Chad Connelly is a former faith outreach director for the Republican National Committee who now runs a Christian nationalist voter mobilization organization called Faith Wins. For the last few elections cycles, Connelly and his organization have been taking religious-right pseudo-historian David Barton across the nation delivering presentations in churches aimed at mobilizing conservative Christians to vote and get involved in politics.
Last week, Connelly appeared on fellow Christian nationalist Jason Rapert’s program, where he reported that his Faith Wins organization has organized dozens of secret meetings between top Republican presidential candidates and right-wing pastors, giving pastors the opportunity to grill the candidates on political issues and pray over them.
“One thing that we’re doing at Faith Wins is we’re inviting multiple presidential candidates to meet with our pastors,” Connelly said. “We have done some 30 meetings with pastors on our team in Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, with so far, I think, seven different candidates.”
Connelly said that when he organizes these meetings, he tells the campaigns that “we believe you ought to address [the issues right-wing pastors care about], we believe you ought to have clarity when you address them, and, by the way, your staff needs to hear it too.”
“We sponsor [the meetings]. We invite [the candidates]. We tell them it’s private. I handpick who comes,” Connelly revealed. “We say no media. We’re going to ask you questions and we’re going to pray over you, and nothing is off limits. I know that my team has done that with everybody that’s on the top tier, and they’re reaching out to other candidates as they’re coming through those early primary states. We’re making those meetings happen.”
During the same interview, Connelly ranted about LGBTQ Pride month, declaring that “it’s an affront, it’s insulting, it’s revolting, it’s disgusting, it’s vile, it’s absolutely out of the pit of Hell.”
“I guess I’m glad I’m not God, because I’d be pulling out my bag full of lightning and thunder,” he said.
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