FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 5, 2026
Contact: cbeyer@cfequality.org
Two Openly Nonreligious Candidates Elected to Congress as Center for Freethought Equality PAC Celebrates Record Night
Number of state legislators who openly identify with the nonreligious community climbs past 100
WASHINGTON – The Center for Freethought Equality (CFE), the advocacy and political arm of the American Humanist Association, is celebrating its best election night on record. Chris Rabb of Pennsylvania and Fred Wellman of Missouri won their races for the U.S. House on Tuesday. No one in American history has ever entered Congress as an openly nonreligious person. In January, two individuals will do so.
Rabb, a state representative from Northwest Philadelphia since 2017, will succeed retiring Rep. Dwight Evans in Pennsylvania’s 3rd District. When he won his primary in May, he acknowledged atheists from the podium directly as helping secure his victory. Wellman, a West Point graduate and retired Army officer who ran a COVID-19 field hospital in New York, unseated 13-year incumbent Ann Wagner in Missouri’s 2nd District, flipping the seat from red to blue. Both campaigned as openly nonreligious candidates, and both won.
The gains for nonreligious candidates go well beyond Congress. Before this cycle, CFE knew of 81 state legislators in 33 states who openly identify with the Humanist, atheist and nonreligious community. After Tuesday, that number tops 100 legislator-elects spread across at least 38 states. Humanists, atheists and agnostics now have representation in the Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Ohio and West Virginia statehouses for the first time, and South Carolina could be next once final results are in.
All seven candidates on CFE’s Secular Seven slate won their races. Of the 290 CFE PAC-endorsed candidates on Tuesday’s ballot, 152 have been declared winners so far, a 61 percent win rate in races that have been called, and 17 more are leading in races still being called. Including four endorsed candidates who won special elections held before Election Day, 156 CFE PAC-endorsed candidates are headed to office this cycle. In Texas, Railroad Commissioner-elect Jon Rosenthal becomes the first openly agnostic statewide official in U.S. history.
Some of the night’s most important wins came further down the ballot. In Pennsylvania, CFE PAC-endorsed Mark Pinsley, who is Jewish and a Humanist, won the 16th District state Senate seat, helping Democrats take control of the chamber for the first time in 48 years. In Iowa, Jason Benell, president of Iowa Atheists & Freethinkers, won a seat on the Dallas County Board of Supervisors, which Democrats now control. And in Texas, CFE PAC-endorsed Dana Van De Walker, who identifies as areligious and was raised Catholic, is in a State Board of Education District 8 race that is still too close to call. She currently leads, and the result will decide which party controls the board that shapes what more than 5 million Texas students learn.
“For generations, nonreligious Americans were told that being honest about what they believe would end a political career before it started. Tuesday proved that wrong,” said Fish Stark, Executive Director of the Center for Freethought Equality. “Chris Rabb and Fred Wellman never hid who they are, and voters sent them to Congress. That is what a pluralistic democracy looks like: people of every faith and no faith, judged by their values and their work, not by what book they’ll swear on when they take their oath of office. And with more than 100 state legislators across the country now openly identifying with our community, Rabb and Wellman won’t be the last to go to Congress. The next generation of nonreligious leaders is already serving in statehouses and getting ready for the next step.”
Results referenced were current as of November 5, 2026 at 10:30 AM EST. Some races are still being counted, and some results reflect wide unofficial margins rather than formal results calls.
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The Center for Freethought Equality advocates for issues the humanist and atheist community cares about like the separation of church and state, protecting civil liberties, and advancing progressive policies. The CFE also has an affiliated political action committee that works to increase the number of open humanists and atheists in public office at all levels of government. A list of federal, state, local and former elected officials who identify with the humanist and atheist community can be found here.