The path to victory for former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party runs through the 2,585 Catholic parishes in Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

These six states are the epicenter of the 2024 election. Though polling is fluid, each state — with the exception of Montana — remains a tossup in the presidential race. Of the seven closely contested races for the U.S. Senate, six are within these states. They also host six of the twenty-two tossup battles for control of the U.S. House. (RELATED: KEITH PEKAU: Tim Walz’s Record Can’t Be Kicked Under The Rug)

Across these states, Catholics are the single largest denomination. They include over 5 million finicky, sometimes unpredictable Catholic registered voters. And by their sheer size, geography and fluctuation, the Catholic voting blocs in these states are likely to decide partisan control of Washington.

In the recent decades, Catholic voters, once central to the Democratic Party coalition, have developed into the ultimate swing vote in federal elections. From the Democratic pinnacle of 1960, when about 80% of Catholic voters across the nation pulled the lever for fellow Catholic John F. Kennedy, many recent federal elections — with both Republican and Democrat victories — have been decided by the size of the Catholic swing vote.

In 2016, Trump........

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