Photograph by Louis Velazquez via Unsplash
Rev. Paul Justice Snyder
I feel like I am still recovering from election night. After putting the kids to bed, I broke into their stash of Halloween candy and made myself a bowl of popcorn. I stayed up much later than I had anticipated, but there was something almost intoxicating about watching political commentators announce breaking election news hour after hour.
I have always been interested in politics. One of my earliest election memories is watching Al Gore challenge the results of the 2000 presidential election in Florida. Maybe that controversy was what got me hooked.
While most middle schoolers were having sleepovers, personalizing their Myspace pages, or playing Halo on XBOX, in the fall of 2008, I spent weekends canvassing door to door in my small town in Ohio for the Barack Obama campaign. That work culminated on the election night when, thankfully, my parents allowed me to stay up late to watch Obama’s acceptance speech. I can remember my body almost vibrating with hopeful energy, and getting teary-eyed as I watched history being made.
Fast forward nearly two decades, and the 2026 midterms brought a different set of emotions. This election felt like 2008 because of the size of the political victories and the historic diversity of the people and voices represented in the results.
But, something else happened on election night worth noticing. Progressive Christians got elected.
Rev. Adam Hamilton in Kansas and Presbyterian seminarian James Talarico in Texas were some of the big names that stole the headlines, but in total at least seven progressive Christians won their respective races.
For me, that raises an interesting question: is there room for a different kind of Christian voice in our politics?
Though progressive Christians have been politically engaged throughout U.S. history, especially leaders within the black church tradition, it is also true that for the better part of the last half-century, conservative evangelical Christians have been remarkably successful at dominating the political landscape.
And that didn’t happen by accident.
In her book, “The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the Evangelical Church,” journalist and national correspondent for National Public Radio Sarah McCammon outlines how the Republican Party coalesced around conservative evangelicals. Beginning around the 1970s, an organized network of evangelical leaders, like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and James Dobson, built an entire evangelical ecosystem that became deeply intertwined with the Republican Party.[i] By leveraging the Christian faith for political influence, they helped create the conditions that have allowed Christian nationalism to flourish in our current politics.
I am hopeful that the newly elected progressive Christian politicians can help embody an alternative version – one that brings the values of Jesus into public life without trying to claim ownership of the country in his name.
However, as authors and ministers Brian Kaylor and Beau Underwood point out in “Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism,” progressive and mainline Christians have also played a role in paving the way for Christian nationalism.[ii] They remind us that the temptation to use faith to legitimize political convictions isn't exclusive to evangelicals and the Republican Party.
That is why progressive Christian candidates using their faith as a central piece of their campaigns creates a little bit of an internal tension for me.
As a progressive Christian pastor, I believe that our faith has something to say about the dignity of every human being. We have something to say about welcoming immigrants, caring for the poor, feeding the hungry, protecting the vulnerable, pursuing racial justice, and affirming the dignity of our LGBTQ+ siblings. These are values we learn from Jesus, who not only taught us but showed us that our love of neighbor should transcend any sort of boundaries our world draws up. This impacts my political worldview.
And yet, I have to admit, watching James Talarico give his acceptance speech behind a podium bearing the words “Love Thy Neighbor” was still slightly jarring, even though those words deeply reflect the values that shape my own life and faith. I think my internal reaction says something about how we have become used to seeing Christianity exploited as a political tool, sometimes even as a bludgeon.
Which is why, even as people of faith, we should be cautious when Christian language becomes a dominant part of any political campaign. Because the answer to Christian nationalism can’t simply be a different, “lighter” kind of Christian nationalism.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for progressive Christian voices in the public square. I believe there is. Not only does the Black church give us a rich tradition of leaders living out their faith in the political world, but the 2026 midterms seem to suggest that, at least in certain states and among certain demographics, there might be a yearning for a different type of public Christianity than we’ve become accustomed to.
While I am cautious about the political use of this different Christian voice, I am still hopeful that the newly elected officials, like Rev. Adam Hamilton and James Talarico, can help remind the American public that the evangelical Christianity that has dominated our politics for so long is not the sole arbiter of the Christian faith.
I am hopeful that they can help embody an alternative version – one that brings the values of Jesus into public life without trying to claim ownership of the country in his name.
And in doing so, maybe these new progressive Christian voices entering into our politics might help bring healing where previously Christians had done tremendous harm.
If those are part of the outcomes of this election, then give me another handful of Halloween candy and a second bowl of popcorn. It’ll be good to watch.
Rev. Paul Justice Snyder is senior minister of the Central Christian Church in New Albany, IN. He graduated from Wake Forest University School of Divinity in 2019, where he earned his Master of Divinity with a Concentration in Food, Health, and Ecological Well-Being.
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
[i] McCammon, Sarah. The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the Evangelical Church. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2024.
[ii] Kaylor, Brian, and Beau Underwood, Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism. Nashville: Chalice Press, 2024.
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