Fidelis Reacts to Democrat Victory

Expresses hope in election of socially conservative Democrats:

11-08-2006

News of the Democratic capture of the House of Representatives and the uncertainty over control of the Senate leaves Catholic and other values voters hopeful but also concerned, according to Fidelis, a national Catholic based advocacy group. Fidelis believes nationwide support for traditional marriage and the rise of socially conservative Democrats provides hope that the new leadership in Congress may work to find common ground with socially conservative Americans. Fidelis however remains concerned that the new Democratic leadership may ignore its own conservative members, and instead side with liberal interest groups hostile to religious Americans.

Fidelis President Joseph Cella released the following statement:

"During a midterm election year when the party in power historically loses seats, socially conservative Catholic and Christian swing voters were clearly frustrated with the challenges in Iraq, the Foley scandal in the House of Representatives and dissatisfaction with politics in general in Washington D.C.. This convergence of issues combined with the recruitment of socially conservative anti-establishment Democratic candidates led to the success in convincing many conservatives to vote Democratic.

The turnout of socially conservative Catholic and Christian voters also clearly suffered by lack of progress on key issues such as judicial nominations, excessive government spending, failure to pass a marriage amendment, and the absence of a serious fight against embryonic stem cell research in the House.

Yet, Tuesday’s elections results also showed signs of hope with the Democratic Party embracing socially conservative candidates who may buck their party’s socially liberal platform and aggressively fight to protect the sanctity of all human life and traditional marriage. We urge the leadership to support their conservative members and to follow through on their commitments made on the campaign trail. We congratulate the socially conservative Democrats elected to the Senate and the House and we look forward to working with them.

With Senate control now uncertain, we are gravely concerned that a judiciary committee led by Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy will not provide a fair hearing to judicial nominees. If the Democrats do win the Senate, we will be watching to make sure judges of faith committed to upholding the constitution are not subjected to the brutal attacks as they have been in the past.

We also remain concerned that with Nancy Pelosi likely serving as Speaker of the House and Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader, social issues of importance to Catholic and Christian voters will not see the light of day. Despite the election of their conservative candidates, serving the needs of liberal interest groups may take priority for the Democratic leadership.

In order to better govern with the new majority and address the issues of importance to socially conservative voters, we believe it is important that the Senate and House Republicans reinvigorate their leadership and renew their commitment to fundamental conservative principles. The voters that stayed home or voted Democratic believe many Republicans had lost their way."