President Donald Trump participates in a prayer before a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, Thursday, July 3, 2025. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)
Republicans could be in trouble as they've ignored a key voting bloc they need not only now, but also in the future.
Conservative leaders are sounding the alarm that Republicans haven't done enough to mobilize their White evangelical voters in the final weeks before the Nov. 3 elections. It's striking fear in the GOP as they struggle to encourage the base to show up to the polls, said a CNN report Tuesday.
While White evangelicals only make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population, they typically account for roughly 20 percent of the electorate and have strongly supported GOP candidates, including President Donald Trump. About 8 in 10 voted for him in the last three presidential elections.
Republican campaign consultants know they can't win an election without them.
“I am not aware of any party machine that is at work right now to turn out evangelical voters,” said a conservative evangelical pastor in Texas. “Maybe they are assuming they are going to show up, but that is a dangerous assumption.”
The Trump Inc. PAC and the national Republican Party have certainly dumped about $326 million, MS NOW reported over the weekend. Much of that money appears to have gone to television ads, not "get out the vote" efforts, much less a door-knocking campaign.
The vote will be critical in Texas, Iowa, Kansas and even South Carolina. The report explained that Democrat Annie Andrews, who is challenging Sen. Lindsey Graham's sister, Darline, "has mounted a more competitive campaign than Republicans expected." It means more money has been needed for more ads.
“The evangelical vote is Trump’s strongest coalition. Thirty-eight percent of his voters were White evangelicals. [Republicans] cannot win — I don’t care where you are in the country — without the evangelical vote,” said Professor Ryan Burge. He teaches at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis.
The challenge Republicans face is that White evangelical voters may love Trump, but they also have to pay the bills.
“Evangelicals have to put gas in their cars just like everybody else. They gotta buy groceries just like everyone,” North Carolina Rep. Mark Harris told CNN.
“But I do think evangelical voters understand what is happening here," the former pastor added.
Chad Connelly, who worked as national director of faith engagement at the Republican National Committee, said that he's spent the past two months speaking with pastors in more than 20 states. While they're prohibited from telling parishioners who to vote for, conservatives have taught faith leaders how to "discuss the issues from the pulpit," CNN described.
"The evangelical turnout is really a difference maker,” Connelly said. “I don’t think the party has ever done enough in this realm.”
"Look, I’m paid to worry. You know, I worry as an occupational hazard and as a professional obligation,” Faith and Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed told CNN. “We’re sailing into headwinds, and we all understand that, we all know the history of midterms for the party holding the White House. But you know, I’m confident that we will do our job and that we will deliver this vote, and we will deliver it in larger numbers than is typical for a midterm election.”
