Hours after a gunman killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Rob Sand, the Democratic Iowa state auditor who is running for governor, said the way forward comes from the teachings of Jesus: “Love your enemies.”

“Everybody out there, no matter what their ideas are, is a child of God. And I don’t think we should be conceiving of ourselves as enemies, even as we may be working for different things,” he told CNN hours after Kirk’s death.

Sand, who grew up attending Lutheran church, is part of a growing group of Democratic candidates in next year’s midterm elections that are seeking to use faith to find common ground with voters — including independents and Republicans — in states where their party has struggled to win in recent years.

Those candidates are bucking broader, yearslong tre

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