gave us two commandments to follow.

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Love God and love neighbor.
On this morning,

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Tallarico was preaching on a
passage from the Gospel of Luke.

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Sometimes we see the world most
clearly through our tears. If your heart

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is breaking as you watch what's happening
to our beloved country it means you still

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have a heart so blessed are you who weep

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Blessed are you who weep. Tallarico often
frames this campaign as being on the side

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of those who have been harmed by policies
of the Trump administration and who are

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upset about it, those who weep.

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He's talking about the Beatitudes
there, right? And, you know,

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I always personally think about
the scripture that says God is close to

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the brokenhearted. But that's
where that comes from, right?

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The congregation he's addressing
on this day is almost entirely black.

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As we've reported extensively in Texas,
Republican-led redistricting has diluted

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the black vote and black political power.
So he's referring to the loss of

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that hard-won influence and that pain,
the weeping it's caused.

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And I understand there's another
clergy candidate running in Texas,

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specifically because
of redistricting. That's right.

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The Democratic nominee for the U.S.
House District 30,

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which encompasses part of Dallas and some
southern suburbs, Frederick Haynes.

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He is the head pastor
of a large congregation,

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the 13,000-member Friendship West
Baptist Church. He got up. He got up.

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That's why you ain't got
to stay down, because he got up.

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Hallelujah. Hallelujah. He's led the
congregation for more than four decades.

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I visited Haynes while he was hosting an
interfaith forum to talk about community

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needs and the need for black
and brown voices in politics.

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I've spent my ministry on the outside,
you know, fighting people.

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what's happening inside
and Now, It's as if...

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God is saying, okay, you've been called.

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to bring outside voices
and an outside vision.

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in the House. Haynes says he was
specifically inspired to run for Congress

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after the Texas legislature redistricted
and eliminated one of the state's two

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black U.S. House districts. I asked him if
there was a biblical passage that inspired

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both his ministry and this campaign.
I'm a Luke 4 Christian because Jesus says

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the spirit of the Lord
God is upon me because he's

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by systems that's what the greek says

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Set the captives free.
Heal those who are broken.

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Broken by feeling disenfranchised
both politically through redistricting

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and economically, whether it's
by inflation or just lack of opportunity.

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Now, how competitive
are these races? Well,

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we know that the Tallarico-Texas
Senate race is very competitive,

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a real toss-up according to polling.
The House seat in Dallas,

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where Haynes is running, is safe
for Democrats since it's the last

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predominantly black
district left in the state.

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But this would be Haynes'
first elected position.

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So we have two Democrats
from Texas running on faith,

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Frederick Haynes and James Tallarico.
Who are some of the others?

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Thank you.

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Well, it turns out there are two clergy
people in Iowa running for the U.S.

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House as Democrats. In the third
congressional district is Sarah Trone

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Garriott.

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Lift up your heads to see and hear the
proclamation of the good news made flesh

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in Jesus Christ.

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Trone Garriott is a Lutheran pastor who's
also served in the Iowa Senate since 2021.

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I visited her in Des Moines on a Sunday
morning when she was leading worship at

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a Lutheran church. She was encouraging her
congregants to open their minds about what

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God's reign might look like.

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The kingdom of heaven challenges
what we have come to expect.

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or learned to accept. She says she hears
her call to public office in a familiar

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story from the Gospel of Luke. Jesus
tells the parable of the Good Samaritan.

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Everyone is your neighbor. Anyone who is
overlooked and left behind and forgotten,

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that's who you are called to help.
And that is the calling of government.

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The calling of government,
she says, is to help the forgotten

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is the small town of Waverly.
I accompanied the other

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Democratic clergy person
in Iowa running for the U.S.

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House as she shook hands at the
county fair. Hi, Lindsay James,

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running for Congress. Nice to meet you.
Lindsay James is a Presbyterian chaplain,

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a four-term state house representative,
and the Democratic nominee for Iowa's

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second congressional district. She
remembers the moment she decided to run

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for federal office. After the big,
beautiful bill was passed from D.C.

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Iowa's second congressional
district. And Aisha,

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rural health care
is critical in farm country,

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and James says the way she can
best care for her neighbors,

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also alluding to the gospel
story of the Good Samaritan,

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is taking their cause of rural
health care to the U.S. Capitol.

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So, Jason, how are these candidates,
Republican opponents,

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responding to their campaigns? I'm sure
they're not just taking this lying down,

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you know. I'd say there's a unified theme
of opposition in both Texas and Iowa.

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And among other things, the GOP candidates
are actually questioning whether

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the Democrats who are
clergy are really Christians.

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who's getting into heaven,
who's really about it.

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But the thing with this is these are these
Democrats who are running for office,

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They're clergy or they're in seminary.
So how are these Republicans making

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the argument that they're not Christians?

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Well, here's James Tallarico's
Republican opponent,

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton,
speaking at a campaign rally.

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We cannot let Texas turn.

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based on a deceiver like James Tallarico,
who does not want the world to know who he

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really is. Paxton and his campaign
repeatedly raise this idea that he's

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hiding something about
his religious beliefs,

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and they describe Tallarico
as an out-of-touch radical. Now,

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here's Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan
Patrick talking about Tallarico earlier

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this year at the state GOP convention.
I've never seen so much blasphemy

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from anyone running for office.
And let me tell you what,

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Because when he loses the Senate race,
if he campaigns against God as he's been

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doing, he's gone to hell
for sure. Wow. I mean...

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Saying that someone is going
to hell is a big deal.

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How has Tallarico been responding
to these types of comments?

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He's actually incorporated a response
to these attacks into his preaching

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and campaign rallies, giving specific
examples of what he says are GOP actions.

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The real blasphemy is kicking the sick
off their health care to fund tax cuts

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for billionaires. The real blasphemy.

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is letting children go hungry
in the wealthiest nation on earth.

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The real blasphemy is homeless
veterans sleeping on our streets. Well,

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you know, Jason, you know, it seems
like what these politicians are doing

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is calling each other blasphemous because
they have different understandings of how

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to interpret scripture.

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these races is how J.D. Vance talks about
the biblical idea of neighbor being those

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closest to you, while others,
including many Democrats,

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we just heard Lindsay James say it, your
neighbors are the people most in need.

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Now, a similar clash of interpretation
is coming from Frederick Haynes opponent

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Everett Jackson in the Dallas House race.
Jackson questions Haynes' faith and his

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leadership.

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Jackson is a Dallas area businessman. Here
he is speaking on a conservative YouTube

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show called Disturbing the Peace.

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Because a shepherd, the good shepherd,
as we're taught by the Lord,

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they would see to the safeguarding of the
sheep and lead them in a righteous path.

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This is not what Freddie Haynes is doing.
Freddie Haynes has politicized the gospel.

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And thus for what? mislead his
parishioners. So that's Texas. You know,

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the Midwest is usually known for less
heated language, a little more nice.

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Are the opponents of the Democratic
candidates there being a little more

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cordial? In a word, no. In fact,
Sarah Trone Garriott's opponent,

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incumbent GOP Congressman Zach Nunn,
criticizes her for how she's carried out

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her ministry,

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ago. When Tron Garriott was an intern, she
assisted at a wedding for two people who

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weren't Christians. In fact, they said
they were Satanists. Satanists? Okay.

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So this is a little
bit of a strange story.

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These two people were getting married.
They weren't Christian.

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They needed someone to officiate. So they
knocked on the door of the church where

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Tron Garriott was an intern. And they
didn't really look like lovebirds.

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She talked about that moment at a Des
Moines Register storytelling event.

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Were they

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testify against each other?

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The pastor of that church agreed to do
the wedding out of kindness and asked her

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to assist. Irritated,
I flipped through the Bible thinking,

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should I pick something with Satan
in it to make them feel more at home?

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But for her opponent, Congressman Nunn,
finding out about these Satanists was ripe

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material. Here he is speaking
on News Radio 1040 WHO in Iowa.

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She talks about the situation
like some kind of a charming story.

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So that Satanists could feel more at home.

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Love is kind.

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And in the moment, when I glanced up,

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I was struck. by the sudden
tenderness on her face. And Aisha,

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I'll point out that when
I interviewed her,

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Trone Gary defended both assisting
with the wedding and telling the story.

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It's a story about the power of scripture.

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And I believe it spoke to that couple
in that moment who seemed like

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the wrong people in the wrong place.
And it was speaking to me.

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So it's like she's arguing that she
was ministering to the Satanists,

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you know, the way you
minister to the lost.

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That does sound like what
she's talking about there. Also,

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just being present
for people who were in need.

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So, Aisha, let's go
to Northeast Iowa next,

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to the open house district where
Lindsay James is running. Her opponent,

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Republican businessman Joe Mitchell, also
questions the ministry of not only James,

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but also of Sarah Trone Garriott. Here he
is at the Conservative Evangelical Family

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Leadership Summit this summer.
I call them Pinos.

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Pastors in name only because
they're not real pastors, right?

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They don't profess the true
gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Well, one of the things both Mitchell and
Nunn bring up relates to Trone Garriott

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and James serving
in the state legislature.

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They both voted against bills that would
have restricted transgender rights.

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The Republicans argue those
votes are anti-Christian.

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too, very liberal. And while their
opponents are framing them as radicals,

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these candidates are pretty centrist
Democrats on a lot of issues like health

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care and taxation. We'll be right back.

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I'm Aisha Roscoe. This is a Sunday story.
We're back with NPR religion correspondent

00:18:24.987 --> 00:18:30.561
Jason DeRose talking about the Democratic
clergy running for Congress in this year's

00:18:30.644 --> 00:18:36.142
midterms. Jason, let's turn to how
voters are responding to these campaigns.

00:18:36.225 --> 00:18:41.996
There's a Pew Research poll that says less
than one third of Democrats say religion

00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:47.497
is important to them. You spent a lot
of time on the ground in Texas and Iowa.

00:18:47.580 --> 00:18:48.827
What did you hear?

00:18:48.910 --> 00:18:53.404
What I found on the ground, or rather
in the pews at campaign events and on

00:18:53.487 --> 00:18:56.882
the streets and at county fairs,
is a range of responses.

00:18:56.966 --> 00:19:00.117
Since we're talking about
clergy talking about faith,

00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:03.290
let's start with how people
of faith are responding.

00:19:03.374 --> 00:19:07.867
Among the churchgoers I spoke with,
folks fall into two general categories,

00:19:07.951 --> 00:19:12.200
enthusiasts and skeptics. Candace
Stroud was sitting in one of the pews

00:19:12.284 --> 00:19:15.923
at Brentwood Baptist Church
when James Tallarico spoke there.

00:19:16.006 --> 00:19:17.410
She's been a member for

00:19:18.910 --> 00:19:22.723
and she's glad Tallarico embraces
his faith while campaigning.

00:19:22.806 --> 00:19:26.556
I think Democrats have been
talking about religion for years.

00:19:26.639 --> 00:19:31.520
It's just nobody wants to listen to us
if you don't say what they want to hear.

00:19:31.603 --> 00:19:35.541
When you say they, what do you mean?
The Republicans, basically.

00:19:35.625 --> 00:19:39.563
They don't want to hear that we
are Christians. We go to church.

00:19:39.646 --> 00:19:43.773
We believe in the Bible.
And Tallarico's Christianity, Stroud says,

00:19:43.856 --> 00:19:45.490
sounds a lot like her own.

00:19:48.910 --> 00:19:53.069
you know, I'm a person of faith.
I go to a black church,

00:19:53.152 --> 00:19:58.902
been at the black church all my life.
And a lot of black churchgoers are very

00:19:58.985 --> 00:20:02.640
conservative. and they're
aligned with conservative values.

00:20:03.410 --> 00:20:07.514
But being black, they just they're
not going to vote Republican.

00:20:07.597 --> 00:20:10.589
I remember back in the day
with family members,

00:20:10.672 --> 00:20:15.758
I had one family member who was against
gay marriage and she was thinking about

00:20:15.841 --> 00:20:20.141
voting for George W. Bush.
But then another family member was like,

00:20:20.225 --> 00:20:24.870
you can't just vote on that issue.
You know, it's more to it than that.

00:20:25.070 --> 00:20:29.454
You know, Aisha, that example, I think,
really speaks to something that was very

00:20:29.537 --> 00:20:31.911
true a few decades ago,
but less true today.

00:20:31.994 --> 00:20:34.591
Pew Research has done
extensive polling on this.

00:20:34.674 --> 00:20:38.891
And there's been a lot of political
movement toward acceptance of things like

00:20:38.974 --> 00:20:42.855
same-sex marriage and LGBT issues
more largely within the black church,

00:20:42.938 --> 00:20:46.931
also greater acceptance of legal
abortion in historically black churches.

00:20:47.015 --> 00:20:50.030
I wonder if you've noticed
that change over the years.

00:20:50.510 --> 00:20:56.079
I think that there are bigger mainstream
churches that are more accepting of gay

00:20:56.163 --> 00:21:01.450
people. There is still a lot of churches
that are homophobic or that are not

00:21:01.533 --> 00:21:04.430
supportive of the LGBTQ community. But...

00:21:04.670 --> 00:21:08.433
Even with a lot of those churches,
it's not their main focus.

00:21:08.516 --> 00:21:12.972
It's not something they're preaching
about from the pulpit every Sunday.

00:21:13.056 --> 00:21:15.830
I think there's still
a big focus on church.

00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:21.260
Justice and racial justice And

00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:25.049
that shows up more even in those churches.
Yeah, I think that's true.

00:21:25.132 --> 00:21:28.473
I found that in my own reporting,
and I see this from, you know,

00:21:28.556 --> 00:21:33.290
Pew Research as well. Now, Aisha,
let's consider another view from the pews,

00:21:33.374 --> 00:21:38.201
or actually a view from the coffee hour.
That's where I spoke with Rich Schneider,

00:21:38.284 --> 00:21:42.811
who heard Sarah Trone Garriott preach
at Grace Lutheran Church in Des Moines.

00:21:42.895 --> 00:21:46.285
It's a predominantly white
congregation, lots of families.

00:21:46.368 --> 00:21:50.380
He tells me he's not naturally
inclined to want clergy in politics.

00:21:51.380 --> 00:21:52.280
skeptical

00:21:53.150 --> 00:21:58.040
until I get a chance to... listen to
their expressions of faith and how they...

00:21:58.220 --> 00:22:01.560
how they view... their calling.
And when it becomes...

00:22:02.210 --> 00:22:04.590
of calling rather than a prescription.

00:22:05.540 --> 00:22:08.440
or a bully pulpit,
then I'll start to listen.

00:22:08.870 --> 00:22:13.328
Snyder says he likes what he hears
from Tron Garriott on the campaign trail,

00:22:13.412 --> 00:22:17.512
but he's also glad that she does
not preach overtly political sermons.

00:22:17.595 --> 00:22:21.814
She doesn't talk about running
for the U.S. House while she's preaching.

00:22:21.898 --> 00:22:26.296
Tron Garriott says she's careful
to distinguish when she's acting as clergy

00:22:26.380 --> 00:22:30.420
and when she's acting as a politician.
But these callings, of course,

00:22:30.503 --> 00:22:34.842
influence each other. OK, so that's
the view from the pews, as you put it.

00:22:34.925 --> 00:22:38.690
I like that. How about the take
from people at campaign events?

00:22:38.870 --> 00:22:43.400
Well, let's go back to that interfaith
forum in Dallas that Frederick Haynes

00:22:43.483 --> 00:22:48.256
held. It was meant as a way to hear people
of faith's concerns about issues like

00:22:48.339 --> 00:22:51.412
housing and voting rights.
About 50 people attended,

00:22:51.496 --> 00:22:55.115
mostly Christian church leaders
from different denominations,

00:22:55.198 --> 00:22:59.690
Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal,
but also a fairly large group of Muslims.

00:23:08.870 --> 00:23:11.778
So I wanted to hear what
their big issues were.

00:23:11.862 --> 00:23:16.425
I think I can speak to this firsthand.
Ali Askar Aliabi is a professor at

00:23:16.509 --> 00:23:21.009
the University of Texas in Dallas.
He says the Muslim bashing hits home.

00:23:21.092 --> 00:23:25.846
Living in Texas right now and seeing
what's going on with Islamophobia right

00:23:25.930 --> 00:23:30.366
in my backyard has certainly made
my job a little bit more challenging,

00:23:30.449 --> 00:23:33.422
but I'm ready for the challenge.
Ready, he says,

00:23:33.505 --> 00:23:38.470
in part because of the people of Christian
faith he's met at events like this.

00:23:38.870 --> 00:23:43.531
like Reverend Haynes. The people that I
found solidarity with, with, you know,

00:23:43.615 --> 00:23:48.337
my liberal values or my religious values
or my social justice values were often

00:23:48.420 --> 00:23:53.385
the faith groups here. And he says given
the anti-Muslim rhetoric in Texas politics

00:23:53.469 --> 00:23:58.434
right now, he's glad Haynes specifically
invited Muslims like himself to talk about

00:23:58.518 --> 00:23:59.430
their concerns.

00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:05.848
But, Jason, let's pull back for a moment.
You've mentioned that a lot of Democrats

00:24:05.931 --> 00:24:10.461
aren't religious in any way,
Christian or Muslim or anything else.

00:24:10.544 --> 00:24:13.480
So how do these candidates play with them?

00:24:30.200 --> 00:24:31.860
referring to

00:24:32.030 --> 00:24:36.846
the Gospels. Taking in these messages
was 40-year-old nurse practitioner Brandon

00:24:36.929 --> 00:24:40.275
Sterling. I would say I'm
more spiritual than religious.

00:24:40.358 --> 00:24:43.826
The only thing I do religiously
is I get up, I go to work,

00:24:43.910 --> 00:24:48.664
go to the gym. Sterling's pragmatic about
what it'll take for a Democrat to get

00:24:48.747 --> 00:24:52.461
elected statewide in Texas.
We're here in the South. You know,

00:24:52.544 --> 00:24:56.747
a lot of people lead their political
views with their religious views,

00:24:56.831 --> 00:24:59.770
if you will.
So if this is how you have to reach

00:25:02.030 --> 00:25:04.347
offend me at all,
especially what he's saying.

00:25:04.430 --> 00:25:05.330
love thy neighbor.

00:25:05.420 --> 00:25:10.402
I'd call that the indifferent
toward religion group. Jason, though,

00:25:10.485 --> 00:25:16.047
what plays at a political rally or a
church isn't necessarily what plays a

00:25:16.130 --> 00:25:18.570
on the streets, right?
I'm Sarah Tron-Garriott.

00:25:18.653 --> 00:25:22.274
I'm state senator for Dallas County
and I'm running for Congress. Hi,

00:25:22.357 --> 00:25:26.515
how are you doing? So on a humid Sunday
afternoon in the western suburbs of Des

00:25:26.598 --> 00:25:30.756
Moines, I accompanied Sarah Tron-Garriott
canvassing for votes. I'm a minister,

00:25:30.839 --> 00:25:34.567
I'm a state senator. One of the doors
Tron-Garriott knocked on belonged

00:25:34.650 --> 00:25:38.647
to Stephen and Casey Hendrickson.
The big issue for them? I said everything.

00:25:38.730 --> 00:25:43.049
We just went grocery shopping and just,
it's amazing how you can get like 20 items

00:25:43.132 --> 00:25:45.870
and it costs 100 bucks.
The couple isn't especially

00:25:46.130 --> 00:25:50.681
religious, but when I asked their
thoughts on clergy running for office?

00:25:50.764 --> 00:25:55.122
I think they have an ability to work
with people more so than others.

00:25:55.206 --> 00:26:00.143
They've actually seen people go through
things and are willing to help people.

00:26:00.226 --> 00:26:04.410
Moral compass will be on the higher
side versus those that don't.

00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:05.540
would be my guess.

00:26:05.840 --> 00:26:10.892
So not religious, but they think maybe a
person of faith could bring better ethics

00:26:10.975 --> 00:26:15.213
to Washington. Right. And what they
said about the cost of groceries,

00:26:15.296 --> 00:26:18.094
I heard that a lot while
reporting this story.

00:26:18.177 --> 00:26:23.229
It was a theme in both the Des Moines area
and in rural Bramer County in northeast

00:26:23.312 --> 00:26:27.863
Iowa. While I was walking around
the county fair there with Lindsay James,

00:26:27.946 --> 00:26:31.432
lots of people raised real
bread and butter issues. Yeah,

00:26:31.516 --> 00:26:34.960
I've seen your ads quite a bit.
Oh, have you? Oh, good.

00:26:35.840 --> 00:26:40.603
Good, we're not spamming you. No, no.
Among the potential voters she met while

00:26:40.686 --> 00:26:44.641
touring 4-H exhibits and sampling
cheese curds was Lindley Sharp.

00:26:44.725 --> 00:26:49.301
Sharp works in public health and worries
about budget cuts to programs like

00:26:49.384 --> 00:26:52.532
vaccination campaigns
and health education programs.

00:26:52.615 --> 00:26:56.840
It's going to mean less money
for local public health down the line.

00:26:56.930 --> 00:26:59.370
after some of their federal

00:26:59.690 --> 00:27:04.136
Standing nearby was Kip Ledeigy,
who works in emergency medical services.

00:27:04.219 --> 00:27:07.859
Look at the Medicare and Medicaid
reimbursement that we get,

00:27:07.942 --> 00:27:11.334
because we're getting hoes here.
If we have a $600 call,

00:27:11.417 --> 00:27:14.374
we're lucky to get $140.
I've got all the charts.

00:27:14.457 --> 00:27:18.966
While neither ambulances nor public
health may seem like religious issues,

00:27:19.049 --> 00:27:21.758
for Lindsay James,
they're deeply moral ones.

00:27:21.841 --> 00:27:25.750
And she says they're why she
decided to run for the U.S. House.

00:27:26.210 --> 00:27:31.104
But Jason, what about those voters
who really don't like any God talk in

00:27:31.187 --> 00:27:35.044
their politics? You know,
when they hear people of faith,

00:27:35.128 --> 00:27:38.930
they also want to hear what
about people with no faith?

00:27:39.080 --> 00:27:41.746
Well, it's definitely
a concern for Democrats,

00:27:41.830 --> 00:27:46.230
and one I think is best embodied
by someone I met while out following folks

00:27:46.313 --> 00:27:49.840
knocking on doors in Houston
in support of James Tallarico.

00:27:52.780 --> 00:27:58.003
Her name is Kristen Kott. She cares
about improving schools and worries about

00:27:58.086 --> 00:28:03.585
the recent flooding in her neighborhood.
When I asked her about James Tallarico's

00:28:03.668 --> 00:28:04.840
focus on faith...

00:28:09.080 --> 00:28:16.080
play. Why is that? Well, because I
don't think religion should play into

00:28:16.370 --> 00:28:22.650
government and politics at all. I mean,
I thought the country was founded on that.

00:28:23.150 --> 00:28:27.096
Aisha, that's a very important point of
view to keep in mind for Democrats talking

00:28:27.179 --> 00:28:28.879
about faith on the campaign trail.

00:28:29.090 --> 00:28:35.370
Yeah, you know, I have a friend who
was a pastor and he ran for office as

00:28:35.454 --> 00:28:42.431
a Republican. He lost and then he actually
repented because he felt like politics

00:28:42.515 --> 00:28:48.359
were too divisive. And if he's
going to spread the gospel of Christ,

00:28:48.443 --> 00:28:53.150
he didn't want to be limited
to just one party, right?

00:28:59.090 --> 00:29:03.663
in. Well, that's where I think
threading the needle comes into play.

00:29:03.746 --> 00:29:08.559
I will say that many of these candidates
have figured out how to do it, though,

00:29:08.642 --> 00:29:13.083
at least in state politics. Lindsay
James is a statehouse representative.

00:29:13.167 --> 00:29:16.554
Sarah Trone Garriott is a state
senator. They're clergy,

00:29:16.637 --> 00:29:19.857
and they're careful to not
campaign from the pulpit.

00:29:19.940 --> 00:29:23.688
Is there any indication
that these messages about faith,

00:29:23.771 --> 00:29:27.519
whether it's about the Good
Samaritan or the Beatitudes,

00:29:27.602 --> 00:29:31.160
have moved the needle among
voters in Iowa or Texas?

00:29:31.820 --> 00:29:36.020
Well, you know, it's hard to say what
specifically has moved the needle,

00:29:36.103 --> 00:29:40.363
but it's moving. It could be that
independent voters and swing voters are

00:29:40.446 --> 00:29:45.063
just motivated by the economy or the Iran
war or the dislike of the White House

00:29:45.146 --> 00:29:49.822
ballroom. But there's been significant
movement in these places where clergy are

00:29:49.906 --> 00:29:52.797
running. In the course
of my reporting this story,

00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:57.556
the Cook Political Report moved the Senate
race in Texas between James Tallarico

00:29:57.640 --> 00:29:59.917
and Ken Paxson from leans Republican to

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:02.675
That's huge in Texas.
And earlier this year,

00:30:02.758 --> 00:30:05.620
Cook moved Iowa's third
congressional district,

00:30:05.704 --> 00:30:09.193
where Sarah Trone-Garrett
is running to unseat Zach Nunn,

00:30:09.276 --> 00:30:14.040
from Leans Republican to toss-up.
So there appears to be some real traction.

00:30:14.460 --> 00:30:18.526
So there's traction,
but it's still a balancing act,

00:30:18.609 --> 00:30:22.360
being both a religious
leader and a politician.

00:30:30.870 --> 00:30:34.913
James and Trone Garriott and Tallarico
to run is part of the answer,

00:30:34.996 --> 00:30:39.707
the story of the Good Samaritan, that
story of the person who helps a man lying

00:30:39.790 --> 00:30:43.226
injured on the side of the road
from Jerusalem to Jericho.

00:30:43.309 --> 00:30:47.959
There's a specific interpretation or
reading of that story that Lindsay James,

00:30:48.042 --> 00:30:52.290
the Presbyterian chaplain, brings up.
It's from Martin Luther King Jr.

00:31:00.870 --> 00:31:04.814
pick up the person who's hurting,
but to actually fix the road.

00:31:04.897 --> 00:31:08.904
James is deeply motivated
by this concept of the Good Samaritan,

00:31:08.988 --> 00:31:13.634
but I didn't hear her once bring up
religion while talking with voters who

00:31:13.718 --> 00:31:18.428
were worried about emergency services
or public health at that county fair.

00:31:18.512 --> 00:31:23.478
So she's walking that fine line. Still,
Lindsay James sees that road to Jericho

00:31:23.561 --> 00:31:26.482
today as underfunded
health care in rural Iowa.

00:31:26.565 --> 00:31:29.250
And repairing it is what her faith and the

00:31:30.870 --> 00:31:34.643
in public life. It's her way
of serving her neighbor. Jason,

00:31:34.726 --> 00:31:38.564
thank you so much for bringing
us this story. You're welcome.

00:31:38.647 --> 00:31:42.549
Glad to do it. That's NPR religion
correspondent Jason DeRose,

00:31:42.632 --> 00:31:46.810
who's been reporting on clergy
running for Congress as Democrats.

00:31:49.910 --> 00:31:55.215
This week's episode of The Sunday Story
was produced by Sharon Mashihe and edited

00:31:55.298 --> 00:31:56.131
by Jenny

00:32:00.870 --> 00:32:05.480
Lee Huang. Special thanks this episode
to NPR senior editor for religion

00:32:05.564 --> 00:32:10.761
and spirituality, Daniel Burke. The rest
of the Sunday story team includes Andrew

00:32:10.844 --> 00:32:16.171
Lambo. Our supervising senior producer is
Liana Simstrom and our executive producer

00:32:16.255 --> 00:32:21.256
is Irene Noguchi. I'm Aisha Roscoe and Up
First will be back tomorrow with all

00:32:21.339 --> 00:32:24.450
the news you need to start
your week. Until then,

00:32:24.534 --> 00:32:26.750
have a great rest of your weekend.

00:32:27.210 --> 00:32:31.790
Thank you. you