‘We leave it in God’s hands’: Republicans court a skeptical Amish community in Pennsylvania

Daniel is a small business owner, he is deeply religious, and he lives in rural Pennsylvania. All of these things make him a prime target for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

There is one problem, however. Daniel is Amish, and the Amish do not tend to vote.

“My kingdom is not of this world,” he tells The Independent, using words attributed to Jesus in the Bible, when asked if he could ever be tempted to cast a ballot for either party. “That’s pretty much how we feel about it.”

That hasn’t stopped Republicans and MAGA activists from launching a campaign to turn the insular Amish community into Trump voters.

The community has been something of a white whale for the Republican Party for years; similar campaigns were launched in 2016 and 2020. Indeed, it is fitting, and perhaps a source of torment, that the number of Amish in Pennsylvania happens to number the exact margin by which Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020. Some in the party believe that if his campaign could mobilize this untapped pool of 80,000 voters, it could turn the tide in his favor, and perhaps win the election.

But it will be no easy task.

The Amish — a distinct Protestant Christian group who came to North America in the 18th century to escape persecution in Europe — center almost every aspect of their lives around their faith. They reject modern technology and communication, wear traditional plain clothes, travel by horse and cart, work mostly in farming, and even speak a language unique to their community, known as Pennsylvania Dutch.

They live separately from the society around them as much as possible. Most are reluctant to take part in the elections of “the Englishers,” as they call the non-Amish.

Estimates of Amish turnout in previous elections are