The Evangelicals for Harris organization is not backing down despite legal threats from a conservative ally of former President Trump.
The group said Tuesday on social media platform X that lawyers for Rev. Franklin Graham, a longtime supporter of Trump, sent cease-and-desist letters to Evangelicals for Harris over its ads supporting Vice President Harris. About 8 in 10 white evangelical voters voted for Trump in 2020, according to AP VoteCast.
“In response to our first ads, Franklin Graham went on a conservative media tour calling us names and telling Christian audiences to ignore the Scripture and Donald Trump’s own words in our ads. When that failed and tens of millions of Christian voters not only listened to but shared our ads, Franklin Graham turned to a page in the Trump playbook and is trying to silence us with threats of a long and costly court process,” the group wrote in a statement.
“Franklin is scared of our ads because we do not tell people what to do or think. We merely hold Trump’s own words up to the light of Scripture, the necessity of repentance, and Biblical warnings against leaders exactly like Trump,” the statement continued.
Graham spoke during a Georgia campaign event with Trump last month, shortly after Hurricane Helene ripped through his home state of North Carolina as well as Florida, Georgia and Tennessee.
Some of the ads by Evangelicals for Harris feature sermons from Graham’s father, Billy Graham. Graham has accused the group of “trying to mislead” people by featuring his father in their ads.
The Evangelicals for Harris group gave no indication that they would halt their ads despite Graham’s legal threats.
“Franklin has placed his hope in a man and a darkness we saw manifest when police lines were overrun at our nation’s Capitol on January 6, in Springfield this past month, and in the spirit of fear and anger fed at every Trump rally Franklin attends,” the statement read.
“Our hope is not in any man or woman but in Christ alone. Our call is to serve, to witness Christ’s love and compassion, and to follow His example of standing between the hypocritical religious leaders and the social outcast. We know the law is on our side in this case. If Franklin follows through on his threats, we’ll see him in court,” the statement continued.
With modest funding in 2020, the group, formerly known as Evangelicals for Biden, targeted evangelical voters in swing states. This election, the Rev. Jim Ball, the organization’s president, said they’re expanding the operation and looking to spend a million dollars on targeted advertisements.
While white evangelicals vote strongly Republican, not all evangelicals are a lock for the GOP, and in a tight race, every vote counts.
In 2020, Biden won about 2 in 10 white evangelical voters, but performed better with evangelicals overall, according to AP VoteCast, winning about one-third of this group. A September AP-NORC poll found that around 6 in 10 Americans who identify as “born-again” or “evangelical” have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of Harris, but around one-third have a favorable opinion of her. The majority — around 8 in 10 — of white evangelicals have a negative view of Harris.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
