Written for The Texas Observer legislative blog "Floor Pass" with Liz Farmer.
The Texas Capitol’s auditorium turned into a church late Tuesday afternoon, at least it sounded like one. After the official legislative business had concluded for the day, about 60 people gathered in the basement auditorium for an “election sermon” delivered by several Texas pastors. The event—organized by sophomore state Rep. David Simpson, a Longview Republican and devout Christian conservative—follows what he says is an age-old tradition of public election sermons regarding the mission and character of the government. Eleven state lawmakers attended, though 29 of them had sponsored the event. Simpson hosted an election sermon in 2011 too, on his first day as a state rep, and has said he hopes it becomes a tradition. Prayers in the Capitol are often benign, inclusive affairs, with nods to different faiths—the speaker of the Texas House is, after all, Jewish. The election sermon wasn’t that kind of event. Read the rest.