In Utah, incumbent GOP Senator Mike Lee is running against conservative and 2016 presidential candidate Evan McMullin. The Utah Democratic Party is not running a candidate in this election and is encouraging members to back McMullin. Over at Religion News […]
2022 elections
Wehner: Herschel Walker is a “perfect candidate for a fallen party”
Here is Peter Wehner at The Atlantic on the GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate from Georgia: There have been plenty of awful candidates in American political history; what sets Herschel Walker apart is that he’s a wreck in so […]
Doug Mastriano’s Christian nationalism
The guy running for governor of Pennsylvania on the GOP ticket says that he is not a Christian nationalist. But if I were to name one person who best embodies Christian nationalism in American politics right now I would pick […]
How can evangelicals help to preserve democracy during this election season?
Current contributing editor Daniel K. Williams offers some helpful advice. Here is a taste of his piece at Christianity Today: Harvard historian James Kloppenberg, author of Toward Democracy, argued that democracy in the US will succeed only if parties on both […]
Two former Army War College history professors say Doug Mastriano is unfit for office
Here is Inside Higher Ed: Some retired U.S. Army War College professors are speaking out against Republican Doug Mastriano’s controversial bid to become the next governor of Pennsylvania—a campaign in which Mastriano’s higher education credentials from a Canadian university also […]
Will November 2022 be like November 1866?
University of Connecticut’s Manisha Sinha explains: Midterm elections are usually not history-making stuff. Few have been memorable. But in the 2022 midterms, as in the 1866 elections, the fate of American democracy hangs in the balance. If there is a moment […]
Pennsylvania Republicans for Josh Shapiro
GOP gubernatorial candidate Douglas Mastriano is just too extreme for many Pennsylvania Republicans. Many of them are supporting Democrat Josh Shapiro for governor. Here is the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: With billboards across Pennsylvania, a big-spending national committee that is connected to […]
The Christian Right rallies around Herschel Walker
Here is Brian Kaylor at Word & Way: On the morning after an explosive news report that U.S. Senate hopeful Herschel Walker paid for a girlfriend’s abortion in 2009, the Georgia Republican attended a closed prayer event at First Baptist Church in […]
Doug Mastriano airs his first television ad. It looks like he may be actually running for governor of Pennsylvania
Well, it looks like Mastriano actually IS running for governor of Pennsylvania! Some context on the ad. Here we go: Michael Sokolove has a nice overview of the Mastriano campaign today at The Atlantic. A taste: Mastriano’s campaign is severely underfunded, […]
Mastriano: Women who get abortions should be charged with murder
The Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial candidate made the comment in 2019 on WITF’s “Smart Talk”: Listen. The “murder” argument picks-up around the twenty-four minute mark: Here is NBC News: State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, said in 2019 […]
In December 2020, Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano prayed that God would help him and other election deniers “seize power”
Here is Mastriano on December 30, 2020: Watch: Some comments: This is what we mean by “Christian nationalism.” Providential history is one of the defining marks of Christian nationalism. Notice how Mastriano prays as if he understands God’s purposes in […]
Can the GOP be saved?
No. Or at least that’s what longtime Republican insider and former Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol believes. The guy who tried to tap David French to run against Donald Trump in 2016 is now organizing to defeat pro-Trump candidates in […]
GOP success in November rests on the votes of women
Republican women voters are skeptical about the direction their party is moving and there is a good chance they will voice their skepticism in the November 2022 Senate races. Here is Natalie Allison at Politico: Republicans this election cycle thought […]
Will Bunch offers a “field guide” to Doug Mastriano’s world
Will Bunch of The Philadelphia Inquirer offers a guide to the “rouges’ gallery of religious zealots, election deniers and militia types surrounding Doug Mastriano’s gubernatorial campaign. The guide includes short bios of Abby Abildness, Grant Clarkson, Jenna Ellis, James Emery, […]
It’s Ron DeSantis vs. Charlie Crist in Florida
I will be keeping an eye on this race. Here is NPR: Democrat and longtime politician Charlie Crist has won the primary for governor in Florida and will face Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in November, according to a race call […]
Dick Cheney’s scathing anti-Trump ad
Liz Cheney, in her attempt to defeat the Trump-supported candidate in the upcoming Wyoming GOP primary, called upon Dad. Here is the former vice-president:
Abortion politics is not going away
Some thought that the Supreme Court abortion decision in Dobbs v. Jackson might shift the political focus this election season to a struggling economy. But this week things got more complicated. Today’s job report suggests that the economy is not […]
Who is Michael Peroutka?
He is running for Maryland Attorney General. He also ran for president in 2004 on the Constitution Party ticket. We covered his presidential run in Episode 37 of “A History of Evangelicals and Politics.” The title of this episode is […]
E.J. Dionne endorses Liz Cheney
Here is the liberal Washington Post columnist: Vote for Cheney. Now there is a sentence I never expected to write. Yes, I hope that every Democrat and every moderate and progressive-minded unaffiliated voter in Wyoming crosses into the Republican primary on Aug. […]
A brief history of “Stop the Steal”
Over at The New York Times Magazine, Charles Homans offers a long-form essay on how the Big Lie has captured the Republican Party. Much of the piece focuses on Pennsylvania and its current GOP gubernatorial candidate, Doug Mastriano. Here is […]