On Election night, the religious left is back
From Texas to Kansas, Democratic candidates drew on their religious values, securing wins and signaling a shift in the relationship between faith and politics.

November 4, 2026 at 2:56 a.m. ET
(RNS) — Asked Tuesday night (Nov 3) about the state Rep. James Talarcio’s victory in Texas U.S. Senate race, the Rev. Jim Rigby, who has long pastored the Presbyterian church Talarico grew up in, said he was still grappling with the moment.
“It’s just too surreal,” Rigby said, who was watching the returns from home. “It’s going to take a while to completely take that in.”
But Rigby, a staunch liberal who has long advocated for immigrants and LGBTQ people, also reflected on what he sees as the broader dynamic of Election Night, which saw Democrats such as Talarico — himself a Presbyterian seminarian — win sweeping victories across the country.
“There’s an awakening taking place,” he said. “It’s not even so much one religion as opposed to another religion, but an idea that everybody counts.”
The victories marked a striking moment for the religious left, which has long struggled to match the influence and visibility of conservative Christians. Across the country, candidates and faith leaders embraced a message that put values such as compassion and inclusion at the center of their campaigns.
“Two thousand years ago, when the people at the top hurt his neighbors, that barefoot rabbi didn’t stay in his room and pray,” Talarico said in his victory speech, as he stood in front of a placard that read “Love thy Neighbor.”
Jesus “walked into the seat of power and flipped over the tables of injustice,” he said.
In addition to Talarico in Texas, who made his religious beliefs a centerpiece of his campaign, Democrats saw a faith leader trigger an upset in the Kansas U.S. Senate race: There, the Rev. Adam Hamilton, who pastors a United Methodist megachurch, sailed to a resounding win in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932.










