The 11 Pastors in the House and the Senate

November 6th, 2026

The 11 Pastors* in the House and the Senate
Three True Shepherds and Eight False Prophets?
(*I am including one seminarian as a “pastor.”)

by Dr. Jim Garlow, Nov 6, 2026

Of the 14 pastors either in or who ran for a seat in the November 3rd election in the House and Senate:

Ten of them are tragically outside the scope of historic, biblical truth.
Four of them are scripturally grounded.

Let's look at the results of Tuesday's election.

One biblically grounded pastor lost his race:

John Elleson: Illinois’ 9th congressional district; Ordained by Assemblies of God. He is committed to biblical truth. He was running as a newcomer in an extremely challenging district.

Two pastors, both newcomers, who violate God’s Word lost their races:

Rob Ryerse: Arkansas’ 3rd congressional district; Is a pastor of a church whose website states: “seeking a more progressive approach to Christianity,” and “LGBT inclusion.”

Anna Golladay: Tennessee’s 3rd congressional district; Ordained in the United Methodist Church, which left orthodoxy quite some time ago.

That reduces the 14 pastors to 11 pastors who will be in the House or Senate.

Two pastors who are Senators were not up for election in this cycle:

Raphael Warnock: U.S. Senator from Georgia; Ordained Baptist; Shockingly, he has said that transphobia – that would apparently include declaring trans ideology to be sin – is “an offense to the glory of God.” That is a twisting of Holy Scripture.

James Lankford: U.S. Senate from Oklahoma; Ordained Baptist pastor. He is known for his work with youth in the state of Oklahoma. He has demonstrated a stellar record of commitment to biblical principles. He also is not up for reelection this cycle.

That leaves us with nine pastors who were running for office. Now let’s turn our attention to the ones who won their races.

There are seven pastors who violate God’s Word who won their races, all of them newcomers except for Cleaver:

Emmanuel Cleaver: Missouri’s 5th congressional district; Ordained United Methodist. He is running for his 12th term in Congress. He does not protect babies in the womb, nor does he protect God’s definition of marriage.

Now let’s look at the six newcomer pastors who do not follow Scripture:

Sarah Trone Garriott: Iowa’s 3rd congressional district; Ordained with the very liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church. In contrast to the Holy Scriptures, she supports abortion and same sex (so called) “marriage.”

Lindsay James: Iowa’s 2nd congressional district; Ordained in the Presbyterian Church USA. She too supports that for which God destroyed Sodom. She also supports abortion, that is, the dismembering of babies in the womb.

Lakesha Womack: North Carolina’s 14th district; Ordained through the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. She supports women having “reproductive rights,” a euphemism for destroying innocent babies in the womb.

Freddie Haynes III: Texas’ 30th congressional district, which was previously represented by Jasmine Crockett; Ordained as a Progressive National Baptist pastor. His denomination does not require local churches to believe that marriage is how Genesis 1 and 2 defines it: one man – one woman.

James Talarico: Texas’ U.S. Senate seat. He is not the pastor of a local church but is a seminarian and claims he is representing Jesus and the Bible in his positions. He has attended a Presbyterian seminary which has tragically veered far from its once orthodox faith.

Talarico consistently says antibiblical and sometimes bizarre things: There are six genders, God is non-binary, the Virgin Mary would support abortion, atheists are more “Christlike” than Christians, he doesn’t like Christianity, illegals are more patriotic than Americans, one should not eat beef, men should be in women’s sports, he instructs people how to avoid ICE, trans people need abortions too, and he says that Islam is an inspiration to his Christian faith.

Adam Hamilton: Kansas U.S. Senate. Ordained United Methodist Church, pastoring the largest UM local church in the nation. His public positions are profoundly troubling to anyone who adheres to Scripture.

Some of his statements include: You must repent of eating beef, repent for driving a car, repent for being white (he now denies all of these), Christians are more dangerous than Muslims (whose ads for fundraising advocating raising dollars for Hamilton so that he will cut off aid to Israel), the Bible has mistakes, every person will enter heaven. (He claims that he does not believe in universalism, while using casuistry – he calls it Christian inclusivism – to defend his unbiblical position), says he is “personally” pro-life, but he supports “reproductive rights,” that is, abortion, supports same sex (so-called) “marriage,” refused to take a legislative stance against boys in girls’ sports, and on transgenderism, he dodges the issue by simply saying people should quite bullying trans people.

Hamilton was a key figure when his own denomination, the United Methodist Church, split, a role he vehemently denies. Hamilton, as the leader of the largest UM church in America, could have sided with biblical, orthodox truth, with views he once held. He did not.

Hamilton proposed what he and others called the “One Church Plan.” Simply put, you could believe anything you want about these issues (LGBTQ) yet still call yourself a Methodist. Gone was any coherent scriptural foundation or bona fide biblical stance or creed. Bible believing congregations would be forced to support and affirm congregations which were out of alignment with God’s Word. It was classic Hamilton: Trying to sound like the great “moderate” when, in reality, he was truly validating those who were antiscriptural.

The result: 7,600 congregations were forced out, by way of conscience, or had to leave the denomination. Many local congregations are still trying to get out still.

What is worse, the brutal UMC hierarchy are making almost all of these churches pay for their buildings, not merely once, as they have been doing for years, but they are having to buy the building a second time. On top of that, many are having to pay “apportionments” (like taxes) to the heretical UMC mother church, as a penalty for trying to escape the antiscriptural denomination. Hamilton, as a high-profile leader, played an unfortunate role in this horrific mess.

Hamilton, with his convincing personality and oratorical skills, could have risen to be a great prophet of God, advocating for holiness and righteousness in a Congress and a nation which desperately needs both. He is a “charmer.” Unfortunately, his giftedness is not being used for holiness and righteousness.

Given the one unscriptural pastor who was not up for reelection in the Senate, plus these seven apostate pastors who won races – six of the seven will be new members – there are eight members of the Congress – House and Senate – who do not adhere to God’s Word.

However, there is good news. There are some – actually three – biblically trustworthy pastors in Congress. In addition to James Lankford in the Senate (already listed above), there are two pastors who are members of the House of Representatives who are faithful to the Word of God who won their reelections:

Mark Harris: North Carolina’s 8th congressional district; Ordained Baptist pastor. He is faithful to Scripture. Given the climate of the November 2026 election, it was a tight race.

Tim Walberg; Michigan’s 5th congressional district; Ordained as a Baptist but currently attends a United Brethren in Christ Church. He is consistently scriptural. He won handily.

THE KEY ISSUE
The issue is not partisan. It is not Republican vs. Democrat. It is not even Right vs. Left. It is Right vs. Wrong. It is Good vs. Bad. It is Light vs. Darkness. It is Biblical Truth vs. Antiscriptural Constructs. It is God vs. The Evil One.

PASTORS IN ELECTED OFFICES
Should pastors be in office? Yes, if they are authentically biblical like Senator James Lankford, Representative Mark Harris, and Representative Tim Walberg.

However, if they violate historic, orthodox, biblical understandings, we do not need them in office. They violate the foundational purpose for government, that is, protecting the citizenry, which includes pre-borns in the womb. They violate the first three components of Genesis: (1) male/female gender specificity, (2) one man-one woman marriage, (3) procreation (babies in the womb).

Washington DC does not need apostates.

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1 Comment

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Wesley - November 6th, 2026 at 12:50pm

Thank you both for the information. The Great falling Away has come in real time. And I for one am not surprised as He tells us so in His word. But keep up the fight, and we who believe need to keep up the Prayers before His throne. Pastor Dave Errickson speaks quite highly of you both, and has been my Pastor for over a decade now. May God continue to bless you both. Wesley E. Myers