Meet the evangelicals trying to make a case for VP Harris

Donald Trump won the support of more than 80% of white evangelicals in 2016 and 2020, but a new group is trying hard to push some of those voters toward Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.

The political action committee Evangelicals for Harris is running a series of digital ads, including one that shows an archival video of the late evangelical preacher Billy Graham, in which he asks, “Have you been to the cross and said, ‘Lord, I have sinned'?”

Those words are juxtaposed with a video of Trump being asked during a public appearance in 2015, “Have you ever asked God for forgiveness?”

Trump responds, “I'm not sure I have. I just, I don't bring God into that picture. I don't.”

Evangelicals for Harris is also running an ad on various digital platforms, including YouTube, that features Kamala Harris speaking about her beliefs. It’s called “Fruits of the Spirit” and includes Harris saying, during a speech, “Faith motivates action. It lifts us up and it gives us purpose.”

In addition to these online ads, the group is working with local activists to hold in-person events in swing states. One of those leaders is self-described evangelical Christian and Milwaukee resident Patricia Ruiz-Cantu.

“Here in Wisconsin,” she says, “we're doing faith rallies. And we bring different congregations together to talk about values and to hear what their concerns are and try to figure out how we can work together.”

Ruiz-Cantu knows that some evangelical voters may disagree with Harris on her abortion stance. But she believes those same voters can be swayed over other issues, deeply rooted in the Christian tradition.

“In the Bible, it talks to us about loving our neighbor like we love ourselves,” she says. “Jesus Christ came for the needy. It says, I'm going to ask you, did you see me hungry and did you feed me and did you see me thirsty? Did you give me water?”

Some evangelicals want to expand the conversation about values

Among Evangelicals for Harris’s key issues are health care, poverty and the environment. The group’s founder, The Rev. Jim Ball, calls these “family values” because they support real families. And he selected those values because the Bible tells him so.

“Jesus was on the side of the vulnerable,” says Ball, who lives in Vienna, Va., outside Washington, D.C. “He was always helping the vulnerable. And so we have a particular concern for the vulnerable in our society. And so we look and say, well, whose policies are more in keeping with protecting the vulnerable and defending the vulnerable?”

For Ball, the answer is Kamala Harris. He has often challenged his evangelical heritage and evangelical siblings on certain issues. He led the Evangelical Environmental Network and is the author of the book Global Warming and the Risen Lord: Christian Discipleship and Climate Change.

Ball says the message of Evangelicals for Harris is resonating with many. He points to the more than 200,000 people who’ve signed up so far to get involved in local rallies and town hall meetings, including some less likely folks.

For some evangelicals, the switch to Harris is complicated

The Rev. Lee Scott is a Presbyterian minister in Pittsburgh who’s been a registered Republican since he turned 18. “Cast my first vote for George W. Bush,” he says proudly.

But because of Trump and his dominance over the GOP during the last decade, Scott is talking with friends, family and other clergy in his swing state of Pennsylvania about why he’s supporting the Harris-Walz campaign. It’s a nuanced and complicated conversation.

“They've got a ton of policy positions that I personally don't endorse,” says Scott. “We're very far apart on the issue of abortion. But we have to do more than just say ‘abortion bad.’”

Scott says Harris is answering questions that Republicans haven’t in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning federal abortion rights.

“How are we then going to support new mothers? How are we going to put funding behind that?” he asks. “And that's a part of her [Harris’s] plan. I love that she wants to expand the child tax credit,” which Scott says would help support people who might otherwise choose to end a pregnancy fearing they couldn’t afford a child.

Other evangelicals consider abortion a deal breaker

Still, many conservative Christians are pushing back against Evangelicals for Harris. Billy Graham’s son Franklin Graham has questioned the use of his father’s image and words in the Evangelicals for Harris ad. In a posting on X, Graham said that he “appreciated the conservative values and policies of President” Trump and would continue to do so if he were alive today.

Another prominent evangelical leader, Michael Brown, used a recent episode of his popular Line of Fire podcast and radio show to argue the issue of abortion is a deal breaker.

“That one alone because it touches the most innocent, the most vulnerable,” Brown told his listeners. “That one alone because of what the bible says about the shedding of innocent blood and doing anything to harm the little ones.”

For decades, evangelical Christians have focused their political efforts in two main areas: opposition to abortion rights and LGBTQ+ rights. But that’s not the whole story, says Democrat and Texas State Representative James Talarico, who’s also working with Evangelicals for Harris.

“When I open my Bible,” says the politician who is also a seminary student enrolled at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, “I see more than 2,000 verses about economic justice and I see zero about abortion or gay rights.”

To be sure, the message of Evangelicals for Harris – focusing on poverty, healthcare and the environment – won’t resonate with most conservative Christians, admits Talarico. But he argues their pitch doesn’t have to.

“We don't have to win everybody,” he says. “We just have to win enough to win this election.”