First-term Iowa state legislator and Democratic candidate Sarah Trone Garriott has been criticized for her involvement in a collection of sermons aimed at combating President Donald Trump and his supporters from the pulpit. Trone Garriott authored a chapter in the 2018 collection, "Preaching as Resistance: Voices of Hope, Justice, and Solidarity," which was published in the aftermath of Trump's 2016 presidential election victory.
The book described the election as bringing the country "so closely to fascism," and Trone Garriott's contribution, "The Gospel of Resistance," was described as the first sermon she delivered after the 2016 election. The collection includes 30 sermons under provocative titles that condemn Trump and his tens of millions of voters as rooted in racism, immigration enforcement, deportation policies, transphobia, and the "worship of military-grade weaponry among the populace."
Trone Garriott's involvement in the collection comes as she faces mounting scrutiny from Republicans over her previous remarks on religion and cultural issues. The GOP views the Iowa House battleground held by Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, which incorporates the state capital of Des Moines, as critical to preserving its slim majority.
Trone Garriott has publicly discussed helping marry a Satanist couple as a minister-in-training during a love-themed storytelling event, and she has defended a Wiccan-led prayer in the state legislature. She has also tied public displays of Christianity to political violence in a 2023 sermon, criticizing private schools and parental rights in education while highlighting her efforts to seek out prayers in the state legislature that were not from the "White American Christian variety."
The Republican National Committee sharply criticized Trone Garriott's participation in the collection, calling her the "Wicked Witch of Woke" and accusing her of viewing the pulpit as a political weapon to advance her radical agenda. The RNC spokesperson also criticized Trone Garriott for claiming to have found far-left causes in the Bible and attempting to force them on Iowans.
Trone Garriott did not respond to requests for comment about why she chose to contribute to the collection or whether she agreed with the book's introduction. The sermon collection, described as "provocative" by its publisher, includes a range of sermons that urge defiance of the federal government, rail against immigration enforcement, and associate police departments with White supremacy.
