U.S. President Donald Trump speaks after signing an executive order on a deal that would divest TikTok's U.S. operations from ByteDance from its Chinese owner ByteDance, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 25, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The Rev. Tony Suárez, an evangelical pastor who once advised President Donald Trump and publicly backed his 2016 campaign, said Wednesday he no longer plans to endorse political candidates, citing frustration with divisive politics and the Trump administration’s hardline immigration stance.
Speaking at the Religion News Service symposium “God, Government and the Algorithm” in New York City, Suárez, vice president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said he now hopes to focus on “policy, not personality.”
“I don’t know that I’ll endorse any more candidates after this go-round,” Suárez said, per a Religion News Service report.
“I’d like to talk more about concepts and ideas and policy more than, ‘How dare you vote for that man?’ or ‘How dare you vote for that woman?’”
Suárez, who has voted for Trump three times, said he once believed the president supported immigration reform. But he now blames White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller for policies that created fear in Hispanic churches.
“I don’t blame President Trump as much as I blame Stephen Miller,” he said. “I’m not a Stephen Miller fan. I’m very frustrated with him, and I hold him responsible for a lot of the ideology.”
The Tennessee pastor said both parties have failed Latino voters on immigration, accusing Democrats of “empty promises” and Republicans of refusing to “come to the table of reason.”
Suárez added that the supplicant attitude around Trump’s movement made him uncomfortable. “It becomes borderline idolatry,” he said. “I can’t participate in it.”