Democratic pastors eye US midterms to blunt Trump’s grip on Christian nationalism

A band of white Democratic pastors has a striking message ahead of November’s US midterm election: Republicans have hijacked Jesus for political gain, and we are not going to stand for it.

For decades, it has been a truism that Republicans have cornered the Christian market – at least when it comes to white voters.

But these ministers are so fed up with US President Donald Trump, and particularly his policies against immigrants, that they are running as Democrats in November to rein him in.

“The Christians we’re hearing in Washington don’t reflect the Jesus of the Gospels,” one of the insurgents, Adam Hamilton, said.

As the head of a 24,000-member Methodist megachurch in a deeply conservative, rural area of Kansas, Hamilton would typically fit the profile of a right-wing Republican Christian.

However, along with support for financial responsibility and a strong military, the 62-year-old Hamilton backs legal access to abortion and protecting LGBTQ rights in his campaign for the US Senate.