‘We Squandered an Opportunity’: The Christian Right on Its Election Rout

The Christian right suffered a crushing defeat in last week’s midterm elections, plunging the movement into frustration and uncertainty as it reels from its biggest losses since reaching new levels of power with President Trump.

Over the last decade, conservative Christians have hitched their ambitions to Mr. Trump’s, defending his leadership to advance their own goals, particularly around abortion. His causes in turn became theirs as they wove themselves into the MAGA coalition and infused its politics into the American church.

Now, his losses are theirs, too. The election results suggest that the movement’s grip inside Mr. Trump’s party has weakened, and religious conservatives are scrambling to regroup ahead of the 2028 presidential contest.

“What does the Christian right have today?” said Terry Schilling, president of American Principles Project, a political advocacy group that has worked to defeat transgender rights measures. “We could have been actually passing laws that would have protected our kids, but instead we got the Iran war.”

Christian activists like Mr. Schilling said the Trump administration gave them few successes over the past two years beyond some executive orders, including one establishing the White House Faith Office and another on “anti-Christian bias.”

“There’s no signature achievement. There’s nothing,” Mr. Schilling said. “We squandered an opportunity.”