Sarah Trone Garriott, a Democratic candidate for Iowa's 3rd Congressional District, described opposition to GLBTQ ideology among Evangelical Christians as rooted in threats to white male identity during an October 2023 speech. The former state senator and Lutheran minister faces criticism from Republicans for her views. She aims to challenge incumbent Rep. Zach Nunn.
Sarah Trone Garriott, a former Iowa state senator and minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, delivered a speech on “Christian Nationalism” at Ames First United Methodist Church in October 2023. The Daily Wire uncovered the remarks, in which Trone Garriott, running as a Democrat for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, argued that Evangelical Christians perceive the GLBTQ movement as a new threat to their identity by challenging traditional definitions of gender and relationships. She stated, “It’s very threatening to the idea of the white male, powerful figure, because it muddies the waters and makes things ambiguous and confusing.” Trone Garriott linked legislative responses, such as support for private schools and parents’ rights, to efforts like book bans and sports restrictions. She added, “It’s really couched in the language of there’s a threat against women and white men are responsible to protect women from threats. So a lot of the legislation is about we’re going to protect these feminine, fragile, weak women and girls from a threat to their bodies, their persons, their identity in this way.” During her Senate tenure, Trone Garriott voted against a bill barring boys from girls’ sports and opposed measures shielding children from transgender procedures. Republican spokesman Zach Kraft responded, calling her “a preacher of the woke gospel” and criticizing her for twisting Christianity to justify sex changes on children, predicting Iowa voters would reject her. Trone Garriott also critiqued “white Christian men,” evangelist Billy Graham’s persona, traditional views of Christ’s atonement, and Apostle Paul’s writings as products of his time. Her denomination is more liberal than the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. White evangelicals form a significant voting bloc in Iowa.
