Clergy candidates help Democrats win back control of Congress
From NPR.
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Among the Democrats who won House and Senate seats in the 2026 midterms: a surprising number of clergy and clergy-in-training. The shift comes after Republicans often seemed more comfortable talking about religion in recent decades, but this mid-term election year was different.
Heading to the U.S. Senate: Adam Hamilton, the pastor of a large United Methodist congregation in Kansas, and Texas state Rep. James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian. Heading to the U.S. House of Representatives: Frederick Haynes, the pastor of a 13,000-member Baptist church in the Dallas area, and from Iowa, Sarah Trone Garriott, a Lutheran pastor and a state senator from the Des Moines area, and congresswoman-elect Lindsay James, a Presbyterian chaplain from Dubuque and a state house representative.
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Host: Korva Coleman/NPR
Reporter: Jason DeRose/NPR
Producer: Michael Zamora/NPR
Heading to the U.S. Senate: Adam Hamilton, the pastor of a large United Methodist congregation in Kansas, and Texas state Rep. James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian. Heading to the U.S. House of Representatives: Frederick Haynes, the pastor of a 13,000-member Baptist church in the Dallas area, and from Iowa, Sarah Trone Garriott, a Lutheran pastor and a state senator from the Des Moines area, and congresswoman-elect Lindsay James, a Presbyterian chaplain from Dubuque and a state house representative.
Find “NPR News Now” wherever you listen to podcasts.
Host: Korva Coleman/NPR
Reporter: Jason DeRose/NPR
Producer: Michael Zamora/NPR
