Thread by @BrianKaylor

Last night, @bartbarber defeated @tomascol in #SBC22 president election. And it wasn't close. What happened? Let's consider some reasons Ascol & @BaptistNetwork failed in attempt to push SBC further rightward.
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1. Barber was establishment pick, thus had institutional momentum on his side. And solidly conservative, claims of SBC going "liberal" or "woke" didn't fit. Even Ascol praised him as conservative & merely suggested he wouldn't fight enough against those allegedly not. #SBC22 2/

2. Ascol is best known for decades for his work to make SBC more Calvinistic. Although SBC has moved some in that direction, it's still minority & often controversial position. Although not main reason he lost, it probably didn't help.
#SBC22 3/

3. Ascol's main campaign issue (& key focus since '19) was critical race theory. But that issue didn't get oxygen with focus rightly this year on clergy sexual abuse. And injecting culture wars to attack abuse report that messengers overwhelmingly backed surely hurt him
#SBC22 4/

4. Location matters. Ascol likely hurt by western convention instead of deep south where focus on race may have played better. As we saw in 2016 primaries, southern evangelicals responded to Trump differently than midwestern/western. Similar dynamic likely at play here.
#SBC22 5/

5. Ascol & @BaptistNetwork fought lots of battles at this convention (& lost virtually all so far). By time prez election rolled around, some at #SBC22 were complaining about tone & fighting. Creating atmosphere of animosity and contention may have backfired.
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