SALT LAKE CITY — Joe Biden says the rosary. Sen. Elizabeth Warren quotes the Bible. Sen. Amy Klobuchar attends Senate prayer breakfasts. And Sen. Bernie Sanders says Judaism inspired his political beliefs.
For a party often accused of being anti-religion, top 2020 Democratic presidential candidates sure do talk a lot about their faith. And with key primary contests quickly approaching, some are ramping up their appeals to religious communities.
Biden and Sanders each released religion-themed campaign ads this week. Pete Buttigieg put his faith in the spotlight during a CNN town hall.
It’s unclear if these efforts influenced voters Saturday in Nevada or whether they will fuel success later this month in South Carolina, but it’s safe to say we’ll hear more from candidates on faith. The six Democrats who took part in the most recent debate all have significant ties to religious communities.
Here’s a refresher on what these candidates have said about faith and religion during their campaigns so far:
Joe Biden
Former Vice President Joe Biden is a lifelong Catholic who regularly attends Mass. He often describes his faith as a source of comfort, but it’s caused controversy, too.
For example, in October, a Catholic priest in South Carolina made national news for refusing to serve Biden communion due to the candidate’s support for abortion rights. Biden is far from the only Catholic politician to face pushback for holding more liberal views, as the Deseret News reported at the time.
Communion drama hasn’t kept Biden from discussing his faith on the campaign trail. This week, he released an ad presenting his Catholicism as a key source of strength.
“I go to Mass and I say the rosary. I find it to be incredibly comforting,” he says in the ad.
Biden often speaks about politics in general — and his presidential campaign specifically — in moral terms. He has pledged to restore the soul of the nation and stand up for people who have too often been left to fend for themselves.
“In 2020, we need a candidate who can not only beat Trump at the ballot box, but a leader who can heal and unite our divided country to get things done,” Biden wrote in a December column for Religion News Service.
His message seems to be resonating with religious voters. Catholic, Protestant and Jewish voters who identify as or lean Democratic are more likely to name Biden as their first choice than any other candidate, according to Pew Research Center.
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, has faced criticism from other Democratic candidates for entering the race late and relying on his personal fortune for relevancy. At this week’s debate, he was repeatedly attacked for being, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren put it, “an arrogant billionaire.”
Bloomberg, who is Jewish, is also a polarizing figure within religious communities. Some Muslims believe he needs to apologize for green-lighting extensive surveillance of Islamic organizations in New York City, as HuffPost reported in December 2019.
“I just don’t know how we could have the trust in him,” said Moiz Mohammed to HuffPost. “What is he going to do when he’s president and has much more authority and resources at his disposal?”
No more than 9% of Democratic voters within any major faith group say Bloomberg is their first choice for the Democratic nomination, Pew reported.
However, Bloomberg continues to work to garner support within the Jewish community. Last month at a Florida synagogue, he launched a formal outreach effort and promised to address rising anti-Semitism and work toward a two-state solution to ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestine.
On other religious issues, he’s less interested in compromise. He recently told the Deseret News that he doesn’t believe the Equality Act, an effort to add gender identity and sexual orientation protections to federal nondiscrimination law, would harm people of faith who object to same-sex marriage, although religious leaders from a variety of denominations have said that it would.
“I respect their right to think that,” Bloomberg said.
Pete Buttigieg
Pete Buttigieg, who is the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has put his Episcopal faith at the center of his campaign. He often speaks about the Bible’s call to protect vulnerable people and how it motivates his political career.
“Personal faith calls me above anything else to make myself useful in all worldly actions to those who are marginalized, oppressed (and) cast out,” he said at the National Faith Forum in Las Vegas last week.
Buttigieg has said that, as president, he will champion policies that respect the humanity of affected communities. He believes decisions on immigration, gun control, climate change and other issues hold moral weight.
As an openly gay man and a Democrat, Buttigieg doesn’t fit the image that many Americans have in their head when they think of religious candidates. He’s embraced opportunities to educate voters about the diversity of the religious community.
“I’m sending the message that God does not belong to a political party,” he said during a Feb. 18 CNN town hall.
However, Buttigieg has also been critical of evangelical Christian support for President Donald Trump. At the CNN town hall, he argued the president’s conduct and policies are immoral.
“I’m not going to tell other Christians how to be Christian but I will say I cannot find any compatibility between the way this president conducts himself and anything I find in scripture,” he said.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota
Amy Klobuchar, who is Christian and attends a United Church of Christ, often brings up her faith when she’s discussing family struggles or conflict reduction. She describes religion as a source of strength for people in pain and a unifying force in tense relationships.
“Faith is very important to me. It helped me get through my dad’s addiction. It’s helped me to work with members in the Senate on things like foreign aid. ... I may not agree with some of these members on other things but we have (faith) in common,” she said during a CNN town hall last year.
At that event, she said she regularly attends the Senate Prayer Breakfast, a weekly gathering that brings together liberal and conservative policymakers. In the past, she’s also helped lead the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual multifaith and nonpartisan event.
Klobuchar’s faith likely fuels her efforts on the campaign to reach out to Independents and Republicans in addition to Democrats. Unlike other top Democratic candidates, she has tried to extend a hand to voters who oppose abortion rights, The Associated Press reported.
“I am willing to work with people and find common ground and that’s what we want in a president,” she said during this week’s debate.
Klobuchar had a strong showing among regular worshipers in the New Hampshire primary. Thirty percent of people who attend worship weekly supported her with their vote, according to CNN exit polls and Religion News Service.
However, she’s struggled to attract widespread support from religious communities. Pew’s survey showed that only 2% of Protestant, 2% of Catholic and 4% of Jewish voters who identify as or lean Democratic consider Klobuchar their first choice for the nomination.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont
Bernie Sanders, who is leading in the latest national polls, is likely the least religious candidate among the Democratic frontrunners. He was raised Jewish, but he’s often described as “religiously unaffiliated.”
“I am not actively involved with organized religion,” he said in 2016, according to The Washington Post.
However, Sanders has credited Judaism with inspiring his bold approach to politics. His campaign platform includes calls to make Medicare available to all Americans, cancel student loan debt for nearly 50 million adults and eliminate medical debt.
“When I try to think about how I came to the views that I hold, there are two major factors. ... I grew up in a family that didn’t have a whole lot of money ... and that made me aware that there are tens of millions of people who are in that same boat. And the second one is being Jewish,” he said during a February town hall on CNN.
Sanders released a campaign ad this week focused on his Jewish upbringing, which explores the rise of anti-Semitism in the U.S. and the significance of his campaign.
“I am very proud of being Jewish and that is an essential part of who I am as a human being,” he explains in the ad.
In addition to his outreach efforts within the Jewish community, Sanders has worked to develop a strong relationship with Muslim voters, the Los Angeles Times reported last fall. He spoke at the Islamic Society of North America’s annual convention and was recently endorsed by the largest Muslim political action committee in the U.S.
“Muslims appreciate how he is giving them opportunities to be part of his movement,” said Cynthia Ubaldo, an Ohio Muslim who has hosted campaign events for Sanders, to the L.A. Times.
But, moving forward, Sanders’ most important religion-related voting bloc may be people who don’t identify as religious.
In the New Hampshire primary, he was the most popular candidate among people who never attend worship, according to CNN exit polls. Nearly 3 in 10 religiously unaffiliated voters who identify as or lean Democratic (28%) say Sanders is their first choice for the Democratic nomination, Pew reported.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts
In a video released last Easter, Elizabeth Warren walks through her childhood church and reflects on the Sunday School lessons and sermons that shaped her moral outlook.
“We were taught Jesus loves all the children of the world. It meant you do good acts. That’s how you live a righteous life,” she said.
Warren, who is Methodist, has repeated this refrain multiple times throughout her campaign. She highlights biblical lessons on caring for the less fortunate, citing verses like Matthew 25, which teaches Christians to help people who are hungry, sick or imprisoned.
“My faith animates all that I do,” she said last summer after speaking at a Chicago church, according to CNN.
Like Buttigieg, Warren is sometimes critical of people of faith who don’t share her political views. For example, at an October town hall on LGBTQ rights, she was asked how she’d respond to someone who opposed same-sex marriage and told a joke rather than discuss possible policy compromises.
“I’m going to say, ‘Then just marry one woman. I’m cool with that,” she said, as the Deseret News reported at the time.
Warren is the first choice candidate for around 1 in 10 Protestant and Catholics voters who identify as or lean Democratic, Pew reported. She’s most popular among atheists: 29% say she’s their first choice.