The Tent Revival in Longview and a Split Congregation
A few days before the Fourth of July, Ron Peterson stood beneath a large white tent in a parking lot in Longview, Washington. The 38-year-old pastor of Longview United Pentecostal church watched church members sell fireworks for a fundraiser, remembering how area residents had recently rallied after an industrial accident at the local paper mill killed 11 people in May. At least two-thirds of his church members are Latino, Asian, Black, or of multiracial backgrounds, reflecting a racial diversity that complicates the national political image of evangelical Christians. Yet in this corner of southern Washington, even among regular churchgoers, a deep division persists over the intersection of faith and the ballot box, theguardian.com reported.
Peterson works full time in sales while pastoring and views his church as a sanctuary for families dealing with addiction and crisis. At the same time, his worldview is firmly anchored in the nation’s culture wars. He believes white Christian heterosexual men have become targets of public blame. He recounted a workplace incident where he was called into human resources after singing the Christian hymn His Eye Is on the Sparrow because someone took offense to the line declaring Jesus as a personal portion.
“So you can sing about sleeping with a bunch of women. [But] I can’t say Jesus?” Peterson asked. When weighing national leadership, he gives Donald Trump high marks on cultural and judicial matters, pointing specifically to the Supreme Court justices appointed by the administration who ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Yet he remains critical of fiscal policy, arguing that Trump has performed poorly from a standpoint of budgetary responsibility.
Earlier this spring, faith leaders from across the Vancouver area gathered at St Andrew Church and shared their stories with me, along with their candor. As the daughter of an immigrant and a pastor, their dedication to faith and to our neighbors means a great deal to me. Thank… pic.twitter.com/terHZOOlx9
Congressional Contest and Competing Visions of America
Faith has consistently shaped American political life, and evangelicals have long functioned as a major force within conservative politics. In southern Washington’s third congressional district, that dynamic animates a neck-and-neck House race between the Democratic incumbent, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, and her Republican challenger, John Braun. Both candidates draw openly on their religious backgrounds to connect with voters. Braun has defended conservative speech on college campuses, while Gluesenkamp Perez, whose father served as an evangelical pastor, attends a Capitol Hill Bible study and has discussed feeling occasionally alienated by her Democratic party colleagues.
A shared religious label, however, masks fundamentally opposing political philosophies. Daniel HoSang, a Yale University professor who studies race and conservative political movements, explained the two divergent frameworks. For some believers, the concept of a Christian nation means protecting the freedom to practice personal faith. For others, it implies a hierarchical arrangement where Christianity occupies a privileged position in government at the expense of other faiths. If people view the country as exclusively founded by Christians for Christians, HoSang notes, that perspective can authorize discriminatory treatment against members of other religions.
The Skepticism Found in Battle Ground
In the nearby city of Battle Ground, 41-year-old dietitian Laura Oltmann sat inside a local pastry shop to express her mounting concern over religion’s expanding footprint in local politics and the treatment of immigrants under the Trump administration. A registered independent who grew up in a conservative Christian household, Oltmann studies the Bible, listens to morning devotionals during her commute, and attends a small church that meets in a school.
Oltmann rejects the notion that the United States holds a special, divinely ordained claim to being God’s kingdom on earth, pushing back against the tenets of Christian nationalism. That tension surfaced starkly in her views on abortion. While she finds the topic personally conflicting, she ultimately supported Gluesenkamp Perez in 2024 because she values a woman’s right to choose healthcare alongside a doctor, while also questioning the political consistency of opposing abortion while resisting safety-net programs for children.
“You’re gonna be anti-abortion, but you’re not gonna support children’s programs, children’s nutrition, children’s schooling, the things that they need to function,” Oltmann said. “Are we taking a stand on these children’s lives, but not their growth and development? You know, that has to be both.”
As a healthcare professional, Oltmann felt deeply unsettled by immigration enforcement sweeps that threatened local medical facilities. For her, the core issue centers on human dignity and whether vulnerable people can access care without living in fear. Those concerns led her to support Gluesenkamp Perez, whom she views as a pragmatic, middle-of-the-road representative.
Joe Kent Faces Scrutiny over Ties to White Nationalists
During previous election cycles, Republican candidate Joe Kent faced scrutiny over his ties to white nationalists, which he has denied while distancing himself from extremist groups. Local reporting highlighted Kent’s appearances on the Christian localism podcast The Battle Ground Project, co-hosted by area pastor CR Wiley and an executive at Maddox Industrial Transformer.
Frederick Clarkson, a research analyst tracking Christian nationalist movements for Political Research Associates, notes that Christian localism focuses on building influence within smaller municipalities to shape local institutions, businesses, and government. It is easier to establish ideological control where fewer residents inhabit a given territory, Clarkson explained.
Battle Ground Mayor Eric Overholser, who works at Spiller’s company, signed local municipal proclamations supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement and recognizing traditional nuclear families defined by a husband, wife, and children. While Clarkson cautions against overstating the immediate electoral reach of such local movements, he warns that systematic efforts to establish religious authority through smaller community institutions present long-term challenges for democratic governance.
