My Political Science Professor Had It Right!

It’s not often that I relate back to my undergraduate college days at the University of Evansville in the mid 1970s, but the 2026 Mid-term Election takes me back there to a conversation that I had with my political science professor, Dr. Preston. For the record, one of us was a conservative and one of us was a liberal. I will let my readers figure out which one was which! I will say that our discussions were animated but civil, and I never felt at any point that my different political perspective was held against me by Dr. Preston. I am not so confident that this would be the case in today’s higher education world!

So let me share one of our conversations, and how I believe it applies in some way to the 2026 Mid-term Election.

Dr. Preston was adamant that it made no sense to base an electoral decision on a particular candidate’s qualifications beyond some minimal threshold. In his mind, the adage of voting for the best qualified candidate was pure nonsense. In his mind, it made virtually no difference if a particular candidate was particularly smart, capable, or the kind of person you would want as a next-door neighbor. He believed that in almost every case when any candidate was elected to public office the candidate would largely follow the dictates of his/her political party. So, if you agreed with the policy positions of the political party, you should vote for its candidate full stop. I vigorously pushed back on my professor as I thought his viewpoint was too simplistic and somewhat cynical. But over the years, I have come to conclude that my professor was basically correct in his analysis as this is the consistent pattern followed by candidates in both political parties.

It is my opinion that, during at least the last three Presidential elections and six mid-term elections, voters have tended to adopt the view of my professor and vote accordingly. Progressive voters have ignored obvious and significant cognitive deficiencies in a Presidential candidate because they approved of the policy positions of his party and its secular world view and believed he would govern accordingly if elected which in fact he largely did. Conversely, Conservative voters have twice been forced to ignore personal character flaws in a Presidential candidate because he was far more likely to pursue policy positions which aligned more with a conservative and Judeo-Christian world view and govern accordingly if elected and for the most part he has done so.

I believe the 2026 Mid-term Election presents a similar challenging election season, especially for Christian conservative voters in certain U.S. Senate elections. Take for example the U.S. Senate race in the State of Texas. To state it mildly, the Republican Senatorial candidate has a checkered personal life which Conservative Christians do not and cannot endorse and approve. But their alternative in the race is a Democratic candidate who has attempted to accomplish a Harry Houdini like act in denying, changing, and modifying his progressive positions on transgender issues, the number of genders, and whether God is non-binary, just to state a few. The question now is whether Texas voters will let him get away with this charade.

So how should Conservative Christians approach the Texas Senate race? Just so happens that I have some thoughts for their consideration. Despite the personal character flaws in the Republican Senate candidate, do they believe if elected to the U.S. Senate he will largely follow the more conservative and Judeo-Christian policies of the Republican Party? Do they believe the Democratic candidate will cease his Harry Houdini illusionist routine and pursue the full measure of the Progressive policies that has characterized his prior Texas political career if he is elected to the U.S. Senate? For Conservative Christians in Texas who are still concerned about voting for the flawed Republican candidate, let me share a few thoughts and questions from Scripture. Was King Cyrus of Persia a pagan king? But despite this fact did God use him mightily to effectuate the return of the Jewish exiles to Israel? See Isaiah 45:13. Was King Jehu a flawed king? But despite this fact was God able to use him to accomplish His governing purpose in the Northern Kingdom of Israel? See 2 Kings 10:23-28. Should there be any doubt that a sovereign and powerful God can use a personally flawed Senate candidate to accomplish his governing purpose if this candidate is elected to the U.S. Senate? My sense is that you know the answer.

God bless you and thank you for the privilege of your time in reading my blog.

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