In this guide, we provide background, tips and suggestions, newswriting for context and experts and sources for you to turn to as you ramp up your coverage of religion and the 2026 midterms.

Ray B. Shackelford is a native Houstonian who serves as Vice President of Equitable Justice for the National Urban League (NUL), responsible for managing Reclaim Your Vote, the NULs national nonpartisan get out the vote campaign.

Chris Crawford is the Senior Director of Civic Strategies at Interfaith America. He previously served as a policy strategist at Protect Democracy, where he led staffing for The National Task Force on Election Crises and partnered with Interfaith America in developing the Faith in Elections Playbook during the 2024 election. Press contact is Randy Craig.

Jay Kim is a pastor in Silicon Valley and author writing about digital culture, church life and younger Christian practice in books like The Pace of Peace, Listen Listen Speak, Analog Christian, Analog Church and Colossians: One Jesus, One People. 

Cole Arthur Riley is a writer from Pittsburgh, creator of Black Liturgies and author of This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us, exploring Black spirituality, contemplative practice and Gen Z life.

Yasmin Moll is ama cultural anthropologist of the Middle East and North Africa at the University of Michigan. Her research spans the intersections of religion, media, youth and politics as well as questions of race, indigeneity and heritage activism in the region.

Imran Ali Malik is a coffee lover, journalist and podcaster trained in Islamic theology, who can speak to the intersections of youth, global Islam and digital religious networks.

Tanita Tualla Maddox is a speaker and author specializing in the intersection of Gen Z culture and Christian faith, focusing on the generation’s specific questions regarding spirituality and mental health.