A group of evangelical Christians has reportedly spent over $1 million on an ad campaign to help Vice President Kamala Harris defeat former President Donald Trump in November’s election.
While a majority of evangelicals have supported Trump’s candidacy in the last two presidential elections, the group Evangelicals for Harris has this year been one of the most prominent Christian groups to advocate for the vice president, who is a Baptist.
The Christian Post reported on Thursday that the group’s latest ad, which features footage of the late evangelical leader Billy Graham reading a Bible verse while juxtaposed with footage of Trump, was “an over $1 million ad campaign.”
It was not clear whether the reported $1 million figure referred to the new ad alone or the group’s entire pro-Harris ad campaign.
Newsweek reached out for comment to Evangelicals for Harris via email on Friday night.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP; Nic Antaya
In the one-minute ad, Graham is shown reading a biblical warning to Christians that “men will become utterly self-centered and greedy for money” during the “last days,” before a clip plays of Trump saying that he has been “greedy, greedy, greedy” for his “whole life.”
Graham goes on to warn of men becoming “proud and abusive,” “uncontrolled and violent,” “reckless and arrogant” and “loving what gives them pleasure instead of loving God.” Trump-related clips play after each moment, including the infamous Access Hollywood tape.
The ad concludes with Graham warning Christians about those who “maintain a facade of religion but their lives deny the truth,” followed by a clip of Trump refusing to say if he had asked “God for forgiveness” because he doesn’t “bring God into that picture.”
Graham’s son, Franklin Graham, an outspoken Trump supporter, lashed out at Evangelicals for Harris earlier this year after another of its ads used footage of his father to target the former president.
“The liberals are using anything and everything they can to promote candidate Harris,” Franklin Graham wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “They even developed a political ad trying to use my father @BillyGraham’s image.”
“They are trying to mislead people,” he added. “Maybe they don’t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and policies of President @realDonaldTrump in 2016, and if he were alive today, my father’s views and opinions would not have changed.”
Billy Graham’s views on Trump’s 2024 campaign will remain a mystery since he died in 2018. He refused to endorse Trump in 2016 despite backing Utah Senator Mitt Romney’s 2012 Republican presidential campaign, although Franklin Graham has claimed that his father voted for Trump.
The Evangelicals for Harris website touts the “faith journey” of Harris, who is described as a “deeply committed and faithful Christian,” while adding that evangelicals who support Trump are not following “a path that reflects [God’s] teachings.”
