Vote Common Good is inspiring, energizing, and mobilizing people of faith to make the common good their voting criteria. And, we train and support candidates to connect with Evangelical and Catholic voters.

What We Are Doing

Many Evangelical and Catholic voters have been taught that to be faithful, they must vote for Republican candidates regardless of the candidate’s character or policy positions.

In recent years a significant percentage of these voters have watched the Republican party disregard a commitment to the common good as they support political and social movements rooted in white-nationalism, a misguided approach to “America First,” and practices of division.

This was highlighted by the treacherous insurrection and attack on Congress on January 6, 2021, and the continued spreading of the “big lie” about the 2020 Presidential election outcome.

Many Evangelical and Catholic voters are experiencing a reckoning of their faith and feel called to oppose policies and approaches of division, racism, selfishness, cruelty, and exclusion.

For many of these voters, their primary commitment is not to switch parties; it is to be faithful to their beliefs and convictions and make the common good their voting criteria.

The behavior of many elected Republicans makes it difficult for them to continue to support them. They are open to dis-associating with Republicans in pursuit of the common good.

In the 2020 election, we saw a 5-10% shift in Evangelical voters away from Republicans and are confident there is an additional 5-10% who are looking for an “exit ramp” from supporting the Republicans who sacrifice the common good.

We work to help those voters see and take that exit.

We engage these votes through direct contact with voters, changing the national narrative around religion and politics via media, and training candidates on effectively connecting with these voters.

We Create Contexts for Direct Contact with Voters

Through the Faith, Hope, & Love: Supporting Democracy for All, we will hold events in states with the most significant impact on the 2022 and 2024 elections. We are working to change the too commonly believed narrative “that people of faith must support Republicans.” We accomplish this through various messaging efforts and working extensively with the media to convey the message of voting for the common good.

We Train Candidates Running for Office

We instruct, coach, and consult candidates on connecting with and speaking authentically to faith motivated voters.

We are dedicated to flipping the script . . . the way we do politics in America. Flipping the script means changing the narrative with under-girded white Evangelical and Catholic reflective support for Republicans who have put other priorities over the common good for a variety of reasons.

Flipping the script also includes changing the narratives among the two main political parties. The Democrat Party often feels resistant to connecting with religiously-minded voters, while the Republican Party is held hostage by religious extremism. We will work hard to help both parties engage Common Good religiously oriented voters in ways that will benefit their political expression and not allow religion to be a wedge issue in our politics.

We Believe

  • New religious imagination will change America.
  • This transformation will never happen without sustained effort.
  • Vote Common Good and its allies can turn impossible into inevitable.

What We Mean By “Common Good”

When the Hebrew Scriptures say to treat the alien and refugee as you would want to be treated, because God desires compassion for the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the vulnerable, they call people to seek the common good.

When Jesus says to love your neighbor as yourself, and when Paul says not to seek your own interests only but also the interests of others, and when John and James say that no one can say they love God or have faith in God if they fail to demonstrate love for their neighbor, they call people to seek the common good.

When the Quran says that no one is a believer until they desire for their brother or sister what they desire for themselves, and teaches that God made us different so that we would seek to understand and know one another, the Quran calls humanity to seek the common good.

When great leaders of Sikhism say to value others as you value yourself, and to avoid creating enmity with anyone because God is within everyone, when Taoists say to regard your neighbor’s gain or loss as your own, when Buddhists and Hindus say do not hurt others in ways you would find hurtful, and when secular humanists advocate the principle of reciprocity, they call humanity to seek the common good.

This means that good-hearted Christians, Jews, Muslims, and people of all traditions cannot simply vote for what is best for themselves as individuals or even what is best for their religion, party, race, or nation alone, but must be concerned for the common good. Or to put it differently, selfish people of every religion and tradition vote for self-interest or partisan interest alone, but good people of every religion vote for the common good.