At Triumph Church, a member can be seen wearing a “Kinloch for Mayor” t-shirt on the Triumph Church livestream as Rev. Solmon Kinloch stands behind her.
Triumph Church pastor Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr. and his mayoral campaign are actively considering how a recent change to IRS rules ending the restriction of political activity in churches could affect his bid for mayor.
The changes allow pastors to campaign for candidates or political causes from the pulpit.
“We started brainstorming ideas within 3 hours of the ruling,” Kinloch’s campaign spokesperson Dan Lijana told Michigan Chronicle Wednesday. “He wants to respect his congregation — that’s part of the balance… I think you can expect a massive GOTV church effort.”
The IRS announced the change in a court document filed on Monday.
The ruling struck down the “Johnson Amendment,” which required certain organizations including churches to refrain from participating or intervening in campaigns for public office as a condition for their non-profit, tax-exempt status.
“Being able to endorse people from the pulpit, these pastors all know each other — not that they all like each other,” Lansing based strategist Adrian Hemond told Michigan Chronicle. “But being able to endorse or get endorsements from your colleagues from their pulpits and being able to distribute literature at their churches could be pretty impactful.”
Pastors have long served as political influencers despite the 1954 tax code provision banning churches and certain nonprofit organizations from participating in “any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.”
“With these large churches, a lot of these pastors have a great deal of political experience of a slightly different kind and can help candidates leverage their networks,” Hemond said. “There have always been ‘souls to the polls’ efforts at churches. Those haven’t necessarily been affiliated with specific candidates, it’s just encouraging your congregants to get out, this just adds a layer on top of it.”
Hemond mentioned another aspect of the new guidelines is how interest groups like Right to Life. Right to Life Michigan
“The prime example of that is obviously the Catholic Church and Right to Life,” Hemond said. “You don’t have to endorse directly from the pulpit if you’re inviting everybody once they leave church to the nice lady from Right to Life who happens to have a scorecard of how these politicians stand on that issue.”
Members who regularly attend service regularly tell Michigan Chronicle that Kinloch has not been campaigning through his church. He’s been careful to keep direct mentions of his campaign out of service. However, his campaign has been felt there by indirect references and members wearing campaign t-shirts.
“It is the thing you got to be careful with in your own church,” Hemond said. “The reason people join a church isn’t because they want to hear about politics from the pulpit. They want to hear someone preach the word. You can do a little bit of politics in your home church, but if it turns into all politics all the time, the pews are going to empty out.”
Last summer, a Northwest Detroit pastor, Lorenzo Sewell, of 180 Church, told reporters he wasn’t supporting the former president in the days leading up to hosting a July campaign event at the church. Months later, he gave the invocation at Trump’s inauguration in January.
He helped President Donald Trump win 19,667 votes in Detroit thanks to his Souls to the Polls events held on Friday’s at his church in the weeks before the election. During the Trump event at the church it was unclear whether any members of the actual congregation not connected to Sewell’s political organizing were present.
Democrats — and Independents — have long championed endorsements from faith leaders.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan turned heads after more than 150 Black pastors from across the state endorsed his gubernatorial bid. The endorsements were noteworthy because it marks the first time pastors like Bishop Charles H. Ellis of Greater Grace Temple and Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony of Fellowship Chapel aren’t organizing for a Democratic candidate.
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