From the Church to Washington, DC: Religious leaders elected to Congress this year
Adam Hamilton, James Talarico, and four other religious leaders will arrive in Washington, D.C., in January 2027. Who are they?
On Monday, Adam Hamilton quoted the Bible at least three times during one of his final campaign events. A day later, the pastor of a Methodist megachurch became the first Democrat elected by Kansas to the Senate since 1932.
Hamilton wasn't the only one to make the leap from the pulpit to the campaign trail in the midterm elections. On Tuesday, five other Democrats with religious backgrounds or experience won seats in Congress. Two will take their seats in the Senate and four in the House of Representatives, and five of those six seats were previously held by Republicans.
On a night marked by the rise of what the media outlet Vox dubbed "the Christian left," all six candidates won on a historic night for Democrats. The party regained control of both chambers and won five governorships.
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Adam Hamilton
Adam Hamilton is the founding pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, with more than 24,000 members and nine locations in the Kansas City area.
In a campaign in which he consistently emphasized messages of moderation, often drawing on biblical themes, the Democrat defeated Republican Senator Roger Marshall by 50.9% to 46.1%. Marshall had won the seat by 11 percentage points in 2020.
Throughout the election cycle, Republicans attacked Hamilton as a candidate who was "too woke for Kansas." They even filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging he used his church's resources to promote his candidacy, a claim his team denied.
James Talarico
Although James Talarico is not a pastor like Adam Hamilton, he made his faith a cornerstone of his campaign.
The senator-elect from Texas and Presbyterian seminary student defeated Republican Ken Paxton by a margin of twelve points and became the first Democrat elected by Texas to the Senate since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988.
As for his theological training, Talarico began his studies at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in August 2022, while serving in the state Legislature.
In May 2025, he earned a master's degree in theological studies, but he has not yet completed his Master of Divinity, the degree typically required for ordination.
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In one of the pre-election interviews, Talarico responded as follows when asked about his opponent: "Ken Paxton is a child of God. He is my brother in Christ. It doesn't mean there's not accountability, right? Love demands accountability."
During the campaign, Republicans circulated videos in which Talarico claimed that "God is non-binary." Furthermore, he told Joe Rogan that "the Bible is silent on the issue of abortion," which drew a harsh rebuke from Franklin Graham and other religious leaders.
Frederick Haynes III
Frederick Haynes III, 65, has led the Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, which has about 13,000 members, for more than four decades.
The Democrat won Texas's 30th congressional district with 82% of the vote against Republican Everett Jackson. Democrats already hold the seat, currently occupied by Jasmine Crockett, who is also a member of his church's congregation.
After winning the election, he had the following to say about the religious leaders who were elected to Congress:
"I’m excited. You hear, from my state, Senator-elect James Talarico, who I just spoke with, and he’ll be with me Sunday at Friendship-West here in Dallas. And one of the things he was emphasizing last night was the love ethic of Jesus Christ. And how refreshing is that, given the fact we’re in an environment, a political climate that has been characterized by anti-love, indifference to the pain and suffering of people, out-and-out hatred for the other, and those who are oppressed, and those who are, because of the color of their skin, iced out of this country. How beautiful is that?"
Lindsay James
Now in Iowa, Lindsay James is a Presbyterian minister and state legislator from Dubuque. She successfully ran for Iowa's 2nd congressional district in the House of Representatives and placed her faith at the center of her campaign.
James defeated Republican Joe Mitchell to win the open seat vacated by Republican Ashley Hinson, who ran for the Senate.
With the results from Iowa, Democrats went from zero of the four congressional seats to three.
Sarah Trone Garriott
Back in Iowa, Sarah Trone Garriott won the 3rd congressional district after defeating incumbent Zach Nunn.
Trone Garriott, 48, is a Lutheran minister and has served as a hospital chaplain and parish pastor. She also serves on the executive board of the Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC) and is a state senator. In the November 3 election, the Democrat defeated Nunn by 7.3 percentage points.
LaKesha Womack
Last on the list is LaKesha Womack, an ordained minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Zion. She also founded Rethinking Church Strategies, a space for religious leaders, and serves as director of strategy at ASPIRE Community Capital.
Womack was elected in North Carolina's 14th congressional district. She defeated incumbent Republican Tim Moore 51% to 49%.
Her victory came weeks after she received a felony summons, issued in 2020, for failing to return a rental car in 2019.
Religious leaders already serving in Congress
Warnock has been senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta since 2005, the former pulpit of Martin Luther King Jr., while Cleaver is a Methodist minister and served as pastor of St. James United Methodist Church in Kansas City from 1972 to 2009.
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