Bishop Mariann Budde, in new election ad, urges people to vote

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(RNS) — A pair of advocacy groups have released a new political advertisement featuring the Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde , the Episcopal bishop of Washington, urging people to vote and referencing her headline-grabbing sermon from last year in which she asked President Donald Trump to “have mercy” on immigrant children.

The new ad , posted on YouTube on Monday (Oct. 5) and slated to run in at least four states ahead of the midterm elections, opens with a clip of Budde standing in the pulpit of the Washington National Cathedral in January 2025, as she delivered the much-discussed sermon to the president the day after his inauguration. It draws from a section of the sermon where Budde addressed Trump directly, asking the president to “have mercy” on those “whose children fear that their parents will be taken away,” alongside footage of masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

The ad then switches to Budde, who recently announced her intention to resign as the Episcopal Bishop of Washington , speaking directly to the camera.

“We have all borne witness to the events of the last two…