Black Christian Leaders Launch Grassroots Voter Mobilization Push Ahead of Midterms
Pastor Mike McBride and several Black Christian leaders are organizing Sunday dinners and online forums to mobilize voters before the 2026 midterm elections. The effort draws on Civil Rights Movement strategies and focuses on issues including immigration enforcement, voting rights, and community solidarity.
Pastor Mike McBride is organizing Sunday dinners in cities across the country, bringing together church and community leaders to talk politics and build voter engagement ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
McBride, a Black Pentecostal minister at The Way Christian Center in Berkeley, California, founded Live Free, a nonprofit focused on community violence reduction and voter engagement, 15 years ago. The dinners have been held in 10 municipalities from the San Francisco Bay Area to Atlanta, with more scheduled through June.
"The idea is to unite congregations within cities and regions, to bring our people into a shared space, to hear each other's stories, to share a meal and strengthen our bonds of connection," McBride told Religion News Service.
Live Free is also collecting signatures for a "Love Free" pledge, which commits signers to defending democracy and building shared power in their communities.
The Rev. Cece Jones-Davis, known for her anti-death penalty work in Oklahoma, launched online talks called "Just People on a Zoom" to bridge political divides. She said the sessions are shaped by lessons from the Civil Rights Movement, when leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. sought common ground despite facing racism and white supremacy.
The Rev. Traci Blackmon's "Faith Out Loud" project, launched in 2025, is working in 15 Southern cities to get Black church leaders more involved in meeting community needs outside their buildings. The initiative is focused on issues critical to the midterms, including defending voting rights and responding to the SAVE Act and a Supreme Court case weighing a provision of the Voting Rights Act.
The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference held a "Sacred Strategy" session on voter mobilization at its February annual meeting, with workshops on civic literacy and efforts to register 18-year-old voters. More than 600 pastors, seminarians, and other participants attended.
"We are definitely gearing up to defend our right to have voice and vote in the United States," Blackmon said. "That is not a partisan decision. That is a people decision, a constitutional decision."
