As the 2024 presidential campaign winds down, white Christian evangelical leaders have taken to branding Vice President Kamala Harris insidious and sinister. According to these evangelical leaders, Harris represents the moral and spiritual decline in America that is tied to demonic forces (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/9/24/2272554/-MAGA-Evangelicals-Call-Harris-The-Devil-s-Choice-Blame-Witchcraft-for-Trump-s-Debate-Defeat?_=2024-09-24T09:15:01.000-07:00).
Ever since the 2020 presidential election, a number of influential pastors and evangelical figures have unabashedly posited that Harris is in league with the devil. This claim against Harris harkens back to a long history of religious demagoguery, where political adversaries are not just framed as ideologically wrong but spiritually corrupt, evil, and under the sway of malevolent powers. In 2014, the Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor of a powerful Dallas megachurch, wrote a book in which he claimed that President Barack Obama was clearing the way for the Antichrist (https://www.ncronline.org/news/spirituality/pastor-obama-paving-way-antichrist).
The conservative evangelical playbook is transparent: Every political battle is part of a grander spiritual warfare narrative. And in recent decades, the demonization of political opponents has become an integral feature of this worldview. If one believes the nation is locked in a spiritual war, and that leaders like Donald Trump are divinely chosen warriors, then opponents like Kamala Harris are often cast as agents of darkness.
For MAGA evangelicals, Harris is not just a political opponent; she is the embodiment of moral decay; supporting policies like abortion rights, LGBTQ+ equality, and racial justice—policies they believe are contrary to "biblical values."
Harris as Jezebel
In recent sermons, speeches, and media appearances, high-profile evangelical leaders have described Harris as a “Jezebel,” a term steeped in biblical connotations of wickedness and manipulation. The Jezebel trope, in particular, has often been used against Black women in power, implying that they are inherently corrupt and sexually immoral.
The New Republic’s Melissa Gira Grabt reported in late July, that Lance Wallnau, a leading prophet in the New Apostolic Reformation, said that Harris “represents the spirit of Jezebel, and in a way that’ll be even much more ominous than Hillary because she’ll bring a racial component and she’s younger” (https://newrepublic.com/article/184213/jezebel-attacks-kamala-harris-christian).
According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, a Jezebel is “an immoral woman who deceives people in order to get what she wants (https://www.ncronline.org/news/spirituality/pastor-obama-paving-way-antichrist). Merriam-Webster defines Jezebel as “an impudent shameless, or morally unrestrained woman” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Jezebel).
For those like me not steeped in the Bible, here is a brief summary of the Jezebel story from Christianity.com:
“Queen Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Sidon, and the wife of Ahab, king of Israel. Jezebel promoted the worship of false gods in Israel, harassed and killed God’s prophets, and arranged for an innocent man to be falsely charged and executed (https://www.christianity.com/wiki/people/who-was-jezebel-in-the-bible-what-was-she-really-like.html?gbraid=0AAAAAD7cQFWqf5VNfq3GYuYLLK2rUmeEF#google_vignette).
Harris’ support for progressive causes — especially abortion — fuels accusations that she is leading the nation down a morally bankrupt path, one where God is pushed out of the public square, and the devil is invited in.
One of the most prominent voices in this anti-Harris campaign belongs to televangelists and megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress, who has repeatedly labeled Harris as a threat to Christian values. In a March 8 post on X (formerly Twitter), Jeffress, a close ally of Donald Trump, said “When it comes to protecting children, there’s absolutely no difference between Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Hamas. They’re all barbarians.”
Other evangelicals, such as Franklin Graham, have echoed similar sentiments, framing the 2020 election, and its aftermath, as a spiritual battle between good and evil—with Harris firmly on the latter side.
The rhetoric doesn’t stop there. In early August, Pastor Greg Locke, a firebrand preacher with a large social media following, attacked Harris on X, posting: “Harris is an enemy to Israel and a lover of Hamas. She hates America and its values passionately. Mark my words…she’s 100x’s more dangerous to the world than Biden ever was. “THIS IS A COMMUNIST TAKEOVER. [His caps]. Wake up!!!
When discussing the vice president’s role in the Biden administration, Locke has said that “Kamala Harris is not just a socialist; she’s in league with the devil. She promotes things that are anti-God, anti-Bible, and anti-America.”
Conservative evangelical leaders frequently frame their political mission as a God-ordained struggle against evil, and labeling Harris as demonic fits neatly within that narrative. Such rhetoric not only dehumanizes but also galvanizes extremist elements within evangelical communities, who may see political violence as a justified response to what they perceive as a cosmic battle between good and evil.
In an age of increasing political polarization, the evangelical attacks on Harris reflect a broader challenge to American politics: The blurring of the line between church and state. Harris has largely ignored the demonizing rhetoric aimed at her. But the evangelical campaign to frame her as a demonic figure is not likely to disappear as we get closer to the election. It is too deeply rooted in their evangelical worldview, and too politically useful for leaders who seek to mobilize their base through fear and moral panic. And with fear comes grifting. There’s ample evidence that evangelist’s fortunes have been built on those building blocks.
