Now that Ken Paxton, the conservative attorney general of Texas, has defeated incumbent John Cornyn for the Republican Senate nomination, we may see something unusual in modern American elections: the collapse of theology.
In a closely watched and competitive race, Paxton will face James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian and Democratic nominee. The race is now set to be a battle between two different worldviews about the role of Christianity.
That Democrats can even hold up their end of such a debate is unusual in a political era when “Christian” has come to be synonymous with “right wing.” Talarico has been trying to change that narrative — now he gets to take on a flawed Republican with a mainstream evangelical message.
- The US Senate race in Texas is set: Republican Ken Paxton will face Democrat James Talarico.
- It will be a closely watched race: Talarico is not pushing a traditional anti-Donald Trump message, instead talking about his faith, the billionaire class, and corruption. Paxton, meanwhile, is weighed down by personal, political and legal scandals.
- But the race is also a proxy battle for two questions about religion in American politics today: What does “Christianity” mean, and whether personal behavior matters.
Talarico received a lot of media attention in his elementary school for the orientation of his Christian faith – one of forgiveness, love, and righteous anger against the rich and powerful. However, he has also been to be mocked to the religious right as a false prophet: a Christian in name only who pollutes left-wing social views through faith, supports abortion, and once. he argued that God is nonbinary.
At the same time, Paxton’s appointment creates an interesting foil: He is a politician accused and sued in the middle of a divorce that his wife sought “on biblical grounds.” And he has championed a right-wing brand of Christian politics, embracing the efforts of the “nationalist Christian” movement to break down the walls between church and state, while fending off two-pronged attacks on his personal values.
This great cultural struggle over who can claim Christian identity and what Christianity should stand for in 21st century America will be front and center in the race. It will test the limits of persuasion for a liberal Christian trying to win over disaffected Republicans with different political and theological views, and the limits of religious loyalty for a conservative Christian trying to keep them in his camp despite bipartisan concerns about his values.
Christian authoritarianism versus the Christianity of tough love
A Presbyterian seminarian, Talarico comes from a more liberal political culture than Paxton’s Southern Baptist background. Its main branch of mainline Protestantism, the Presbyterian Church (USA), has been derided by right-wing critics as “woke” and. a theological heresy by embracing same-sex marriage, the ordination of women, and a stance that welcomes transgender believers.
Talarico has focused on the concept of “great love” in his political identity and campaign platform: He wants to heal political divisions, welcome Americans who are not typically Democrats to his campaign, and transcend anger against anyone (such as President Donald Trump or Paxton) toward a forward-looking agenda focused on oligarchs, the political establishment, and “corrupt” elites.
“In my belief, love is the greatest force in the universe,” he said at a campaign rally there February. And to justify his righteous anger, he argues that “you cannot stand for faith and then mislead and use religion to hurt our neighbors.”
Talarico has clearly difference his faith”Christian Nationalism,” saying that right-wing religious leaders are teaming up with Trump to establish a “theocracy.”
Paxton is firmly in the Christian national camp. In general, Christian nationalists oppose the separation of church and state; seeking to make Christianity the official state religion; appeal to Biblical ethics to determine the law; and they say that the United States has the unique blessings of God among other nations.
Paxton has made a name for himself as an aggressive advocate of religious freedom, arguing not only that government should roll back space for believers, but that government should actively promote a specific version of Christian values and ethics. He supported the efforts of bringing Christian prayer and Scripture into public schoolssetting aside time for Bible reading and prayer, and displaying the Ten Commandments on public property.
“In Texas classrooms, we want the Word of God to be opened, the Ten Commandments to be displayed, and prayers to be lifted up,” Paxton said in September. statement call for students to recite the Lord’s Prayer in class. “Our nation was founded on the rock of Biblical Truth, and I will not stand by the left’s attempts to push our country into the sinking sand.”
Talarico has advocated a secular government, while also trying to turn the theological discussion into economic issues. “These politicians want a Christian nation, unless it means providing health care for the sick or funding food aid for the hungry or raising the minimum wage for the poor,” he said. The Ezra Klein Show. “And so, it seems like they want to put our laws in the Bible until they read the words of Jesus.”
While marrying progressive politics with Christian themes could win over the Democratic base, Republicans are already fiercely opposed on social issues — especially abortion and LGBT rights — where they believe their platform is more in touch with their state’s long-term position.
But Talarico could also try to sway voters with another argument steeped in religious tenets: that Paxton doesn’t live up to the Christian values he claims to support.
Paxton creates a test of what Christians should endure
The Paxton-Talarico race is in part a referendum on what Christians will tolerate as Christian-like behavior.
Talarico has a very clean image: former teacher, pastor in training, and social justice activist. Paxton looks more like Trump: accused of adultery by his wife (hence the “biblical grounds” for their divorce), charged with securities fraud (later to settle the case without pleading guilty), and impeached by the Republican-dominated Texas state legislature on bribery and corruption charges (then to be released in his case).
Senator Cornyn raised all these accusations against him. “Ken Paxton has the morals of a strip club owner,” one of the his announcements were read. “Texas Moms: Would you want your daughters to marry a man like Ken Paxton?” And Cornyn proudly pointed out that Paxton himself had joined his re-election campaign as a consultant before it is repeated.
Talarico seems likely to redouble these efforts: His name is Paxton “morally unfit“to the office.” “He will lie to you with a straight face. He has failed the character test. He is the most corrupt Attorney General in our lifetime, and he is putting his interests above the laws of Texas,” Talarico said Tuesday night, citing some of the statements made by Paxton’s Republican critics.
In this regard, the race is an extension of a long-running debate within the religious right about Trump, who Paxton’s proof scored his greatest victory. The president has long been embraced by social conservatives who have argued that, despite his moral flaws, he can still issue anti-abortion policies, appoint judges who share his views on religious freedom, and give evangelical Protestant Christians a privileged place in public life.
Even among Paxton’s religious critics on the right, these issues are divisive. National Reviewer Jeffrey Blehar he argued Paxton was “disgusting,” but Talarico was “morally worse” because he espoused ideas that Blehar believed were evil and immoral under the guise of faith. In doing so, Blehar reprimanded New York Times reporter David French, who praised Talarico as “one of the few openly Christian politicians in America who acts like a Christian,” even as he criticized his positions on issues such as abortion.
Paxton has relied testimony from his family to rebuke personal attacks, and is likely to try to refocus the contest on the larger work he can accomplish for conservative Christians. In declaring victory Tuesday night, he framed the upcoming election as “the beginning of the struggle to preserve every value we hold dear.”
The two versions of Christianity represented by Talarico and Paxton can be like two ships passing in the night if you are looking to compare and discuss theology. But the race is one of the most recent examples of Democrats trying to reclaim the politics of faith — and Republicans have rarely had such a flawed negotiator to rail against.
