Christian Leaders React to Midterm 'Catastrophe'

On Monday 9 November 2026, some of America's Christian leaders reacted to last week's midterm results with words that were blunt, sombre and hopeful. Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, called the results "a catastrophe" for Republicans, while evangelist Franklin Graham warned that the country is inching closer toward socialism, historically an enemy of God and His Word.

The reaction came six days after voters went to the polls on 3 November in elections that saw Democrats flip a string of Republican seats, including Senate races in Texas and Kansas won by candidates who put their Christian faith at the centre of their campaigns. For pastors praying over the results, the question was what God was saying to His people through a defeat.

Franklin Graham Warns America Is Sliding Toward Socialism

Graham set the tone in a post on X after the midterms. "The midterms are now over, leaving some very concerned, while others are elated. We see our country inching closer toward socialism, which is historically an enemy of God and His Word," he wrote. He added that Christians' assignment has not changed with the political weather.

"However, today I am reminded that even though change is coming, as followers of Jesus Christ our job hasn't changed! We are to live for Him in obedience to His Word, shine His light and truth in the ever-darkening world around us, and make disciples."

Al Mohler Calls the Results a Catastrophe for Republicans

Mohler went further than anyone in describing the political damage. Speaking on his podcast on 4 November, he said the results were "a catastrophe" and "an unmitigated disaster" for Republicans, with effects that will be long-lasting. His sharpest warning concerned Texas and the Electoral College.

"None of this is going to be reversed anytime soon. We're looking at what may be a new political reality," Mohler said. He warned that if Texas moves Democratic in the Electoral College, it will be very hard for any Republican presidential candidate to win.

Tony Perkins and Jack Hibbs See Divine Chastisement

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, read the results through a wider spiritual lens. In an interview with The Christian Post, he said the Republican wipeout could be seen as divine chastisement against a nation that increasingly aborts its own children. Despite abortion bans in some states, abortions rose from roughly 930,000 in 2020 to more than 1 million each year since 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

"We can't expect God's blessing to be upon our nation when we reject His teaching in the way we conduct our policy and business. We can't hold ourselves out as the gold standard when we're actually made of aluminum foil," Perkins said. He said Republicans have softened their pro-life stance and kept a Biden-era policy allowing easy access to the abortion pill.

Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills shared the Perkins interview on social media on 6 November and urged his followers to read Deuteronomy 28 and Ezekiel 14 and 15 alongside it. In a sermon the day after the election, Hibbs preached that God's chastisements against His people are always delivered out of love, to restore them to faithfulness.

Allen Jackson Says Many Christians Are in Spiritual Slumber

Pastor Allen Jackson, senior pastor of World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, said the election suggests that many American Christians are in a spiritual slumber, and that God may be moving to shake them out of it. Speaking on his podcast in an episode titled "The Spiritual Reasons Behind the Election Results," he agreed with Graham that Christians in the United States are likely headed into an increasingly hostile political atmosphere.

"We just elected a number of people, and have given them authority in our nation, who share values that are reflected in either the Islamic or the socialist, communist values in those nations that very aggressively diminish Christianity," Jackson said.

Faith Candidates Won Too, and Exit Polls Show a Shift

The story of the midterms is not only one of defeat. Candidates who spoke openly about their faith won some of the biggest races of the night. Democrat James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminary student, won the U.S. Senate race in Texas and told supporters that "that barefoot rabbi didn't stay in a room and pray. He walked into the halls of power and overturned the tables of injustice," as covered in James Talarico Wins Texas Senate Seat as First Democrat Since 1988.

In Kansas, Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton, who carried a Bible on the campaign trail, won a Senate seat, and in Iowa, Lutheran pastor Sarah Trone Garriott, who kept preaching at her church while campaigning, defeated a sitting Republican House member. According to preliminary exit polls reported by the Wall Street Journal, support among Protestant voters for Democratic candidates rose by 3 percentage points from the 2024 presidential election, and support among Catholic voters rose by 11 percentage points.

Hope Anchored in God, Not in Government

Perkins closed his remarks with the note every leader in the story returned to in the end. "Our hope, our long-term hope, should never be in government: it should be in God," he told The Christian Post. "Our engagement should rest on faith and trust in God, and our duty as citizens in His Kingdom."

That is where the leaders landed, seperately and together: the results were bad and the church may face a harder season, but the assignment has not changed. Whether American Christians wake from the slumber Jackson described and live out their faith, as Chase Rice has described his own faith journey, will decide what comes next. The coming months will show whether this week's warnings turn into a movement or fade into another forgotten news cycle.

But the most surprising part of this story is yet to come — keep reading.