Pat Davis, New Mexico Political Report — An Albuquerque megachurch whose pastor has a long history of endorsing conservative candidates is once again testing the IRS’ prohibition on nonprofits engaging in politics by telling congregants of his Legacy Church to vote for Gregg Hull and Greg Cunningham, Republicans ru nning for governor and Congress, respectively, in next week’s elections.
On October 4, Pastor Steve Smotherman told congregants in Legacy Church’s nine different churches to vote for Greg Cunningham for Congress against incumbent Gabe Vasquez, a Democrat, in New Mexico’s second Congressional district which includes Albuquerque’s Westside. Two days later, he shared a long endorsement post on X telling followers to vote for Republican Gregg Hull for governor. Both endorsements were widely shared locally and generated lots of local comments online. The Guardian news outlet picked up the story on Thursday. They added additional instances of Smotherman’s endorsements from the pulpit and on the church’s social media accounts.
In sermons shared online, Smotherman is careful to tell members not to vote for partisan reasons, but to vote their values. He also says that Hull is a “born again Christian” and Sunday school teacher. He similarly lauds on Cunningham who he says has been a Legacy Church member for 14 years.
Although nonprofit organizations, including Legacy Church, are prohibited by federal law from engaging in the political process, this year’s endorsements are not unique for Smotherman. He has made endorsements from the pulpit in Albuquerque city council races and other races for years. In 2022, he made news when he called Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham “demonic” said Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Ronchetti had made a secret promise to ban abortion in the state if he defeated Lujan Grisham. Ronchetti denied that conversation occurred. Smotherman later preached for the legislature to impeach Lujan Grisham.
Smotherman is well aware of federal laws prohibiting nonprofits like his church from engaging in political activity. Weeks before the 2024 elections, Smotherman told congregants to vote their values and explicitly acknowledged that a church could lose its tax-exempt status if it engaged in politics. “It’s OK if you talk about [Kamala] Harris, or anybody endorses Harris, nobody says anything. But you endorse Trump and oh my gosh, take away his tax exempt, take away all this.”
This time, however, Smotherman’s endorsements come as President Donald Trump is fighting to block enforcement of that ban. An executive order to that effect was blocked by a federal court and is under appeal.