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A House Not Quite So Divided Against Itself

Democracy and secular candidates had a good night last Tuesday (and Wednesday, Thursday, and all week really.) According to The Center for Freethought Equality ([link removed]) there will be over 70 atheist and humanist state legislators in 30 states now, compared to only five in 2016. Every returning member of the Congressional Freethought Caucus was reelected, including co-founder Jarred Huffman who two weeks ago in a video at the FFRF Convention stated, “I’m a humanist and I don’t believe in God.”

Democracy had a good night because election deniers at the federal level who werefirst time candidates mostly lost ([link removed]) . Every candidate for governor in a swing state who election-denied lost except Kari Lake in Arizona, who is still behind in her very close race. Election deniers running for swing state positions that control elections uniformly lost. Prominent Christian nationalists such as Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania lost, although Christian nationalism is an insidious belief system that isn’t going away. It will continue to be a selling point in a lot of primary races.

Abortion clearly impacted the races, coming in just behind inflation in exit polls about leading issues. It’s telling that in states like Kentucky where the legislature is strongly anti-abortion, (and earlier in Kansas), an anti-abortion constitutional amendment failed ([link removed]) when put directly to the voters.

In Arkansas a constitutional amendment that would have enshrined support for the kind of “religious freedom” that allows bakers to refuse to bake a cake for an LGBTQ wedding on religious grounds also did not pass. It was very close, but this happened in a completely Republican state. The incumbent Republican senator won his reelection with 66 percent of the vote.

Democrats are happy, and Republicans are apoplectic, that the Dems didn’t do worse in the House. The average number of seats picked up by the minority party in an off-year election since 1994 is 25, and it looks like this year that number for the Republicans, despite inflation and a president with a 42 percent approval rating, will be eight or nine. But Democrats still (it looks like today) lost control of the House. Worth remembering: House Democrats were furious with themselves exactly two years ago that they lost seats when Joe Biden won the election and the Senate ended up going Democratic. Maybe redistricting has made big swings in the House less likely.

The new Republican House majority will be holding investigations into all manner of relevant (the Afghanistan withdrawal) and irrelevant (get to know Hunter Biden) issues. The legislation passing the House will take on a decidedly conservative and partisan tone, especially going into a presidential election season. Recall that by the end of 2017 there had been 100 House bills that would have repealed some or all of Obamacare, according to [link removed] 50 of them passed the House ([link removed]) . It’s going to be like that for the Biden agenda and accomplishments. And the House Republicans back then looked like dedicated public servants compared to many of the current and incoming members.

By staying at a working Democratic majority the Senate becomes our best hope for progress on secular issues. The ability to override Senator Manchin with a 51st Democrat comes down to the Georgia run-off between the most officially religious Senator, pastor Raphael Warnock, and one of the most spectacularly unqualified Senate candidates in recent memory, football player Herschel Walker. He writes off a personal history that should disqualify him from coming anywhere near the Senate floor by saying he’s been forgiven, to which the religious Georgia voters are supposed to say ``Oh, well then, he’ll be great.” We’ll see how many votes he gets when he would be just another Senator, not the balance of power in the Senate.

The government affairs staffers for some of our coalition members are meeting around a big table this week to look at 2023 under the lens of the election results and to decide what bills, issues, and regulatory changes to prioritize going forward. These include Supreme Court ethics and transparency, IRS enforcement of the Johnson amendment in churches, opposing the spending of taxpayer money on religious schools, fighting Christian nationalism, and a lot more. It’s going to be a busy and interesting year.

Scott MacConomy, Director of Policy ad Government Affairs at the Secular Coalition for America, wears a blue suit and stands with his arms crossed over his chest in front of the United States Capitol Building.

Your advocate,

Scott MacConomy
Director of Policy and Government Affairs
Secular Coalition for America
The Secular Coalition for America works every day to defend the separation of religion and government and to fight anti-democratic ideologies like Christian nationalism. Your support for this work is vital.

Help us fight for equal rights for nonreligious Americans! ([link removed])
P.S. Please consider leaving a legacy gift to the Secular Coalition for America ([link removed]) . The protection of our secular values requires eternal vigilance.

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