Here we go again.
In the lead up to the 2026 midterm elections, religion is once more at the heart of heated, polarizing and very public disputes about the direction the country should take — and who should be the ones to help lead it there.
Across several key issues — from immigration policy to gender, reproductive rights to freedom of religion — religious language, actors and institutions are central to how candidates are framing their campaigns and how voters interpret them or are mobilized to action.
This time around, candidates are not only appealing to “values voters,” but invoking scripture, moral authority and theological language to justify sharply divergent policy positions — often on multiple sides of the same issue.
At the same time, internal fractures within evangelicalism, Catholicism, Judaism, Islam and mainline Protestantism are perhaps as politically consequential as divides between traditions. The result is a religious landscape that remains highly influential in politics but far less predictable than in previous cycles.
Whether the issue is immigration, foreign policy, abortion or LGBTQ+ rights, each functions as a political wedge and theological battleground, shaping campaign rhetoric, voter mobilization and grassroots activism.
For example, in Texas, candidates such as state Rep. James Talarico and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton are offering starkly different religious framings of public policy — Talarico advocating for progressive theology focused on neighborly love, social justice and church-state separation, while Paxton touts his more traditional, evangelical bona fides emphasizing gender politics, abortion restrictions and maintaining a “Christian social order” in the face of threats from the political left and the specter of “radical Islamism.”
In Colorado, candidates like State Representative Scott Bottoms and former minister Victor Marx drew national attention in the state’s Republican primary, primarily for their overtly spiritualized campaign rhetoric, including language around spiritual warfare and even exorcism, signaling how charismatic and Pentecostal idioms are entering electoral politics more visibly. As of publication, it looked as if Marx would be the winner, thrusting his spiritually-intoned campaign back into the national spotlight.
Georgia remains a perennial testing ground for Black church mobilization and evangelical political infrastructure, where faith leaders and voting rights advocates are urging Georgians to “vote like never before.” Meanwhile, states like California are seeing intensified religious advocacy around election integrity, education, gender policy and parental rights.
Elsewhere, the reemergence of “anti-Sharia” legislation efforts in places like Arizona, Florida and Texas underscores how Islam is still mischaracterized and weaponized in broader debates over national identity and religious freedom.
Via the link below, I review key issues for the coming months, whether you are looking at national storylines or state and local trends.