Faith and the Future of the Democratic Party: A Roadmap for 2025 and Beyond
A Democratic Party that loses 56-41 percent among Catholics, like it did in 2024, is a Democratic Party without a future in vast portions of this country.
Dear friends,
After the 2024 election, I wrote a Newsweek piece about why Kamala Harris lost the Catholic vote so badly.
I'm republishing it here because I believe its message is as relevant as ever. In that essay, I argued that Harris didn’t make a serious effort to win over Catholic voters—and that oversight proved costly.
I imagine a lot of you will resonate with what I wrote in the post-mortem, but many of you will disagree with certain aspects of it. That’s okay, and I welcome your feedback. I’m learning every day and won’t get everything right. Let me know what you think of my argument in the comments.
I'm using this essay as a launch point for a new series here on Letters from Leo, exploring how Democrats can win back religious voters, especially Catholics, in 2025 and beyond.
I'm excited to get started.
As a heads-up, future segments of this series will be available exclusively to paid subscribers. Between this new series and my ongoing subscriber-only series on the life and formation of Pope Leo, there’s never been a better time to become a paid subscriber.
Your support gives you full access to these stories and helps me continue expanding this work. Subscriptions start at only $6.67 per month.
One more thing — I'm hosting my first-ever Substack Live this Thursday, July 24 at 5:00 PM EDT.
I’ll be joined by Mike Nellis, a renowned Democratic strategist, fellow Catholic, and unrepenant Notre Dame graduate who worked for Kamala Harris, to discuss how we bring faith-driven voters back into the fold.
I’ll provide more details tomorrow, and we’ll send out a link when it goes live. I hope you’ll tune in and join the conversation!
The morning I found out Kamala Harris wasn't going to the Al Smith Dinner, I was dumbfounded.
Critics might argue that the event is about cozying up to conservative New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan and his wealthy friends. But based on my 15 years of experience doing faith-based political organizing work, I saw that it was about something far more critical: the headlines that persuadable Hispanic Catholics in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia would read in the election's final days.
My fear was well-founded. Outside groups' attempts to present pro-Catholic arguments in favor of Vice President Harris were drowned out by the snub, which fed into the damaging media narrative that Kamala Harris and the Democrats were anti-Catholic.
The video the Harris campaign played instead missed the mark entirely—it felt like it was put together by media operatives who believed their Catholic grade-school education gave them the insight needed to grasp the particular instincts of Catholic voters across the nation.
The Al Smith Dinner has long been a crucial platform for engaging with Catholic voters and demonstrating a willingness to find common ground, even on the most divisive issues. Not showing up felt like a deliberate decision to sidestep an important constituency—a decision that underscored the Democratic Party's growing "God problem."
Joe Biden's success connecting with Catholic voters during his presidential runs provides a stark contrast with Harris' approach. Biden frequently invoked his Catholic faith on the campaign trail, emphasizing how it informed his values and policy priorities, from health care to economic justice.
In 2020, the Biden campaign ran targeted ads aimed at Catholic voters, highlighting his commitment to social justice and family values. These ads resonated with many moderate and independent Catholics, who saw in Biden a leader who combined progressive policies with a faith-driven moral compass.
Moreover, Biden attended high-profile faith-based events throughout the campaign. These events allowed him to engage directly with Catholic voters and leaders, signaling his respect and willingness to address their concerns, even on contentious issues like abortion. His outreach efforts were a key factor in securing crucial support in swing states with significant Catholic populations.
In stark contrast, Kamala Harris' 2024 campaign displayed a noticeable aversion to engaging with Catholic voters. Unlike Biden, Harris avoided any sustained outreach to religious communities, including Catholics, who comprise nearly a quarter of the U.S. electorate. Her campaign did not run targeted ads aimed at Catholic voters, nor did it make a concerted effort to address their concerns on key issues like religious freedom, social justice, or life-affirming policies.
The decision to skip the Al Smith Dinner epitomized this reluctance. It wasn't just a missed opportunity; it was a clear signal of disengagement.
For many Catholics, the absence reinforced the perception that their voices and values were unwelcome in the Democratic Party. In battleground states, where Catholic voters often swing elections, this oversight helped contribute to Harris' defeat.
Harris' failure to engage Catholic voters is symptomatic of a broader issue within the Democratic Party: a discomfort with engaging faith communities across the nation.
Over the years, the party has increasingly aligned itself with secular and progressive values, often sidelining religious voices in the process. This shift has alienated many religious voters, who feel their beliefs are not only unrepresented but actively dismissed.
For Catholics, this alienation is particularly acute on issues like abortion. While many Catholics support legal abortion in some circumstances, a significant portion believes in stricter limits or opposes it altogether.
The Democratic Party's unwavering commitment to reproductive choice post-Dobbs is to be expected, but its unwillingness to engage with voters who disagree is political malpractice.
This inflexibility makes it difficult for pro-life or moderately pro-choice Catholics to feel at home within the party, despite aligning with its positions on other critical issues like poverty, health care, and immigration.
The Democrats' inability to engage religious voters comes with a steep political cost. Catholics are a diverse group, including both conservative and progressive voices. They are often key swing voters in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. By failing to court this demographic, Harris' campaign effectively ceded ground to the Republican Party, which has been more adept at framing its platform in terms of faith and values.
Donald Trump, despite his complicated relationship with religion, capitalized on this dynamic.
No one believes Donald Trump is a religious man, but throughout the campaign, he made specific appeals to Catholics through social media, in print, and in person.
Trump's campaign portrayed the Republican Party as the defender of religious freedom and traditional values, drawing in Catholic voters who felt overlooked by the Democrats. The result was a decisive shift in key states, contributing to the Democrats' loss.
If the Democratic Party hopes to regain its footing, it must address its "God problem" head on. This means taking a more inclusive approach that acknowledges the importance of faith in the lives of millions of Americans. Future candidates must be willing to engage with religious voters, even on contentious issues, and find common ground where possible.
Targeted outreach to faith voters, like Biden's Catholic ad campaigns, should become a staple of Democratic strategy. Additionally, participation in events like the Al Smith Dinner should be non-negotiable for any Democratic candidate seeking national office.
It's not about being friendly to the Catholic Church. It's about winning the American presidency.
These actions would demonstrate a genuine commitment to dialogue and bridge-building, signaling that the party values the contributions and concerns of religious communities.
Fellow Democrats often argue to me that the party shouldn't engage with Catholics for a variety of reasons—the sex abuse scandal, the Church's opposition to abortion and gay marriage, and the hierarchy's tendency to cozy up with the GOP.
To quote the nation's most prominent Catholic, that's a load of malarkey. Forty million persuadable voters shouldn't be ignored and punished for the behavior, beliefs, and sins of their leaders.
I'm a political operative, so let me put it bluntly: A Democratic Party that loses 56-41 percent among Catholics, like it did in this election, is a Democratic Party without a future in vast portions of this country.
Christopher Hale served as the co-founder of Catholics for Harris. A Democratic operative from Tennessee, he led national Catholic outreach for President Obama's re-election campaign.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
This essay first appeared in Newsweek on November 14, 2024.
Thank you so much for reading this article. We are 100% sustained by your generosity. If you find value in my work, please consider supporting me by becoming a paid subscriber today.
Paid subscriptions start at only $6.67 per month and will get you full access to this ongoing Fath and the Democratic Party essays and this multi-part series on the life and formation of Pope Leo. The third part of that series was released yesterday.
My mother, may she rest in peace, was a devout pro-choice Catholic.
Good article brother! The Democrats lost me because of their radical support for abortion and mutilating the bodies of minors due to Gender Dysphoria and other significant issues as well. That being said, I despise the Republican Party’s love affair with Trump, especially the “MAGA Cult”! I feel like a man without a party.