The modern LDS Church and the Utah Compact (2010) framework center pro-family, religious liberty, civility, pragmatic pro-immigrant compassion ('we welcome the strangers among us'), the Utah Compromise model of protecting both religious liberty and LGBTQ rights together, political neutrality as institutional posture, and fiscal conservatism. Paxton lines up on family, religious liberty, fiscal conservatism, anti-pornography, and anti-marijuana but loses substantially on immigration (the Utah Compact is the most pro-immigrant statement any major American religious institution has made) and on civility/political-norm respect, which the modern Church explicitly values. Talarico lines up on immigration, civility, anti-corruption, pragmatic compassion, and the Utah Compromise framework of protecting religious liberty alongside LGBTQ rights. He loses on alcohol/marijuana policy, abortion, and full LGBTQ-rights expansion beyond the Compromise model. The tie at 5-5 is itself remarkable: this is the only religious-institution grader where the two candidates land equal, because the modern LDS Church's distinctive combination of cultural conservatism and pragmatic immigrant-welcome doesn't fit either partisan mold.
Sources
- Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate, official campaign issues page, accessed May 2026. (full list)
- Talarico for Texas, official campaign issues pages (taxes, education, healthcare, immigration, social media/AI, freedom-family-faith, public-safety-justice, corruption-democracy, labor-business), accessed May 2026. (full list)
- The Utah Compact (2010), endorsed by LDS Church and broader Utah civic leadership; LDS First Presidency political-neutrality statements. (full list)