Faith Profiles of the 2020 Democratic Candidates

Joe Biden

Affiliation: Raised Catholic and practicing
Age: 54
State: Pennsylvania
Main policy issues: protecting jobs for working class people
Personal Stance on Faith: said that Pope Francis is “the embodiment of the Catholic social doctrine that I was raised with, the idea that everyone is entitled to dignity, that the poor should be given special preference, that you have an obligation to reach out and be inclusive.”
Denominational Stance: No clear stance, but Catholicism has a long tradition of special concern for the poor, ensuring just wages for work, and the perils of unemployment on human dignity.

Cory Booker

Affiliation: Baptist
Age: 50
State: New Jersey
Main policy issues: criminal justice reform, uniting the country
Personal Stance on Faith: Raised in African Methodist Episcopal Church, but now he is a member of a National Baptist (a denomination) church in Newark.
“The life of Jesus is very impactful to me and very important to me,” Booked told RNS. “He lived a life committed to dealing with issues of the poor and the sick. The folks that other folks disregard, disrespect or often oppress. He lived this life of radical love that is a standard that I fail to reach every single day, but that really motivates me in what I do.”
Denominational Stance: National Baptist has expressed appreciation for former Pres. Obama’s advocacy for justice for people of all races and “improving America’s image in the global community”, though they do not support same-sex marriage.

Pete Buttigieg

Affiliation: Episcopalian
Age: 37
State: Indiana
Personal Stance on Faith: Raised in church with a very religious mother. Buttigieg has said on CNN that his feeling "is that Scripture is about protecting the stranger, and the prisoner, and the poor person, and that idea of welcome. That's what I get in the Gospel when I'm in church." Main issues: curbing climate change, expanding economic opportunity
Denominational Stance: The Episcopal Church values caring for the environment, helping those most impacted by climate change, and living simply to reduce carbon footprints. They welcome same-sex marriages like Buttigieg’s, and their anti-poverty efforts are often aimed at racial reconcilation.

Julian Castro

Affiliation: Catholic
Age: 44
State: Texas
Personal Stance on Faith: Announced his campaign across from Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in San Antonio, where he was baptized and attended with his family, in the city’s Mexican-American neighborhood. He told RNS: “I think there is a tendency to associate faith with only the right, with only conservatives... and there are many progressives who are also people of faith that I wish that more attention were spent on, on how they see the world as well.” Main issues: universal kindergarten, medicare for all, immigration reform
Denominational Stance: Providing healthcare and free childcare as a way to help low-income parents work fits into Catholicism’s tradition of special care for the poor and economic justice, though the Catholic Church doesn’t take a stance on specific political issues like healthcare reform. The Catholic Church teaches that nations should welcome foreigners while protecting their borders, and that economically stronger nations have more of a duty to allow migrants in need of work into their countries.

Tulsi Gabbard

Affiliation: Hindu (Vaishnava)
Age: 38
State: Hawaii
Personal Stance on Faith: Gabbard told the New Yorker that she grew up learning Vaishnava Hinduism, a main denomination of Hinduism and one that considers the preserver god Vishnu (also his reincarnation Krishna) as the Supreme God. “After my 2012 election, I made a personal decision to take my congressional oath of office on the supreme yoga/Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna’s teachings have provided wisdom and spiritual solace to me throughout my life, including when I was serving our country in the Middle East during the Iraq war,” Gabbard wrote for RNS. Main issues: as a veteran herself, opposition to American military inventions overseas like in Syria
Denominational Stance: Vaishnava is often known for the Bhakti movement, an 8th-17th century social reform movement known for emphasizing individual paths to spirituality and attempting to break caste distinctions.

Tom Steyer

Affiliation: Episcopalian
Age: 62
State: New York
Personal Stance on Faith: Steyer was raised with a Jewish father and an Episcopalian mother. In 2014, Joe Hagan's profile of Steyer in Men's Journal wrote that "As he approached 40, Steyer had what he has described as a revelation. He became more involved in the local Episcopalian church."
Denominational Stance: In 2017, as a political mega-donor with NextGen America, Steyer vowed to never support candidates that aren't pro-choice. According to The Episcopal Church's general Convention, "The Episcopal Church teaches that “all human life is sacred. Hence, it is sacred from its inception until death." In the same general convention, the Episcopalian church 'calls for great pastoral sensitivity to the needs of the woman and others involved in decisions relating to “abortion, or mishaps of pregnancy and infertility."'

Kamala Harris

Affiliation: Baptist
Age: 54
State: California
Personal Stance on Faith: Born to a Jamaican-American dad and Indian-American mom, Harris told the Los Angeles Times she grew up attending a black Baptist church and visiting a Hindu temple. Harris also wrote in her memoir about attending a Church of God church in Oakland: “My earliest memories of the teachings of the Bible were of a loving God, a God who asked us to ‘speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves’ and to ‘defend the rights of the poor and the needy.’ This is where I learned that ‘faith’ is a verb; I believe we must live our faith in action.” Main issues: tax cuts for the middle class, strengthening civil rights
Denominational Stance: Historically, both Church of God and African-American Baptist churches have emphasized racial and economic equality.

Amy Klobuchar

Affiliation: United Church of Christ
Age: 59
State: Minnesota
Personal Stance on Faith: Klobuchar is married to a Catholic and a member of the United Church of Christ, a Protestant denomination that teaches individuals (called congregationalists) have full authority to interpret the Bible for themselves. Former Pres. Obama belonged to the same denomination. “The Senate prayer breakfast is a really important thing. It happens once a week, no one ever knows what people talk about. It is a mix. … Liberals go there — I promise — conservatives go there,” Klobuchar said on CNN. She has also talked about her dad recovered from alcoholism by coming to faith and gaining a community of supporters. Main issues: combatting drug addiction and the opioid crisis
Denominational Stance: Most Christian denominations teach that no one is beyond redemption, and Jesus gives grace to everyone, including drug addicts, to come to God and change.

Beto O’Rourke

Affiliation: Catholic
Age: 46
State: Texas
Personal Stance on Faith: "For me, that was a religious experience," he told the Houston Chronicle. "I happen to have been raised Catholic, and what I take away from my religion is you do your best to love everyone, to be good to everyone." Main issues: immigration reform, legalizing marijuana, and access to hospitals in rural areas
Denominational Stance: The Catholic Church teaches that nations should welcome foreigners while protecting their borders, and that economically stronger nations have more of a duty to allow migrants in need of work into their countries. The Church also has a long tradition of bringing healthcare to remote places but is opposed to legalizing recreational drugs like marijiuana.

Bernie Sanders

Affiliation: Jewish (secular)
Age: 77
State: Vermont
Personal Stance on Faith: “I am very proud to be Jewish, and being Jewish is so much of what I am. Look, my father’s family was wiped out by Hitler in the Holocaust. I know about what crazy and radical and extremist politics mean. I learned that lesson as a tiny, tiny child when my mother would take me shopping and we would see people working in stores who had numbers on their arms because they were in Hitler’s concentration camps. I am very proud of being Jewish, and that is an essential part of who I am as a human being.” Main issues: medicare for all, free college and high taxes for the wealthy
Denominational Stance: Sanders’ Jewish identity is less religious and more historical, but nonetheless he’s influenced by religious ideas. Jewish socialist thought emerged post-WWII, informed by the Jewish mitzvot or duty to relieve human suffering and the belief that socialism would help Jews assimilate into a Christian Europe and America.

Elizabeth Warren

Affiliation: Methodist
Age: 69
State: Massachusetts
Personal Stance on Faith: Warren was raised Methodist and has said she taught fifth-grade Sunday school. She emphasizes biblical teachings about caring for others. “My favorite Bible verse includes two lessons that guide me every day: There is value in every single human being, and every one of us is called to action,” Warren told CNN. Main issues: student-debt relief, higher-education reform, universal child care
Denominational Stance: The Methodist church has been outspoken about the toll of heavy student loan debt and has its own student loan program for Methodist college students that loans about $2 million a year and provides $3 million in scholarships. Like other churches, many Methodist churches run child care programs open to the public at reduced costs.

Andrew Yang

Affiliation: Christian, Reformed Church in America
Age: 44
State: New York
Personal Stance on Faith: Yang attends the Reformed Church of New Paltz. He wrote on his campaign website that he sought biblical insights about universal basic income from his pastor, Mark Mast. Yang cites Mast’s written response, in which Mast links the policy with Jesus’ command to love thy neighbor. “The support for Universal Basic Income spans centuries, political parties, religious traditions — from Stephen Hawking to Milton Friedman to Martin Luther King Jr., all the way back to the gospels. ... Let’s bring abundance to our fellow countrymen and women and remind them that a more just world is possible.” Main issues: universal basic income, Medicare for all, human-centered capitalism
Denominational Stance: The RCA is concerned with income inequality and encourages its members to take this concern into political discussions.

Twelve Democratic candidates will duke it out 8-11pm ET Tuesday night in the fourth primary debate of the 2020 election season: Joe Biden, former vice president; Cory Booker, New Jersey senator; Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana; Julián Castro, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary; Kamala Harris, California senator; Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota senator; Beto O'Rourke, former Texas congressman; Bernie Sanders, Vermont senator; Tom Steyer, businessman; Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts senator; Andrew Yang, entrepreneur; and Tulsi Gabbard, Hawaii congresswoman. The focus is expected to be on frontrunners Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Our guide spotlights each candidate, their faith traditions and how it impacts their politics.