The Amish community drew unprecedented attention during the 2024 election, with Republican organizers seeking to mobilize this traditionally low-turnout group in battleground states like Pennsylvania and Ohio. The focus was fueled by the opportunity to align the Amish with conservative values and bring their significant populations into the GOP fold.
The Amish community, numbering nearly 400,000 across 654 settlements nationwide, is concentrated in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin. While some Amish avoid voting due to beliefs about avoiding “worldly” matters, concerns over religious freedom and government overreach have motivated others to participate in recent elections.
Republican leaders emphasized common ground. U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson, representing Ohio’s Holmes County, home to the largest Amish settlement in the U.S., said, “The Amish community wants the same things most Americans want: lower prices, fewer heavy-handed government mandates, and policies guided by common sense – not woke ideologies.”
Efforts to mobilize Amish voters included in-person outreach at local fairs, ads, and billboard campaigns, alongside education about mail-in ballots. Postdoctoral scholar Cory Anderson noted that messaging tailored to the Amish linked values like “hard work” and faith with calls to civic action, such as urging voters to “Pray For God’s Mercy For Our Nation.”
In Pennsylvania, home to the largest Amish population of over 92,000, these efforts aimed to sway the narrow margins that defined the state in recent election cycles. U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, whose district includes Lancaster County, an Amish stronghold, anticipated a significant increase in turnout.
However, experts offered caution. Steven Nolt, director of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College, suggested that broader Republican gains in various counties contributed to shifts more than Amish turnout alone.
Accurate data on Amish voter turnout for 2024 is not yet available, and claims of 180,000 registered Amish voters have been questioned. Still, the creative outreach methods employed this cycle underscore the GOP’s effort to engage a community traditionally distanced from political activity.
Barbie Stoltzfus, an Amish woman cited in Anderson’s research, offered a reminder of the diversity within the community: “Where do 37,000 people all think alike?”
