A few weekends ago, I watched “Jesus Christ Superstar” (1973) — a 1970s hippie rock musical about the last few days of Jesus’ life, narrated by a somewhat all-knowing Judas afraid of Jesus’ self-image and the size of his movement. 

The central focus of this musical appeared to be one question: Why didn’t Jesus come to Earth in the ’70s, when they needed him more?

In history classes, the ’60s and ’70s felt like a time filled with hopeful protest and terrible foreign policy — not too different from today. 

Today, in an era where the president of the United States and his cabinet lead with greed, corruption, self-absorption and hatred, who is actually embodying “In God We Trust?”

I believe it is New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the smiling Muslim man who went on a 15-day hunger strike for New York taxi drivers struggling with unfair working conditions. I believe it is James Talarico, the Presbyterian seminarian and Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas, who was outraged that the classroom he taught in was too small to seat his class of 45 students — a class that large because the Texas Legislature cut the public education budget by $5 billion in 2011. 

I believe the religious left — particularly the Christian left — is leading us forward into these midterms and out of this unchecked tyrannical rampage our president has led for far too long. 

The Republican Party has been the party of Christianity for most of modern history. Seventy-four percent of Republicans are Christian, while 50% of Democrats are Christian, according to a 2023-24 Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study. 

In the time of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” the Civil Rights Movement made the country two nations under God. Young Christians aligned with the anti-war and civil rights movements, and questioned why the white Southern Church remained quiet amid the fight for human rights and democracy. In the ’60s, conventional church attendance declined 20%. 

But a revival is coming. Slowly, but clearly, Christian voter approval of President Donald Trump is declining as they watch children being seized from school by immigration officers or die from the bullet of a school shooter. The Economist reported that white Protestants’ approval rating of Trump dropped from 46% to 33% in January 2026, and only 40% of Evangelicals were confident he is acting ethically in office. 

At least 12 pastors or seminarians have run as Democrats this midterm season, which is unprecedented in the 21st century. Heath W. Carter, associate professor of American Christianity at the Princeton Theological Seminary, spoke to me about several of these campaigns, including Adam Hamilton’s campaign for Senate in Kansas. 

Hamilton started the Church of the Resurrection in 1990 with just four people; it is now the largest United Methodist congregation in the nation, with over 20,000 members divided almost evenly between Republicans, Democrats and independents. 

“[Hamilton is] challenging Christians in Kansas to say, ‘Hey, maybe you don’t have to be Republican. Maybe there are other ways to live out our faith in public,’” Carter said.

While the separation of church and state is integral to American politics, 83% of our nation believes in God or a universal spirit, almost every inauguration to a political role includes a hand on a religious text to solidify the oath of office and every dollar has “In God We Trust” inscribed into its design. 

Carter explained that the question “what would Jesus do?” originated as a social justice question.  

“God is the author of equality,” Carter said. 

He added that many religions “teach that humans are made in the image of God [and] are made with dignity and equality,” and whoever dares to take that dignity away from a soul is not living by the word of God. 

Each constituent must be assured equal dignity. These Democratic nominees prove that true politicians are not leaders; they are servants. They must vote against the institutions that break people down. 

Talarico asked himself what Jesus would say if he visited the U.S. Senate on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” 

“For I was hungry and you cut my food assistance. I was sick and you kicked me off Medicaid. I was a stranger and you deported me and my family,” Talarico said according to the New York Times. “I think he would flip over those fancy desks on the floor of the U.S. Senate and demand that we take care of all of our neighbors.”

Anahita Saxena is a junior majoring in political science and journalism who writes about politics, identity politics and the internal issues of the Democratic Party in her column, “Chai Socialist,” which runs every other Monday.