Anti-Trump Group Rehearsed an Election Crisis. Now It’s Launching a 15-State Midterm Operation.
Its senior adviser previously ran a faith-based partnerships office in Biden’s Education Department.
Sep 27
Interfaith Alliance has already gathered religious leaders to rehearse an election crisis. Now the organization is taking its operation nationwide—and explicitly identifying the Trump administration as the threat.
In a September 17 announcement, the group disclosed that it recently held a:
“mock election crisis response exercise.”
The rehearsal accompanies a six-week training program, a pledge of $200,000 for local election-protection activities, and a 15-state bus tour. The announcement says local religious communities will receive training about:
“election interference threats coming from the Trump administration.”
Interfaith Alliance calls the campaign nonpartisan. Its own announcement makes clear which administration participants are being mobilized to scrutinize. Interfaith Alliance’s announcement.
The rehearsal is part of a larger operation
The campaign’s website supplies details beyond the press release. It links an election-crisis planning toolkit, described as a 90-minute exercise with six scenarios for 2026, developed with Protect Democracy.
The operation combines voter registration and canvassing with a trained, peaceful presence at polling places. One of its four advertised components is bluntly titled:
“Fund the local organizers.”
Its training partners include the League of Women Voters, Interfaith America, Protect Democracy, and Sojourners. The fall schedule includes instruction for trusted messengers, election engagement by houses of worship, and a September 23 session on de-escalation and bystander intervention at the polls. Campaign website and training schedule.
On a separate training page, Interfaith Alliance recruits religious leaders, organizers, and supporters for:
“nonviolent civil resistance ahead of the 2026 elections.”
The page offers instruction in nonviolent action, voter mobilization, and faith-based organizing. Congregations are being recruited into a national organizing effort with training and financial support. Interfaith Alliance’s training portal.
Mobilizing a thousand people
An August 8 conversation between Interfaith Alliance president Paul Brandeis Raushenbush and Protect Democracy executive director Ian Bassin shows how the organizations envision that mobilization working.
Raushenbush said the groups were already conducting scenario planning to prepare religious leaders for their role. He described using pulpits, opinion pieces, and public appearances to defend confidence in elections.
He also urged contact with election officials, explaining what faith communities could offer:
“If you experience pressure, we’ll bring a thousand faith folks out to say, actually, stand your ground.”
The stated purpose was to support officials facing pressure. Raushenbush then raised the possibility of ICE or National Guard deployments intimidating voters.
That discussion grew out of an existing partnership. The two organizations had collaborated on the anti-ICE advertising campaign “Choose Love Not ICE.” During the interview, Bassin argued that public opinion would help determine the country’s direction and discussed the political backlash that militarized deployments could generate.
The organizations were connecting their immigration-enforcement messaging to their preparations for the midterms. Both emphasized nonviolent mobilization. Interfaith Alliance’s published interview transcript.
https://nataliegwinters.substack.com/p/anti-trump-group-rehearsed-an-election
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