U.S. senators from Arkansas and Delaware met with President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday, hand-delivering an invitation to next year's National Prayer Breakfast.
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Republican John Boozman and Democrat Chris Coons are serving as co-chairmen of the annual religious service, which draws thousands of guests from around the world.
Traditionally, the president speaks at the event, which is held on the first Thursday in February. Begun in 1953, it has seen every president since Dwight Eisenhower participate.
Politics wasn't on Wednesday's agenda, Boozman said, shortly after his visit to Trump Tower. "This is about getting the president over, praying for him, praying for the country," he said.
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The New York businessman, a Presbyterian, "was very cordial at the meeting. He had lots of questions, lots of good comments, [he was] very, very animated, very friendly," Boozman said. "[We] didn't get an absolutely firm commitment but I think we got an implied commitment. I feel like he'll be at the prayer breakfast."
Boozman, a Southern Baptist, is a longtime member of the Senate's weekly prayer group, which is organizing the 2017 breakfast.
Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who participated in the House prayer group while serving on Capitol Hill, sat in on Wednesday's session.
Religion was a key factor in the 2016 presidential election, according to exit polls. Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton 81 percent to 16 percent among white evangelicals, a group that made up roughly a quarter of the electorate.
The Republican carried a majority of Protestant and Catholic voters and fared best among Americans who are regular churchgoers, the polls showed.
"This is a big bloc of voters that turned out in strong numbers," said Robert Jones, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonprofit polling and research firm. "[Trump] was getting help from white Christians across the board."
Kevin den Dulk, a professor of political science at Calvin College, said Trump's Wednesday meeting "signals to attentive people that he hasn't forgotten his base."
Chances are good that Trump eventually will accept Boozman's invitation, he said in an email.
"My guess is that there will be some negotiation with him -- there's always negotiation with him! -- but that his answer will have to be 'yes,' given that every president has participated for 50 years and, more importantly (since he doesn't care much about convention), he owes evangelicals for his victory -- and evangelicals play a key role in organizing the NPB, despite its apparent ecumenism," den Dulk said.
A Section on 12/15/2016