Voters cast their ballots at a polling station in El Dorado Hills, California, Nov. 4, 2025. (OSV News/Reuters/Fred Greaves)
by Brian Fraga
Staff Reporter
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A progressive Catholic group has launched what it is describing as a "first of its kind" national organizing effort to mobilize Catholic voters in nearly three dozen competitive congressional districts ahead of the midterm elections.
The initiative will target districts where Catholics make up at least 20% of the electorate, including key races in 13 states. Organizers said Catholics make up more than 40% of voters in several districts.
"We gotta get geared up for the midterms as Catholics," Katie Schulz, an organizer who works on the Democratic National Committee's coalitions team, said during a recent conference call that featured political and clergy leaders, organizers and officials from Catholics Vote Common Good.
"Catholics really need to stand up in this moment," Schulz said.
Denise Murphy McGraw, national co-chair of Catholics Vote Common Good, said during the May 28 conference call that the faith community "can play an important role in preserving democracy and advancing the common good."
"I want to remind people of faith that we can be a force for dignity and justice in public life," said McGraw, who added that her organization plans to organize events in targeted districts and employ a broad grassroots campaign to reach voters. She said the campaign will feature community organizing, rolling billboard campaigns, postcard outreach, voter education efforts, faith-based engagement and coalition building.
People line up to cast their votes in the U.S. presidential election outside of a church polling station in Phoenix on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024. (OSV News/Reuters/Go Nakamura)
Organizers said the campaign will emphasize themes that Pope Leo XIV has raised during the first year of his papacy, including solidarity with migrants and vulnerable communities, and the defense of democratic values.
"As Catholics, many of us have been inspired by Pope Leo's moral leadership," McGraw said.
Democratic National Committee chairman Ken Martin, who is Catholic and also spoke during the May 28 call, said that "such an important bedrock of our faith is to be out there organizing communities and giving people hope for the future."
"We are coming together at a critical moment for our country and for our Catholic community," said Martin, who suggested that the Trump administration is "at odds with the Catholic faith" for its policies "dehumanizing immigrants, glorifying war and the weapons used to pursue it," and for attacking Pope Leo.
"The stakes could not be any higher," Martin said.
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U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, a Democrat from Pennsylvania who is Catholic, also spoke during the call.
"This is such an important moment in our nation's history and our nation's civic life," Scanlon said. "It's an important moment to connect the dots between faith-based values, civic engagement and the pursuit of the common good, which crosses many faiths."
Christopher Carroll, an organizer with Catholics Vote Common Good, spoke of the importance of the Catholic vote, noting that no president of the United States since John F. Kennedy in 1960 has held the office without winning a majority of Catholic voters.
"Which means that the Catholic vote is very important," said Carroll, who highlighted demographics indicating that about one-third of people in the United States are either self-identified Catholics or were raised Catholic though they may no longer identify as such.
"These are voters we believe we can talk to, that are open to having a conversation with us," said Carroll, who added that he believes many of those voters "are in the middle" when it comes to their political beliefs.
"We believe that an approach of reaching out to them as a Catholic, as somebody who grew up learning Catholic social values and Catholic social teaching, we believe we can convince them to vote for common good candidates, and the statistics show it," Carroll said.
