10 Christian Democrats running on their faith in the Nov. 3 midterm elections
3. Iowa state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott
A Lutheran minister in the liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and current Iowa state senator, Garriott is running for Congress to unseat Republican Zach Nunn.
After leading the congregation at Faith Lutheran Church in Clive, Iowa, Garriott has also served as the Coordinator of Interfaith Engagement for the Des Moines Area Religious Council Food Pantry Network.
A graduate of the liberal Harvard Divinity School, Garriott touted her ministry and volunteer service in a Facebook post, which read: “My faith teaches me to help my neighbor. That's what I've done working as a hospital chaplain, as a parish pastor, at the DMARC food pantry network, and in the Iowa Senate—and that’s what I’ll do in congress.”
Garriott's campaign has recently been mired in controversy over her revelation that she once officiated a "satanic wedding." At a 2023 storytelling event, she recounted that, in 2006, while training to be a minister, she performed a wedding ceremony for a couple who identified as satanists.
She has also drawn scrutiny for defending an invocation by a Wiccan priestess at the Iowa state Capitol in 2015.
In an op-ed for The Des Moines Register, Garriott criticized Christians who were outraged by the prayer, writing, “Christians specifically should be aware that Jesus engaged with pagans multiple times throughout the New Testament and always from a place of kindness and compassion.”
