Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde appears in a new video ad urging all people to vote.
The bishop, who made headlines in January 2025 for urging President Donald Trump at his inaugural prayer service to “have mercy” on immigrants and the LGBTQ community, also has announced her forthcoming resignation as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C., a process that will take two years.
The new ad is a project of Interfaith Alliance and Protect Democracy United. It will run in four markets considered to face a high risk of election interference: Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Eau Claire, Wis.; Pittsburgh; and Raleigh, N.C.
Each of those cities also are stops on Interfaith Alliance’s The Vote Is Sacred bus tour.
In the ad, Budde says: “We have all born witness to the events of the last two years. So today I am asking you again to have mercy. Just as importantly, I am asking for your courage, to love your neighbor, to respect the dignity of every human being, and now to vote.”
A news release from Interfaith Alliance calls Budde “a beacon of moral courage” who has made clear “that people of faith in our country are called to practice mercy, charity and compassion, not cruelty, division or discrimination. This new ad echoes that inspiring message and underlines why, with so much at stake, people of faith need to exercise their sacred right to vote this fall.”
This is the fourth and final ad in an ad campaign called “Choose Love, Not ICE.” The campaign began in December 2025 with an ad contrasting ICE cruelty with a child singing “O Holy Night.”
Last week, the 66-year-old Budde announced her plans to step down as head of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, a role she has held for 15 years (17 years when she steps down in 2028). The prescribed process in the Episcopal Church is lengthy.
When elected to the position in 2012, she was the first woman to hold the position.