Hi John,
Just 62 days until the general election! The Freethought Equality Fund has just one endorsed candidate in Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah for the general election. They are state house candidates fighting to win seats currently held by Republicans. Show them they are not alone by supporting members of our community Shawna Anderson (IA-22), Kalyn Dewitt (ND-40), Michael Huber (SD-14), Ashlee Matthews (UT- 38), and pagan ally Michelle Snyder (KS-105). You can see their bios below, and all our 2020 endorsed candidates here.
Shawna Anderson is running for election to the Iowa State House in District 22. Anderson has been an Iowan for over 20 years. Having grown up in a household straddling the poverty line, Anderson is acutely aware of the institutional barriers to success for working families. She was inspired to run for office after studying the extreme bills coming out of Iowa’s State House, which sought to discriminate against thousands of Iowans. Her campaign is focused on breaking down social and economic barriers and building an economy that supports middle and working-class people. Anderson is strongly in favor of collective bargaining power and will stand up to the corporate interests that have gutted Iowa’s unions. In the House, Anderson will vote for increased education funding and a higher minimum wage, accessible healthcare, guaranteed reproductive rights, and action on climate change, which threatens Iowa’s agriculture. Anderson is a humanist.
Kalyn Dewitt is running for the North Dakota State House in District 40. Dewitt does freelance graphic design for local businesses and creates art that she sells in a local co-op gallery. She is active in her local government. She attends city council meetings to stay up-to-date with events and issues, and most recently has been a strong advocate for curbside recycling. At the state level, Dewitt believes the current legislators are representing the interests of corporations rather than the interests of the people. She decided to run because “I can no longer sit on the sidelines and let others make decisions for me and my community.” Her policy priorities include addressing the failures of the state’s medical system, creating a strong and stable economy that treats workers like a valuable resource rather than an expendable one, and restoring fiscal responsibility to the state. Dewitt is a humanist.
Michael Huber is running for election to the South Dakota State House in District 14. Huber attended all of his schooling in South Dakota, and worked part-time at his family’s small business as a student. He is a longtime social-justice activist. Today, Huber works as a financial advisor, treasurer for South Dakota Voices for Peace, and mentors inmates through his program, Yoga for Inmates. Huber is a descendant of homesteaders who helped build South Dakota into the thriving place it is today, and of recent immigrants as his mother came to the United States from Denmark in the 1950s. He hopes to continue the pioneering spirit of his great-grandparents by increasing citizen engagement in his community, supporting local businesses, making the South Dakota criminal justice system fair for all, and offering its children the best possible education. Huber is a member of a Unitarian Universalist congregation and is a humanist and atheist.
Ashlee Matthews is running for the Utah State House in District 38. Matthews works for the Utah Department of Transportation and is active in her community as a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters, a founding board member and events director with The Single Parent Project, and a foster with both Cause for Paws Utah and the Utah Animal Advocacy Foundation. Her husband is a Union Pipefitter so she also volunteers with the UA (United Association) Local 140 Ladies Auxiliary. Active in the local Democratic party, Matthews decided to run for public office because she “wants to make sure that Utah’s working class families have a seat at the table” and because she “is a fixer by nature.” The issues she is most focused on are creating affordable daycare and afterschool programs, expanding access to public transportation and ride share programs, establishing a requirement that contractors pay a state prevailing wage for state-funded projects, and protecting the environment and improving air quality. Matthews is an agnostic.
Michelle Snyder is running for the Kansas State House in District 105. She is the manager of Grace Hill Winery, a front line worker at a Dillons grocery store, an on-line English tutor, as well as a space science educator at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center. Snyder was born and raised in Wichita, and has been an active member of the Wichita community for her whole life. A granddaughter of two Korean War veterans, Snyder has worked with veteran organizations for much of her life and plans to fight for the rights and needs of Kansas’ veterans. She is also passionate about supporting small business owners like her father and husband, improving STEM education in Kansas schools and supporting public school teachers, and securing a better future for her nieces and all kids in Kansas. Snyder was raised Pentecostal, but now identifies as pagan.
You can see all our 2020 endorsed candidates here.
Thank you for your membership and support.
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.
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