Christian nationalism, at least in its official Trump-inspired manifestations in Washington, D.C., may have been handed a significant setback in the midterm elections.
Democrat James Talarico’s 55%-43% trouncing of Ken Paxton in Texas’ U.S. Senate race, together with the victory of seven progressive clergy or lay leaders in races around the country, led some on the following day to conclude “the religious left is back” and helped Democrats ascend into majority control in the U.S. House and Senate.
In his “A Public Witness” Substack, Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor suggested the blue “Mainline Protestant Wave” that helped flip Congress and numerous statewide offices may also have put a damper on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s monthly Pentagon worship service, which had been scheduled for Nov. 4.
“When the time for the service came — and long past when the service typically ends — the livestream played music and included a message on the screen: ‘There are no scheduled events at this time,’” Kaylor reported. “The Pentagon did not respond to my media request asking if the service had been canceled or delayed (or perhaps just not livestreamed despite the creation of the livestream page and the fact that all of the previous services were livestreamed).”
Moments earlier, CBS News published a report that President Donald Trump was asking his advisers if he should fire Hegseth over the unpopularity of the Iran war, a theme already gaining popularity among other Republicans. Kaylor noted one of two House members Hegseth campaigned for lost to a female progressive minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.
“Beyond the threat to his own job security, last night’s results also represented a stark repudiation of Hegseth’s brand of violent Christian nationalism,” he said.
“While Hegseth’s Crusader version of Christian nationalism has been proclaimed inside the Pentagon for almost two years, that may come to an end soon in part because of a wave of Mainline Protestant clergy heading to Washington, D.C.”
(Illustration of Pete Hegseth created by ChatGPT)
Others were quick to see the electoral outcome as more than a referendum on President Trump and his handling of the economy, social issues or the war with Iran.
“White Christian nationalism lost yesterday,” said Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which has been embroiled in multiple lawsuits revolving around federal and state efforts to merge religion and government.
“Church-state separation and the pluralistic democracy it enables won. And nowhere was this victory more vividly illustrated than in the historic firsts elected by voters across the country.”
Those firsts, she said, include the election of the first Muslim senator, first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Senate, the first Black woman elected governor in Georgia and the first Native American woman elected governor (New Mexico).
Democratic Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed gives fist-bumps and shakes hands with every supporter who was not able to attend his campaign event after it reached maximum capacity outside the State Theater on October 10, 2026 in Traverse City, Michigan. A former public health director and firebrand progressive, El-Sayed has been polling ahead of his Republican opponent and former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, but the lead remains within the margin of error. Al-Sayed could become the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate from a state that has not elected a GOP senator in 32 years. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
At the same time, some of the country’s most “notorious” Christian nationalist politicians were defeated at the polls, Laser said, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and his allies in the state who “forced Ten Commandments into public school classrooms, Bible-reading into curricula and chaplains into schools.”
Also defeated Nov. 3 was Texas Lt. Dan Patrick, who chaired Trump’s “Orwellian Religious Liberty Commission” and who famously said “‘the separation of church and state is the biggest lie that’s been told in America since our founding.’ Voters disagreed (as does history).”
The Secular Coalition of America hailed the elections as a reminder that no administration can escape accountability when it comes to the separation of church and state.
Steven Emmert
“From efforts to divert public funds to religious schools and inject religion into public education to policies that privilege particular religious beliefs in government, the constitutional protections that safeguard religious freedom for all Americans have been repeatedly tested,” the group said.
The new Congress will have an opportunity and responsibility to restore effective oversight and challenge policies that threaten religious neutrality.
“This election wasn’t a referendum on any single issue, and we recognize that voters were motivated by many concerns,” Executive Director Steven Emmert said. “But the message about accountability and the direction of our country is unmistakable.”
Paul Raushenbush, president of Interfaith Alliance, echoed the same assessment as others: “Repudiating Christian nationalism, these results show definitively that the far-right does not have any monopoly on religion in this country, and never has. Numerous candidates who explicitly ran campaigns rooted in their progressive religious values of compassion and social justice — including members of the clergy — won notable victories.”
Related:
Payday for MAGA | Opinion by Mark Wingfield
When hope and history rhyme but justice hasn’t reached every shore | Opinion by Brian Henderson
This is for you, America | Opinion by Erich Bridges
Understanding the blue tsunami of the midterms | Analysis by Edmond Davis