Hi John,

 

Please support the three excellent local candidates listed below who have earned the Freethought Equality Fund endorsement. Ryan Bell, Audra Killingsworth, and Joseph Richardson are in competitive elections on March 3 (Bell in California and Killingsworth in North Carolina) and March 17 (Richardson in Florida). Short bios of these endorsed candidates are below, as are links to support their campaigns. Please be as geneous as you can.

 

 

You can learn more about Ryan Bell's campaign here and make a generous donation to his campaign here.
 
You can learn more about Audra Killingsworth's campaign here and make a generous donation to her campaign here.
 
You can learn more about Joseph Richardson's campaign here and make a generous donation to his campaign here.

 

Ryan Bell is running for City Council in Pasadena’s 6th District. For the past 15 years he has fought for affordable housing, tenants’ rights, and ending homelessness both locally and nationally. He began his career as a pastor and served a number of congregations on both coasts of the United States for 20 years. After leaving pastoral ministry in 2013 Ryan served as the Director of Community Engagement at PATH (People Assisting the Homeless). Today Ryan works as the program director at the Secular Student Alliance, a national, higher education non-profit based in Pasadena, and serves as humanist chaplain at the University of Southern California. He is an active member of the Pasadena Tenants Union. Ryan is an atheist and a secular humanist.

 

Audra Killingsworth is running for the Wake County (NC) Commission in District 3. She is currently a member of the Apex (NC) Town Council – a seat she won in 2017. Killingsworth decided to run for office because she saw the impact of local government in our daily lives and she “wanted to contribute and make a difference.” Her leadership on the town council has been guided by compassion and data driven policy. She now wants to take her experience and skills in “listening, finding common ground, making hard decisions, and serving the public” to the next level of local government. Killingsworth is a secular humanist and a member of the American Humanist Association and the Triangle Freethought Society.

 

Joseph Richardson is running for the Winter Garden (FL) City Commission in District 1. Richardson starting going to commission and other local government meetings in Florida to fight for, and provide, secular invocations. In 2014, he received extensive news coverage when he was expelled from the Winter Garden City Commission for asserting his rights and refusing to stand for the prayer and pledge when told to by the mayor. From his activism, Richardson has learned how local government works and the influence it has on the day-to-day life of its constituents. He is running for the Commission to “make sure that all citizens are valued and included.” His policy goals include more responsive, transparent, and inclusive city government along with responsible growth that values and preserves the environment. He wants a city that makes decisions based on hard data and reason rather than anyone’s personal opinions. Richardson is an atheist and humanist, and is a board member of the Central Florida Freethought Community.

 

You can see all our 2020 endorsed candidates here.

 

 

Sincerely,

Ron Millar

PAC Coordinator

 

This message is for the sole use of members of the Center for Freethought Equality. The mission of the Freethought Equality Fund (FEF) is to achieve equality for the nontheist community by increasing the number of open humanists and atheists, and allies, in public office at all levels of government. The FEF is affiliated with the Center for Freethought Equality, which is the advocacy and political arm of the American Humanist Association. Donations to the Center for Freethought Equality, Freethought Equality Fund and our endorsed candidates are voluntary and are not tax deductible.