As I shared with you last week in “Are We Stuck in a House of Cards America?”, winning an election doesn’t matter for the sake of winning an election. When our preferred candidate wins an election, the real winning is what happens when those good elected leaders work tirelessly to pass strong prolife, pro-family, pro-religious freedom laws that build a nation where God is honored, religious freedom flourishes, families thrive, and life is cherished. Now that is what we call winning.
That’s also why I want to share with you the story of what you helped bring about in primary elections across the country.
But first—what is a primary election anyway, and why does it matter?
Too often, many of us—myself included—have voted only in the general election in November, and maybe only then if it’s a big presidential election year. But the truth is, sometimes the biggest difference can be made in the primary election, especially at the state level.
This is because primary elections are where the members of the major political parties, Democrats and Republicans, select a candidate who best represents their values for that district. The winner will go on to the general election in November. Primary elections are why many in the Democratic party, for example, are seeing more and more of their candidates with socialistic ideas—because those candidates are being selected at the primary level in districts that tend to lean Democratic. On the other hand, many Republicans are seeing candidates called “RINOs,” or Republicans In Name Only. These candidates claim membership in the Republican party but reject some of the platform’s key components, such as being prolife.
In other words, if we want to see more conservative, prolife, pro-family leaders represent us, then we need to vote for the more conservative, prolife, pro-family candidate in whichever party we belong to in the primary election. Primary elections are why it’s also helpful to belong to a party—so that you can vote in the primary election and send the more conservative candidate onto the November election. In many states, you must declare a political party in order to vote in that party’s primary election.
Now onto the great results you helped achieve in the 2018 primary elections, which just concluded this week!
Your partnership with Family Policy Alliance helped 39 stronger pro-family candidates win critical primary elections in 8 different states.
To influence these 39 races, we communicated with voters nearly 850,000 times through knocking on doors, phone calls, email, targeted digital ads, and good old snail mail!
I can’t thank you enough for making the country, state-by-state, more conservative and family-centered by voting for the more conservative pro-family candidate in these key races!
I now want to share with you two examples of how your involvement in the primary election is writing a new story in two different states.
9 votes. We often hear “well my one vote doesn’t matter anyway.” And, it’s easy to think that when you consider the large number of voters in your state, and certainly in the country. But a race in Kansas was won by only 9 votes!
Our ally in Kansas, Family Policy Alliance of Kansas, identified five key primary races there. In these five races, the incumbent Republican legislators had voted against one of the biggest wins for religious freedom from this year—a simple law that ensures that faith-based adoption agencies can continue to run their ministries in a way that aligns with their faith. The law is necessary because groups like the ACLU are trying to shut down Christian and other adoption agencies that believe children do best when placed with a married mom and dad—leaving birth moms and children with less opportunities and choices
Family Policy Alliance of Kansas, with the help of pro-family Kansans, helped the pro-religious freedom candidate win in 4/5 of those races! Candidate Paul Waggoner was one of those winners—he’s the candidate who won by 9 votes. That means that because nine people showed up to vote in the primary election, Kansans in that district will now have the chance to elect someone in November who will stand strong for them on religious freedom.
And in Georgia, our ally Family Policy Alliance of Georgia supported three primary candidates who were attacked by business associations in the state for supporting religious freedom and other pro-family legislation. Business associations spent big money to try to defeat these good legislators, and no other pro-family groups in Georgia stood up to support these four candidates.
Despite well-funded opposition, all four won their primary elections! Two of these legislators attended our sister Foundation’s Statesmen Academy training program for Christian legislators, and we know that all four will go on to lead the way with pro-family policies in Georgia.
So thank you for supporting pro-family candidates in the primary elections!
And congratulations to all those who now head to the November 6th general election!
We ask now that you prepare for November 6th. We saw many good candidates achieve victory in the primaries. Now we need these pro-family candidates to carry that momentum into November 6th, winning their elections, so that we can go on to see the real winning—where these leaders will pass policies that restore an America where God is honored, religious freedom flourishes, families thrive and life is cherished.
Make sure you know who your candidates are and where your polling place is.
If you’d like to help pro-family candidates win on November 6th in 60 different critical races, state and federal, across the country please consider giving to rally pro-family voters—and right now your gift will be DOUBLED up to $130,000!
For winning what really matters,
Autumn Leva,
Vice President of Strategy
Meet Cole Muzio, President of Family Policy Alliance’s allied organization in Georgia—Family Policy Alliance of Georgia.
After an out-of-state atheist group has repeatedly attacked teachers and even students for praying at school, Cole and his team—and two bold Georgia legislators—decided to do something about it.
Since making laws is the job of the legislature (not activist groups or courts), they are working to advance a bill that would protect the right of teachers and students to freely pray and express their faith in school.
Please pray for Cole and his team! We hope their work catches fire in other states!
Hear from Cole in his short Facebook Live video from this week.
By Autumn Leva, VP of Strategy
As believers, we all lament decisions by courts and politicians that have “kicked God out of our public schools.” But what if we—the family of believers—stopped lamenting and instead decided to do something about it?
That’s what’s happening in Georgia right now, and we wanted to make sure you heard about it—because it can happen in your state too.
Last fall in Georgia, a high school football coach knelt in prayer with his players before the game. Then, an atheist group called Freedom from Religion Foundation sent the school a threatening letter saying that the coach was out of line—and of course used the tired, old, and always out-of-context mantra “he violated the separation of church and state.”
But here’s the kicker—this atheist group isn’t even located in Georgia. They’re based in Wisconsin and have a reputation for meddling in other states—probably even yours, even if it didn’t make national news—attempting to silence religious speech and squelch any public displays of faith. Freedom from Religion Foundation typically targets small schools, towns, or even senior living homes without the means to fight back.
Now, our ally in Georgia, Family Policy Alliance of Georgia, and a bold state Senator, Michael Williams, are pushing back—and their efforts are getting a lot of attention in the media.
Whether public school staff can kneel or bow a head in prayer with their students is a gray area of the law, but Family Policy Alliance of Georgia and Senator Michael Williams believe that this should be a very clear area of the law—students should be allowed to pray at school, and teachers and coaches should be allowed to join them.
Senator Williams introduced a simple, common-sense bill to clarify that:
- Students can lead prayers and faith-based groups at school.
- Students can pray or express a religious viewpoint in their speeches (at graduation, for example) and in class assignments.
- Teachers can participate in student-led prayers.
Cole Muzio- President – Family Policy Alliance of Georgia
Cole Muzio, President of Family Policy Alliance of Georgia, praised Senator Williams’ bill: “We are thankful that Senator Williams has stepped forward to affirm that First Amendment rights don’t end in the school parking lot. Teachers shouldn’t be forced to choose between their career and their faith, and students shouldn’t have to hide their faith at school.”
Does your state have a Senator Williams who will boldly step forward to protect your state’s schools from out-of-state activist groups, challenge the status quo, and restore religious freedom for students and teachers? Does your state have a Body of believers who will support a bold elected leader who will stand for faith?
Family Policy Alliance believes bold legislators who will stand for faith are worth supporting, and we want to help you find them in your state! Our calling and mission is to see godly men and women elected to the “mission field” of public office where they will serve families like yours and help restore religious freedom in every corner of the states and nation.
Imagine if we saw more coaches praying with their teams, more students in Bible studies and praying at school, and more teachers praying and reading their Bibles during break time. With a Body of believers willing to live out their faith by unleashing biblical citizenship, like the coach who prayed with his team, and elected leaders who share and boldly live out their values, we can see more of all of this—in every state—and we’re willing to work for it. Will you help us?
If you’re up for the challenge, I’d like to ask you to start by joining our Family Policy Alliance team in:
- Praying that the Georgia Legislature will pass Senator Williams’ bill to restore religious freedom in schools; and
- Committing, right now, to vote in the 2018 election for leaders who share your values.
A congressional district special election in Georgia is gaining national attention. Activists on the Left are pouring money into the state to support the pro-abortion candidate in an effort to gain perceived momentum for the 2018 mid-terms.
Cole Muzio, president of Family Policy Alliance of Georgia, says it’s time for Georgians – and the rest of us – to take a stand against policies and candidates that take aim at family values.
Watch the video ad that Cole mentions.
Learn more about Family Policy Alliance of Georgia.
Sometimes elections in individual states can have policy consequences for the nation.
Thanks to folks on the Left, the Georgia 6th District special election has turned into a referendum on the 2016 election where Republicans gained the Senate, the House and the White House. Groups like Planned Parenthood are spending big money on the Democrat candidate, Jon Ossoff, who has become the darling of the Left and the mainstream media.
“Planned Parenthood is spending millions of dollars around the country to elect officials who will continue to use our tax dollars to fund abortions,” said Cole Muzio, president of Family Policy Alliance of Georgia, one of Family Policy Alliance’s 40 state-based family groups, “because they know that they are at the greatest risk they’ve ever been to losing their taxpayer funding, as families across the country say ‘enough.’ With your help, we can lead the push back and continue the momentum from 2016!”
On the Republican ticket is Karen Handel. Karen worked for the Susan G. Komen Foundation until they began to partner with Planned Parenthood. As a Christian, Handel could not follow her faith and support such a partnership.
“Time and again, Karen Handel has proven to be a principled conservative,” said Muzio. “She has stood up to Planned Parenthood, advocated for the biblical definition of the family, and is a true servant-leader. We believe that she will be a worthy successor to Tom Price in Congress.”
A loss in this race means the media will spin a narrative of Georgia going blue, a repudiation of conservative principles, an embrace of radical leftist, anti-family ideology, and a rising liberal star emerging from the Peach State.
“The Left wants to nullify the results of November 2016,” explained Muzio, “and they want to build a narrative that our values, the values that fueled victories all around the country last fall, are losing issues.”
The Family Policy Alliance is growing! We’re proud to announce that we have added Family Policy Alliance of Georgia. Cole Muzio is the president and executive director of the new state group.
Cole comes to our alliance with a background in political campaigns, and is looking forward to reconnecting with his roots in Georgia.