Black Church Leaders Launch Voter Mobilization Efforts Ahead of 2026 Midterms
Several Black Christian leaders are organizing grassroots voter mobilization campaigns ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections, drawing on strategies from the Civil Rights Movement. Pastor Mike McBride is hosting Sunday dinners in 10 cities to unite congregations. The Rev. Traci Blackmon's Faith Out Loud project is working in 15 Southern cities to move churches from belief to action.
Black Christian leaders across the country are launching voter mobilization campaigns ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections, drawing on strategies from the Civil Rights Movement.
Pastor Mike McBride, a Black Pentecostal minister at The Way Christian Center in Berkeley, California, is organizing Sunday dinners in 10 U.S. cities. The dinners bring together church and community leaders to discuss immigration enforcement, voting rights, and other political concerns.
"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.
McBride founded Live Free, a nonprofit focused on community violence reduction and voter engagement, 15 years ago. The organization is also collecting signatures for a "Love Free" pledge, committing signers to defend democracy and build shared power in their communities.
The Rev. Cece Jones-Davis, known for her anti-death penalty work in Oklahoma, has started online sessions called "Just People on a Zoom." The sessions aim to bridge political divides and create space for conversation across different viewpoints. She co-hosts with Jon Mays, a white former missions pastor.
The Rev. Traci Blackmon launched Faith Out Loud in 2025. The project works in 15 Southern cities, partnering with regional groups to move churches "from just the talking and believing to the actual embodying of our faith." One church in each city serves as an anchor for a group of congregations.
The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference held a "Sacred Strategy" session on voter mobilization at its February annual meeting. More than 600 pastors, seminarians, and other participants attended. The conference's new general secretary, the Rev. Damien C. Durr, is developing a civic literacy curriculum called "Moving the Needle" for pastors to share with their congregants.
Leaders say their work is tied directly to the midterm elections, as Congress considers the SAVE Act and the Supreme Court weighs a provision of the Voting Rights Act. Both could disproportionately affect Black communities.
"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."
