“However, ‘eventually’ happened even more quickly than even I expected.” “When Trump first announced his re-election bid last November I predicted that some evangelicals would ‘kick the tires’ of other candidates but would eventually coalesce around Trump as they did in 2016,” Jeffress said via email.
One of Trump’s staunchest supporters in this and past elections is Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas. But if the Florida governor were to ultimately capture the Republican nomination and face Joe Biden, two Catholic major-party presidential candidates would face off for the first time in U.S. “I’m not going to support any candidate who is not prolife in conviction and with an honest and straightforward strategy to lead a prolife effort,” he said, and noted that the GOP has a “good number of attractive candidates,” putting DeSantis at the top of that list.īut if Trump becomes the nominee, “I’ll revisit that question” of whom to vote for.ĭeSantis formally entered the race last month and is the leading alternative to Trump, who remains the dominant force in GOP politics at the moment. He’s looking for candidates who can navigate that political reality without compromising. Mohler acknowledged that Democrats have benefited politically from the backlash to the Supreme Court decision. “Whether that’s Ron DeSantis or Mike Pence, one thing you can be assured of is most of the white evangelical populace is going to be in alignment with some GOP candidate, whoever that might be,” said Bowman, pastor of Temple of Faith Baptist Church, which maintains ties to SBC churches on the state and local level.īut Trump has since said the abortion issue should be decided by the states, drawing criticism from some seeking a federal ban. of Louisville, Kentucky, who was among several Black pastors who left the SBC in 2021 in dismay over what they saw as a racial backlash in a denomination that had once formally repented of its forebears’ racism. “There is a segment of the white evangelical populace, they’re looking for a way to distance themselves with the deal with the devil they made in 2016″ in supporting Trump, said the Rev. Pence spoke to the SBC annual meeting in 2018. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Sen. In addition to Trump and DeSantis, other GOP candidates have made a point of proclaiming their Christian convictions, including former U.N. The only question is the extent of the fervor they bring to the polls. Ron DeSantis or other candidates might offer.īut even critics of many Baptist voters’ embrace of hard-right politics have little doubt where this is headed in November 2024 - support for whichever candidate emerges from the GOP nomination process.
#ONCE DOMINATING TRUMP ACT SERIAL#
Southern Baptists form a core part of the white evangelical Christian bloc that has reliably and overwhelmingly voted Republican in recent elections, and is expected to again in 2024.īut Southern Baptists are weighing their options in the GOP presidential primary field - some already lining up behind Donald Trump, others wary of the former president, whom most evangelical voters supported in previous elections despite his vulgar language, serial marriages and sexual bravado.
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