These days, Sharon Sayles Belton can usually be found at the entrance to Park Avenue United Methodist Church in south Minneapolis on Sunday mornings, greeting members of the congregation and ushering them to their pews.
But the Sunday before the general election, the former Minneapolis mayor instead stood behind the pulpit of the church known for its long history of local activism.
Juanita Highsmith leaves voting information on a door in the Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul as part of a nonpartisan doorknocking campaign organized by ISAIAH on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. Photo by Madison McVan/Minnesota Reformer.
Sayles Belton encouraged the diverse congregation to vote, but didn’t suggest any candidates or political parties, even if the leftward tilt of the sermon was clear to the congregants.
She applauded the congregation for showing up to encampments with food and gloves and socks for the homeless. “But if we think that by itself is going to solve the problem, we are mistaken,” she said.
“Finding the root causes of problems is our responsibility,” she continued. “As disciples, our responsibility is to also advocate for equity, reconciliation, and peace.”
As Sayles Belton delivered the sermon at Park Avenue United Methodist Church, dozens of like minded religious progressives around the state were engaged in similar get-out-the-vote campaigns.
Minnesota’s religious left — a coalition of Christians, Jews, Muslims, and other people of faith — has gained power and influence at the ballot box and the Legislature in the past decade especially, becoming one of the most influential forces in state politics.
The diverse groups making up Minnesota’s religious left have united behind a policy agenda based on shared values, whatever their theological differences: loving one another; caring for the poor and sick; being good stewards of the Earth; and building a fair and inclusive economy.
ISAIAH has spearheaded the effort to translate these shared values into a specific, actionable policy agenda. Its members and allied groups backed several of the highest-profile bills passed by the DFL-controlled Legislature during the 2023 legislative session: earned sick and safe leave; access to drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants; universal school meals; a larger child tax credit and the restoration of voting rights for felons, among others.
ISAIAH said it sent 5,000 Minnesotans to lobby the Legislature that year. The group has since continued to lobby on child care access and affordability, affordable housing development, and other state and local issues.
Former Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton delivers a sermon as part of the “Faith and Politics” series at Park Avenue United Methodist Church in south Minneapolis on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. Photo by Madison McVan/Minnesota Reformer.
At a national scale, Republicans have become the party of religion — especially Christianity — with candidates focused on abortion and cultural issues like sex education and allowing people to discriminate against gay and trans people. A growing share of Republicans support what’s known as Christian Nationalism; more than half of Minnesota Republicans believe the U.S. should be a Christian nation.
A majority of Democratic voters nationwide are religious, though the share of religiously unaffiliated voters has exploded from 9% in 2006 to 31% in 2022, reflecting national trends away from organized religion, according to research by the nonpartisan organization PRRI.
Religious institutions can’t endorse or campaign for candidates for public office without sacrificing their tax-exempt status, but they can take positions on public policy issues and encourage their members to get involved in politics.
In 2018, ISAIAH leaders founded another organization, Faith in Minnesota, which has a different nonprofit structure allowing for more lobbying and political activity. The coalition also created a political action committee to raise money and donate to campaigns. This cycle, the PAC had raised more than $900,000 and spent more than $400,000, all to help Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidates, as of Oct. 21, with plenty in the bank for the final push.
JaNaé Bates, co-director of Faith in Minnesota, said the group is nonpartisan despite the lopsided donation numbers.
“It’s not really about supporting the Democratic Party. We move based on those who are in support of our agenda,” Bates said.
And by helping those candidates win, Bates and her associates will have allies at the Legislature next year, when lawmakers will make big decisions about taxes, spending, health care, housing, social services, and a bevy of other issues.
While the religious left has lagged behind the power of their right-wing counterparts on a national level, they’ve gained political power and influence in the North Star State through relentless coalition-building and organizing in the years prior to the breakthrough of 2023.
“I think that there is a recognition that the right has co-opted the faith voice, and I think that there’s a real hunger for organizing among faith communities to join progressive movements,” said Beth Gendler, executive director of Jewish Community Action Minnesota, which works on issues including housing, reproductive rights, and criminal justice reform.
Nationwide, white protestant and evangelical Christians overwhelmingly support presidential candidate Donald Trump, while Black protestants, Hispanic Catholics, Jews, and religiously unaffiliated people lean towards Democrats, according to a recent survey by Pew Research Center.
The general trends obscure the divisions occurring within religious groups — none have been spared from the growing political polarization nationwide.
Minnesota Muslims are especially divided this year due to concerns over U.S. support for Israel in its war against Hamas. Support for Trump has nearly doubled among Somalis, with new Republican voters citing the increased cost of living and Democrats’ support for LGBTQ people among their reasons for switching parties.
Todd Lippert, a former pastor and Minnesota state representative who is now a rural organizer for ISAIAH, said he’s seen the “sorting” of Christians into churches that reinforce their political beliefs.
“It’s increasingly rare that you have congregations that have people of different political backgrounds worshiping together,” Lippert said.
Religious voters interviewed by the Reformer all said that their faith and values came before their affiliation to a political party.
Juanita Highsmith, a member of Camphor United Methodist Church in the Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul, knocked on doors for the first time on Sunday after church as part of the “Souls to the Polls” campaign organized by ISAIAH.
Highsmith and other church members bundled up against the chilly mist to talk to voters about how to register to vote, how to find polling places, and gather information about their top issues.
She believes abortion should be a woman’s choice, and is horrified by stories of women dying due to red state abortion bans. She has hesitations about LGBTQ visibility, but believes everyone deserves respect.
Highsmith had donated to Democratic campaigns in previous years but felt compelled to get more involved this year because she doesn’t like the way Trump speaks about people — women in particular — and fears for American democracy.
“If it was like Mitt Romney or John McCain or another [Republican], I wouldn’t worry about the country,” Highsmith said. “I’m worried about the country now.”
Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com. Follow Minnesota Reformer on Facebook and X.
