(RNS) — Kellianne Clarke doesn’t really have time for an interview.
An active member of her Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregation in Chester County, Pennsylvania, she spoke to RNS earlier this month while preparing a lesson she planned to lead for her church’s women’s group the following Sunday. A mother of four with a master’s in strategic communication who regularly serves on various nonprofit boards, Clarke also helps lead the local chapter of the Relief Society, the LDS church’s national women’s group. All that, along with her long history with the church, means she is in constant conversation with her fellow Mormons.
But there’s one thing she hasn’t really talked to her faith community about: her plans to vote for Democrat Kamala Harris.
“I generally don’t talk politics with the people of my local congregation, mostly because I believe I’m generally an outsider,” said Clarke, a graduate of Brigham Young University, the LDS church’s flagship university. She describes herself as a “liberal mom” — but only in the religious sense, compared with fellow Mormons.
“People tolerate that, but don’t really want …