Faithful Advocates' To-Do List for the Week of October 25, 2026

VOTE!

Registration is open for the 40th Annual United Women in Faith Texas Legislative Event!

We welcome all who are committed to justice, freedom, and opportunity for all people. Presented in partnership with Texas Impact, the event includes three days of speakers, inspiration, workshops, and legislative visits.

Dear {name},

This week, early voting started in Texas for the midterm elections. For candidates, the early voting period is a last chance to influence voters who haven’t cast ballots yet. For voters, it’s either the final opportunity to gain insights before choosing between candidates or a time to reflect on new information that comes to light after you’ve already voted. (I was visiting family this week in Ohio, where early voting started on October 6.)

Organizations across the political spectrum are urging Texans to vote early. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick is calling on Republicans specifically to vote early. The League of Women Voters is characterizing Saturday, October 24 as “Vote Early Day,” and a number of Texas Black church leaders have dubbed Sunday, October 25 “Black Out Sunday,” challenging their churches to achieve 100% turnout of their eligible voters. Learn more about Black Out Sunday in this week's episode of Weekly Witness.

Texas Impact urged Texans to Be a Day One Voter—and many Texans seem to have adopted the strategy, with Dallas, Harris, and other large counties breaking records for early voting on the first day. (As of October 20, Jeff Davis County had the highest turnout of any Texas county at more than 27 percent.)

For organizations like Texas Impact that focus primarily on legislative policy, the election period functions as a particular kind of liminal space. Spiritually, liminal space is a sacred location, a threshold between what was and what will be that Richard Rohr describes as “a good space where genuine newness can begin.” For anyone trying to get a jump on the legislative session, the liminal space of early voting is a location where our fondest policy goals, strategies, hopes, and expectations all are theoretically possible—as are our worst nightmare scenarios.

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We keep praying that our illusions will fall away. God erodes them from many sides, hoping they will fall. But we often remain trapped in what we call normalcy—“the way things are.” Life then revolves around problem-solving, fixing, explaining, and taking sides with winners and losers. It can be a pretty circular and even nonsensical existence.

To get out of this repetitive cycle, we have to allow ourselves to be drawn into sacred space, into liminality. All transformation takes place here. There alone is our old world left behind, though we’re not yet sure of the new existence. That’s a good space where genuine newness can begin. We must get there often and stay as long as we can by whatever means possible. It’s the realm where God can best get at us because our false certitudes are finally out of the way. This is the sacred space where the old world is able to fall apart, and a bigger world is revealed.

–Father Richard Rohr

In a couple of weeks, literally millions of Texans and other Americans will have to decide how to move forward based on the outcomes of elections at every level of government. For candidates and their teams, obviously the election period is the time to pull out all the stops, go for broke, swing for the fences, etc. For the rest of us, the liminal space offers a spot to prepare our heads and hearts to cross the threshold and see what’s on the other side.

Love,

Bee Moorhead

Texas Impact Executive Director

We are calling for the repeal of HR. 1 (known as the One Big Bill Act) and renewal of the federal government’s commitment to justice. Legislators, policymakers, and candidates must repeal this immoral law and replace it with legislation reflecting our shared values: feeding the hungry, healing the sick, protecting the environment, and  treating migrants with dignity.

In 2025, Congress made changes to SNAP. They put new financial burdens on state budgets and made it harder for our neighbors to get the food they need.

Join with thousands of Texans and tell the Texas Legislature that funding for SNAP is not negotiable.

This week, Scott is joined by Rev. Dr. Daryl Horton, pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Austin. Dr. Horton joined Texas faith leaders for a press conference on the steps of the Texas Capitol calling on Texans to be Day One Voters, and since many Texas communities are reporting record day one voting, we thought we would invite him back to talk about and promote Black Out Sunday to try to set more records during the early voting period. Scott and Daryl discuss the historic role of the black church in promoting voting and voting rights and the roles clergy and people of faith can play in encouraging civic participation. 

Watch on YouTube or listen on your favorite podcast platform.

Find out more about Black Out Sunday in this article by The Dallas Morning News: North Texas coalition of Black pastors encourages congregants to vote as faith leaders mobilize ahead of election

Check out our full events calendar

Texas Impact is on Substack—look for new posts, notes, and bonus videos on our stack.

New this week:

• • Heather Malkawi on school-based feeding programs
  • Ellen Alexandrakis on book bans
  • Scott Atnip on Black Out Sunday
  • Becca Edwards on the Interfaith G20
  • Rebecca McIlwain on early voting

NOTE: Texas Impact membership includes access to all our Substack content. If you are already a member of Texas Impact and need help accessing our Substack, please email members@texasimpact.org and we’ll get it sorted. Not a Substack reader? Find our posts on the Texas Impact website.

Texas Impact is member-supported! If you're already a member, thank you—if not, please consider chipping in to support our network.