--- title: Jerry Falwell Jr. Endorses Donald Trump description: Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University and prominent Evangelical leader, has endorsed Donald Trump for president. canonical: https://time.com/4194164/jerry-falwell-jr-donald-trump-evangelical/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-26T17:13:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:27:13.532Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jerry Falwell Jr. Endorses Donald Trump og:description: Falwell said Trump is "a man who I believe can lead our country to greatness again" og:url: https://time.com/4194164/jerry-falwell-jr-donald-trump-evangelical/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf60a6b79729a3d71/69887a9c3c16396b8645bb75/jerry-falwell-donald-trump-endorsement.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2195 og:image:height: 1235 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Delivers Convocation At Liberty University og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jerry Falwell Jr. Endorses Donald Trump twitter:description: Falwell said Trump is "a man who I believe can lead our country to greatness again" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf60a6b79729a3d71/69887a9c3c16396b8645bb75/jerry-falwell-donald-trump-endorsement.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Evangelical Leader Jerry Falwell Jr. Endorses Donald Trump > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 26, 2016 5:13 PM UTC  Jerry Falwell, Jr. presents Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with a sports jersey after he delivered the convocation on Jan. 18, 2016 in Lynchburg, Va. Jerry Falwell, Jr. presents Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with a sports jersey after he delivered the convocation on Jan. 18, 2016 in Lynchburg, Va. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 26, 2016 5:13 PM UTC Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University and prominent evangelical leader, has endorsed Donald Trump for president. In his endorsement, Falwell called Trump “a successful executive and entrepreneur, a wonderful father and a man who I believe can lead our country to greatness again.” “It is truly an honor to receive Jerry’s endorsement,” Trump said in the statement. “Not only is he a high quality person, with a wonderful family, whom I have great respect for – I also consider him a very good friend and his support means so much to me.” Falwell may have just officially announced his endorsement, but his political leanings were clear when he introduced Trump at Liberty University on Martin Luther King Day. Falwell [called Trump](http://time.com/4184409/donald-trump-liberty-university/) a “breath of fresh air” in the introduction, compared him to Ronald Reagan and Falwell’s own father, and said, “In my opinion, Mr. Trump lives a life of loving and helping others … as Jesus taught in the New Testament.” Falwell’s endorsement is personal; Liberty University does not endorse political candidates. (Many presidential candidates have spoken there in the past year, however, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz [launched his candidacy](http://time.com/3754071/ted-cruz-liberty-university/) at the school.) But the endorsement from a prominent evangelical like Falwell coming just a week before the Iowa caucuses can only help Trump muscle out Cruz for the religious vote. Cruz has been trying to undermine Trump with this voting bloc by attacking the thrice-married, formerly pro-choice candidate on his “[New York values](http://time.com/4181975/republican-debate-trump-defends-new-york/).” Yet Trump still garnered the support of 42% of evangelicals in a recent [New York _Times_/CBS News poll](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/19/us/politics/evangelicals-see-donald-trump-as-man-of-conviction-if-not-faith.html?%5Fr=0), over Cruz’s 25%. TIME’s Elizabeth Dias and Alex Altman spoke to Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, about Trump’s surprising success with Christian voters. Perkins said many evangelicals feel “beaten down” by political correctness. “Now they see Donald Trump, who is taking on that same elitist politically correct mindset and not backing down,” [he said](http://time.com/4189587/donald-trump-christian-conservatives/). “They find common cause in this guy, even though he comes from a completely different world.” To be sure, not all religious right leaders support Trump. Glenn Beck and Russell Moore, for example, were recently featured in _National Review’s_ [anti-Trump issue](http://time.com/4190336/jeb-bush-donald-trump-national-review/). But Falwell’s endorsement gives credence to the trend, cementing Trump’s appeal with faith voters at the top. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4194164/jerry-falwell-jr-donald-trump-evangelical/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4194164/jerry-falwell-jr-donald-trump-evangelical/"},"headline":"Evangelical Leader Jerry Falwell Jr. Endorses Donald Trump","datePublished":"2016-01-26T17:13:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:27:13.532Z","description":"Falwell said Trump is \"a man who I believe can lead our country to greatness again\"","url":"https://time.com/4194164/jerry-falwell-jr-donald-trump-evangelical/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf60a6b79729a3d71/69887a9c3c16396b8645bb75/jerry-falwell-donald-trump-endorsement.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf60a6b79729a3d71/69887a9c3c16396b8645bb75/jerry-falwell-donald-trump-endorsement.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Delivers Convocation At Liberty University","caption":"Jerry Falwell, Jr. presents Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with a sports jersey after he delivered the convocation on Jan. 18, 2016 in Lynchburg, Va.","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4194164/jerry-falwell-jr-donald-trump-evangelical/","name":"Evangelical Leader Jerry Falwell Jr. Endorses Donald Trump"}}]}] ```