The Vote is Sacred Tour: Des Moines  

We woke up Tuesday in Des Moines to a great story about The Vote is Sacred Tour in Baptist News Global.  

“The goal of the eight-day ride from Omaha to Philadelphia, with multiple stops along the way, is to fight the Christian nationalism that has inspired its adherents’ yearning to replace democracy with theocratic and autocratic rule,” Jeff Brumley reported. You can read the full story here. 

We then headed over to the Iowa State Capitol to meet our partners at Interfaith Alliance of Iowa for a rally and press conference. I went ahead of the bus to get the area ready, which meant we got a great view of the bus driving up the hill towards the Capitol. There was palpable excitement in the crowd, as multiple people mentioned seeing the bus driving around town. 

Connie Ryan, Executive Director of Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, orchestrated a great lineup of speakers for the press conference: The Rt. Rev. Betsey Monnot, Bishop of the Episcopal Church of Iowa; Sally Frank, member, Des Moines Jewish community and Board Chair, Interfaith Alliance of Iowa Action Fund; Senator Sarah Trone Garriott, clergyperson in the Evangelical Church in America; Mazie Stilwell, Director of Public Affairs, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa; and Keenan Crow, Director of Policy and Advocacy, One Iowa. 

“There’s a lot going on in Iowa that does not look like love of neighbor,” Bishop Frank declared. You can watch a portion of her speech on our TikTok channel. 

After the press conference, we hosted a lunch with local religious leaders and then hit the road to Madison, Wisconsin. As we checked into our hotel, I caught this photo of the bus in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol. 

Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons is the Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy at Interfaith Alliance.