Vote Common Good

We first met up with Robb Ryerse in 2017 when he was an evangelical pastor running for Congress in the reddest district in Arkansas-- and as a progressive. Not just as a progressive, as a progressive Republican. I was a little skeptical. When I spoke with him what I saw was that Ryerse really wanted to get sewer money out of politics and welcome immigrants into the country. He talked about good policies from sketchy Republican presidents like Reagan and Nixon.

In 2009 James Lankford stepped down as as the student ministries and evangelism specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and as director of the youth programming at the Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center in Davis, Oklahoma to run for Congress. His voting record is pure Trumpist and even before Trump, his record was fanatically far right. He claims to believe deeply in Jesus Christ. And yet, for example, he’s an anti-LGBTQ warrior. And so on.

Is there anything likely that could persuade you to change your position on Trump? Same for most white evangelicals.

The latest Gallup poll concludes that Christianity is rapidly declining in the U.S.. "The religious landscape of the United States continues to change at a rapid clip.

On Friday, Trump AG William Barr spoke at the Notre Dame Law School, decrying the ascendancy of secularism and vowing "to do all he can to assure continued religious freedom for Americans." More a political hack for the far right than an actual Attorney General, Barr babbled, incoherently to the students that "Among the militant secularis

You may recall that last cycle Blue America teamed up with a group of progressive evangelical pastors, Vote Common Good, to help progressive candidates across the country get in touch with evangelical voters who were not feeling Trump and his enablers were good for their families and our country. They helped elect more than a few Democrats to the House, including Katie Porter (D-CA) and Veronica Escobar (D-TX).

Trump's support among white evangelicals hasn't sunk much despite the discomfort some of them feel about a few of his noticeably anti-Jesus policies and about the way he comports himself. 80% of white evangelicals voted for him in 2016 and, if the election were held today, 77% of them say they would do the same now.

There was some interesting new polling released this morning. "An analysis of VoteCast, a nationwide poll of more than 115,000 midterm voters conducted for The Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago, highlights the fractures.

Kara Eastman rallying with Vote Common Good in OmahaSaturday after the vile outbreak of anti-Semitic violence at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh-- 11 dead, many injured-- the Washington Post's Max Boot, wrote that he is "so sad. I am so heartbroken. What is happening to our country? Tolerance for political and religious differences is a non-negotiable part of the social contract in the United States.

Dayna Steele with VCG in BeaumontOn Friday evening the Vote Common Good tour finally arrives in California, appropriately enough, in Escondido Grape Day Park for a rally with much-maligned progressive Democrat Ammar Campar-Najjar (CA-50).