Millions of Latino evangelicals listen to this Sacramento pastor — and he backs Donald Trump
Isaias Calero spent years attending churches in the U.S. trying to reach spiritual fulfillment.
“I felt like something was missing,” said Calero, an immigrant from Honduras. “I wasn’t where I was supposed to be.”
That changed when he moved to the capital region three years ago and his boss recommended New Season Church, a modest congregation tucked at the end of 44th Street in south Sacramento. Inside, Calero was drawn in by the church’s warmth and captivated by the powerful sermons of its lead pastor, the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez.
“His manner of expressing the word of God is different,” Calero said of Rodriguez. “You really hear the words of God. It reaches your heart.”
Each Sunday, Calero is among the thousands of English- and Spanish-speaking members, in-person and live streaming from around the world, who are enthralled by Rodriguez. He is perpetually in motion, bouncing around the stage, cracking jokes and — at times — yelling at the top of his lungs.
For the past two decades, Rodriguez’s charismatic style has elevated him to national prominence. He’s worked with multiple presidential administrations, produced films and emerged as one of the nation’s most influential Latino faith leaders.
All the while, he’s maintained his position as a registered independent — “not married to the donkey or elephant but to the lamb.” In recent years, however, much of Rodriguez’s public statements mirror those of former President Donald Trump’s supporters.
Take a sermon given by Rodriguez on Sept. 15, in which he told the congregation the “devil has invaded public school systems for the purpose of messing up emerging generations.” Or a recent podcast appearance, during which he urged Christians to vote while condemning the “weaponization of the Justice Department” against Trump, inflation and the millions of illegal entries.
“If you don’t care about your children, if you don’t care about Christian faith, if you don’t care about your family, please stay home, don’t vote,” Rodriguez, 55, said on the podcast. “But if you care, if you believe the Holy Spirit inside of you drives you to change the world around you, it behooves all of you to come out in November.”
Though not uncommon for a Christian pastor, Rodriguez’s views reflect a growing trend among Latino evangelicals aligning more with Republicans on education, abortion and gender roles. These beliefs are no longer singular to white, conservative Christian voters. They resonate with Latinos who, like Rodriguez, have grown frustrated with what they see as the Democratic Party’s “far-left” agenda.
Whether Trump can translate that into a second term in the White House remains uncertain. Some polls indicate his support among Hispanic voters has reached heights not seen by a Republican presidential candidate in years. His path to the presidency, if successful, will be paved, in part, by influential pastors like Rodriguez who have stopped short of endorsing him but leave little doubt about where their vote stands.
“It’s implicit … because the values that the donkey is espousing right now are so counterintuitive that this election should be a wake-up call,” Rodriguez said in an interview with The Sacramento Bee.
‘What he is today is no surprise’
Rodriguez was raised in the Rust Belt and religious city of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where his immigrant Puerto Rican parents emphasized faith and hard work. His grandfather had served as a Pentecostal pastor in the family’s home country. His father, a registered Democrat, worked on a Mack truck assembly line for 30 years.
His commitment to faith and command of large crowds began early in his teens, said Bishop Angel Nuñez, who has known Rodriguez for nearly 33 years and lives in Baltimore. By 16, Rodriguez was already preaching to youth rallies and conventions. Two years later, Rodriguez was appointed to oversee the Hispanic youth ministry in his region of more than 300 churches. At 23, he became an ordained minister in the Assemblies of God.
“What he is today is no surprise to me since I’ve seen him from his youth,” Nuñez said.
In 2001, Rodriguez relocated to Sacramento after being recruited to join the National Evangelical Ministerial Alliance. He soon took over leadership of the group, using it to create the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference — a network of 42,000 congregations and the country’s largest Christian organization.
Rodriguez’s national profile grew quickly over the next few decades as he made connections across political lines and became a passionate advocate for immigration reform.
In the early 2000s, former President George W. Bush invited Rodriguez to weekly calls with his senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove. Former President Barack Obama later appointed Rodriguez to multiple advisory councils, including a national abortion reduction task force. Rodriguez also advised both presidents on topics, including immigration and family life.
“He is extremely high profile,” Mark Mulder, a professor of sociology at Calvin College and co-director of the Latino Protestant Congregations Project. “It’s difficult to think of anybody who can match his political access.”
Rodriguez thrived in this politically centered position, describing himself and Latino evangelicals as a mix of Billy Graham and Martin Luther King Jr. with “a little salsa tossed in.” Meanwhile, he continued demanding presidential administrations legalize the country’s millions of undocumented immigrants.
His strong stance on immigration reform put him at odds with Trump during his first run at president. Rodriguez repeatedly criticized Trump for his divisive remarks toward immigrants.
He began that Republican primary campaign working on Jeb Bush’s advisory team, then Marco Rubio’s, switched to Ted Cruz and only backed Trump after he became the nominee. At the president’s inauguration in 2017, Rodriguez became the first Latino evangelical leader to give a prayer at the ceremony.
What has followed is complete loyalty to Trump, said Peter Montgomery, research director for People For The American Way, a progressive advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
“He certainly now is very much part of the MAGA movement,” said Montgomery.
In 2018, Rodriguez praised Trump in Spanish, claiming he had done more for the evangelical movement than any president since Ronald Reagan. Rodriguez continued his support in 2020, stating that Trump’s “heart is in the right place.” Last month, he penned an opinion piece for Fox News titled “5 ways Harris, Walz push Latinos to Trump and could hand him the White House.”
Rodriguez maintains his political beliefs have remained the same, no matter the president.
“What has changed is the culture,” he said.
‘He’s the best solution’
Rodriguez’s office is plastered with markers of his meteoric rise.
Some walls feature photos of Rodriguez with Obama and praying at Trump’s inauguration. Others display framed posters of the movies “Breakthrough” and “Flamin’ Hot” — a biopic about the man behind Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Rodriguez served as an executive producer for both films. A copy of his third, and most recent, book lies on his desk.
Here, Rodriguez detailed his disappointment with the Democratic Party and presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
“I can’t even describe what’s happening with the Democratic Party,” Rodriguez said. “The donkey and the elephant are both not perfect. They both have issues, but the donkey, right now, is completely straight-up drunk.”
Rodriguez believes the Democratic Party has turned its back on faith and Latino evangelicals — the fastest-growing group of American evangelicals. Today, Rodriguez said, Harris’ political party is one of socialism, anti-faith, anti-parental rights and anti-free speech.
Even on immigration, Rodriguez sees Trump — despite his rhetoric — as the better option. The pastor notes the “wrong” done by President Joe Biden and Harris to allow millions of undocumented immigrants to cross the border over the last four years.
“I do think he’s the best solution (for immigration reform),” Rodriguez said.
Regardless of his strong beliefs, Rodriguez refrains from explicitly directing his congregation how to vote. He believes that would show a lack of respect.
“How can I be so presumptuous or arrogant enough to tell someone who to vote for, meaning by name?” Rodriguez said. “I’m assuming that they don’t have the cognitive bandwidth to make their own decision. I’m assuming that they don’t have the intellect to process information.”
Still, he argues these new values of the Democratic Party will lead 70% of Latino evangelicals to vote for Trump. A recent New York Times/Siena College poll shows Harris underperforming among Hispanic voters compared to the last three Democratic candidates for the White House.
Although Latino evangelicals have traditionally sided with Democratic presidential candidates, the group has swung toward Trump in the last two elections. In one new study by Pew Research, the distinction among Latino faith groups is stark.
About 65% of Latino Catholics backed Harris, while 65% of Latino Protestants, which includes evangelicals, supported Trump. Experts, including Mulder, call the contrast a reflection of Protestants sharing more conservative views and their “courting by the Republican apparatus.”
“Evangelicals are being heavily recruited by conservative political action groups in the United States,” Mulder said.
Sitting at his desk, Rodriguez paused for a few seconds when asked if he would accept a role in a potential second Trump administration.
“I don’t even know how to answer,” Rodriguez said. “I would consider it, maybe. I would consider it if it’s pertaining to helping solve some of the problems, primarily immigration.”
‘God appreciates his sincerity’
On a recent Sunday in October, Rodriguez was in a particularly joyous mood. New Season Church was celebrating its 18th anniversary. The church has come a long way since starting in an Elk Grove home with a group of 18, Rodriguez told the crowd of more than 200 people.
He addressed a Spanish congregation mixed with first- and second-generation immigrants. Rodriguez speaks to about 2,000 people both in-person and online across three services each Sunday. He is estimated to reach millions of more households through a Wednesday night broadcast shown on a Spanish spinoff of Daystar Television, a popular national Christian television network.
Like many of his services, Rodriguez avoids talk of politics. On this Sunday, he was focused on retelling the biblical story of Samuel.
He wove into his sermon spiritual advice. God has a plan for each person. Don’t let the negativity of others weigh you down. Release those burdens in the name of Jesus.
“Don’t ever receive advice from someone who doesn’t believe in you,” Rodriguez said.
The crowd grew more engaged with each word, rising from seats, raising their hands in the air and yelling in adoration. Some were moved to tears as he spoke.
Near the center of the dimly lit church, Sandra Coner, 49, watched alongside her two children and husband. She has attended the church since moving to Elk Grove eight years ago.
She is cognizant of Rodriguez’s political views, but remains very much undecided on her presidential vote this year. As an immigrant from El Salvador, she laments much of Trump’s rhetoric against immigrants.
Still, her religious values also factor in, and Harris does not always align with those.
“I’m kind of debating and fighting against myself,” Coner said. “I don’t know yet, to be honest. I still have to sit and pray for a little bit longer.”
Calero sat a few rows behind Coner, toward the back, as he’s done for the last few years. Such a seat garners less attention to his “singing,” Calero, 38, joked.
He stressed that politics hardly surface in Rodriguez’s sermons, and only to reinforce religious stances opposing abortions, transgenderism among children and anything that “goes against the word of God.”
“He never says who to vote for,” Calero said.
For Calero, Rodriguez doing so wouldn’t matter. He is unable to vote as an undocumented immigrant. That said, if he could, his vote would go to Trump. Despite his “locuras,” or madness, Calero said, Trump has recognized Jesus Christ and wants the best for this country.
“He’s sincere,” Calero said. “He says what he thinks, and many people don’t like that, but God appreciates his sincerity.”
Back on the stage, Rodriguez wrapped up the sermon holding his wife’s hand. Together, they told the congregation that the best is yet to come for their church.
Rodriguez ended his speech as he does each week — holding the microphone to the crowd and urging them to finish his words.
“Let’s go change the world.”
This story was originally published October 18, 2024 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Millions of Latino evangelicals listen to this Sacramento pastor — and he backs Donald Trump."
