In this edition of ReligionLink, you will find important background, relevant stories, and numerous experts to help you cover the 2022 midterms and their religion angle with balance, accuracy, and insight.

Angela Denker, a veteran journalist and Lutheran pastor, is author of Red State Christians: A Journey Into White Christian Nationalism and the Wreckage It Leaves Behind.

Margaret Susan Thompson is a political historian, with a focus on the 19th-century United States and, particularly, the Congress. Her first book, The ‘Spider Web’: Congress and Lobbying in the Age of Grant, reflects both her scholarly and hands-on experience, the latter as American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow.

Ali A. Valenzuela is an associate professor at American University in Washington D.C. His research focuses on race and racism in U.S. politics and campaigns; Latina/o/x attitudes, preferences and turnout in U.S. elections; immigration and demographic change in the U.S. and its political consequences; U.S. public opinion and voter behavior; as well as ethno-racial and religious identities […]

Fredrick Cornelius Harris is dean of social science and professor of political science at Columbia University. He also serves as director of the Center on African American Politics and Society.

Jacob Neiheisel is an associate professor in the department of political science at University at Buffalo. Much of his research focuses on the effects of elite communication on members of the mass public, election administration, and religion in politics.

Nancy T. Ammerman is professor emerita of sociology of religion at Boston University, having served as chair of the department (2007-2013) and associate dean for the social sciences (2015-2018). Her research touches on aspects of “lived religion” in American religious life and conservative religious movements and on American religious organizations and their networks of social provision.

Darren Dochuk is the Andrew V. Tackes College Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. Dochuk’s research emphasis is on the intersections of religion, politics and the rising influence of the American West and Sunbelt Southwest in national life.

Samuel L. Perry is professor of sociology at the University of Oklahoma. He is an expert on conservative Christianity and American politics, race, sexuality and families. He is the author or co-author of numerous books, including  Growing God’s Family, Addicted to Lust, Taking America Back for God and The Flag and The Cross.