An anti-abortion Texas megachurch pastor has endorsed Kamala Harris for president, as he slammed Donald Trump as a “race-baiting” adulterer.
William Dwight McKissic Sr, the founder of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, penned an op-ed for MSNBC on Sunday where he revealed that, despite being an evangelical who “hates abortion” and opposes same-sex marriage, he cannot support the “adulterous, childish, habitually lying and criminally convicted” former president.
Instead, he announced that he is backing “trustworthy” Harris in the 2024 race: “Republican Donald Trump doesn’t have Harris’ character, her competence or her capacity.”
McKissic wrote: “It is a commonly held belief in many circles that evangelical Christians — to say nothing of evangelical pastors like me — should vote Republican.
“The GOP, the thinking goes, is the party most closely aligned to our morals, our values, and our commitment to biblical principles. I held this belief for the better part of 40 years.”
McKissic pointed to his longstanding opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion, writing that this was “why voting for Republicans made sense to me.”
While his stance on those issues hasn’t changed, he said the Republican party has.
“I don’t even recognize the Republican Party anymore,” he said.
He continued: “The party I knew and loved would have never chosen as its nominee the adulterous, childish, habitually lying and criminally convicted Donald Trump. Evangelical leaders rightly called Clinton out for his sex scandal with Monica Lewinsky and then his lying about it.
“It’s astonishing to see these same leaders ignore Trump’s many sex scandals and ignore that he was found liable in court of sexually abusing a woman,” he said, of Trump being found liable for sexually abusing E Jean Carroll last year.
“It’s sickening to see people who say they read and believe the same Bible I do not only refuse to denounce Trump but endorse his candidacy.”
The pastor went on to write that, with no candidate matching his stance on social issues, he has been “forced to change my voting criteria”.
“I can’t vote for a party that upholds my social convictions. Because neither does. So I’ve got to vote based on the character of the candidates. Enter Harris,” he said.
He went on to describe Harris as “a person of good character and someone who can be trusted.”
“Unlike the adulterous, twice-divorced Trump, she’s married to her first and only husband, and she graciously embraced the role of mother to his children... She presents herself as a woman of integrity and leads with love. By that I mean she has a gentle and welcoming spirit,” he said.
“Oh, and she can pass a background check.”
By contrast, the pastor pointed to Trump’s role in the “day of chaos, violence and upheaval” on January 6.
The pastor’s op-ed comes as Harris and Trump make their final pitches to voters across swing states on Monday – one day before Election Day. A new poll from The New York Times/Siena College poll shows that Harris has overtaken Trump in four critical swing states.
