More than 300 predominantly black churches may have violated federal 501(c)(3) law Sunday when they aired a recorded video from Vice President Kamala Harris in which she stumped for gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat running for a second term as governor of Virginia.
There’s just one problem – the Johnson Amendment currently bans churches and other non-profits from actively participating in political campaigns for or against a political candidate or risk losing their tax-exempt status.
Which is pretty much exactly what Harris did in the video the McAuliffe campaign sent to hundreds of houses of worship as part of his "Souls to the Polls," an effort to turn out the religious minority vote for Democrats in what’s become a close and contentious race against the Trump-endorsed Republican, Glenn Youngkin.
"I believe that my friend Terry McAuliffe is the leader Virginia needs at this moment," Harris says in the video. "Terry McAuliffe has a long track record of getting things done for the people of Virginia."
The grinning vice president, who publicly advocates for the killing of babies in their mothers' wombs, detailed how she grew up singing in the choir at her childhood church, telling the congregations that it was their "sacred responsibility" to "raise their voices" and vote in Democrats on November 2.
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— Eva McKend (@evamckend) October 16, 2021
VP Harris implores congregants to vote following church service. The McAuliffe campaign has embraced "Souls to the Polls," block-party style events featuring top campaign surrogates after church near polling locations, to drive turnout.#VAGOVhttps://t.co/vaefXtWqUe pic.twitter.com/yGuIL6e7Fz
In 2017, then-President Donald Trump vowed to ease federal restrictions on churches’ engagement in politics, a move that at the time was widely condemned by the left as an attempt to turn houses of worship into “Super PACs” (per The Atlantic) and a blatant effort to “skirt campaign finance laws” and target the LGBTQ community (that’s from the Washington Post.”)
But what was a threat to democracy just four years ago appears to be entirely acceptable today when it’s done in defense of a Democrat – once again proving that if the left didn’t have double standards, they’d have no standards at all.