Pastor Jim Rigby Shapes Texas Senate Nominee James Talarico, Eyeing Democrats' 1st Statewide Win in 30 Years
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 1
Pastor Jim Rigby Shapes Texas Senate Nominee James Talarico, Eyeing Democrats' 1st Statewide Win in 30 Years
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 1
Jim Rigby, pastor of Austin’s St. Andrew’s Presbyterian since the 1980s, has emerged as a central influence on Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico’s faith and political identity.
Talarico told The New York Times that Rigby, St. Andrew’s and his Baptist-pastor grandfather were the biggest influences on him “as a Christian, as a human being.”
Their ties run deep: Rigby baptized Talarico as a toddler, married his parents and remains, in Talarico’s words, “my pastor in every sense of the word.”
Rigby’s progressive ministry helps explain Talarico’s profile as a Texas Democrat trying to become the first member of his party to win statewide office in a generation.
When a pastor's controversial past surfaces, how does it affect his protégé's faith-based political campaign?