Jennifer Welch Urges Democrats to Copy James Talarico's Bible Belt Fight

Democrats should confront the Bible Belt the way Texas Senate candidate James Talarico is doing, Jennifer Welch, co-host of the I've Had It podcast, said in an episode released Tuesday. She added that Life.Church, the Oklahoma megachurch that is the largest congregation in the United States, should lose its tax-exempt status, as should the state's religious schools.

She made the case on the day her book Not Today, Fascist came out, with the midterms four weeks away. In the same segment she told Democrats to run a 50-state strategy and to take on Bible Belt culture directly. It was her own view.

"I think Life.Church, which is the largest church in ... America, needs to lose their tax exempt status. It's a business. It's a racket," Welch said.

Churches are exempt from federal income tax as religious organizations under Section 501(c)(3) of the tax code, and that exemption is long-established federal law.

She also said that "all the little religious hate academies in Oklahoma need to lose their" tax exemptions.

Jennifer Welch Ties Church Taxes to a Democratic 50-State Strategy

Welch lived for years in Oklahoma City and now lives in New York. She built her argument on what she called the Bible Belt's moral failings. "I just think there's a rot in Bible belt culture," she said.

Then she turned to her own party. "I think the Democrats need to start a 50 state strategy and they need to confront the way Talarico is confronting the hypocrisy in Texas. I think it needs to be confronted head on," she said.

She meant James Talarico, the Democrat running against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for the U.S. Senate. Talarico leads by 3.6 points in PolitiKool's polling average for the Texas Senate race.

Welch, who is an atheist, said she brings that up often on purpose. "I want to normalize being secular," she said.

Earlier in the episode she reacted to right-wing anger at a mariachi band that played the national anthem before Monday Night Football in Chicago, and said of MAGA-aligned congregations: "Tax them, tax them, tax them, tax them." She closed by tying the hour to the November elections: "These are important things, though, as we head into the midterms to think about."

How Big Is Life.Church?

Life.Church is based in Edmond, Oklahoma, and led by pastor Craig Groeschel. It ranks No. 1 on the 2026 Outreach 100 list, which puts its in-person weekend attendance average at 85,000. That is well ahead of Alabama's Church of the Highlands at 60,000 and Arizona's Christ's Church of the Valley at 56,216 on the same weekend measure.

What the Law Says About Church Tax Exemption

The Johnson Amendment bars churches and other 501(c)(3) organizations from endorsing or opposing candidates on pain of losing their tax-exempt status.

The fight in Washington is running the other way. On March 31, a federal judge in Texas rejected a deal that would have let pastors endorse candidates from the pulpit and dismissed the case, ruling that the court lacked jurisdiction. The Johnson Amendment still applies for the November 3 election.

Where Americans Stand on Churches and Politics

Most Americans in both parties want churches to stay out of campaigns. A Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted April 6-12 found that 84 percent of Democrats and 74 percent of Republicans, including those who lean toward each party, say churches should not endorse candidates. Majorities of both parties also said churches should keep out of day-to-day social and political questions: 71 percent of Democrats and 61 percent of Republicans.

Keeping churches out of politics is one thing. Removing their tax exemption entirely goes much further. Welch did not name any Democratic leader who backs taxing churches, or any candidate who would run on it.