Derrick Harkins
Sarah Pulliam Bailey 6-13-2013
Chad Connelly, the new outreach director to evangelicals and religious groups for the RNC. Photo courtesy RNS.
The vast majority of evangelicals have voted with the GOP in recent elections. In fact, despite some qualms about his Mormon faith, 79 percent of evangelicals voted for Republican nominee Mitt Romney in 2012, the same percentage that voted for President George W. Bush in 2004.
So why would the party hire its former South Carolina chairman to lead engagement to a group that for a generation or more has been the reliable anchor of the party faithful? Here are four reasons.