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Atheists & Agnostics
Related: About this forumNancy Goroff, a Secular Jew from New York, Wins Democratic Primary for Congress
https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2020/07/09/nancy-goroff-a-secular-jew-from-new-york-wins-democratic-primary-for-congress/
Nancy Goroff, a Secular Jew from New York, Wins Democratic Primary for Congress
By Hemant Mehta, July 9, 2020
New York held its primaries on June 23, but the absentee ballots werent counted until this week, which delayed some of the closer results.
This afternoon, Stony Brook University scientist Nancy Goroff officially won the primary for the states 1st Congressional District, defeating Perry Gershon (who lost the race in 2018), setting up a head-to-head matchup against Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin this November.
In a Facebook post, Gershon announced that he had conceded and that Goroff had won by a remarkably close 630 votes. (Newsday says Goroff had 17,905 total votes to Gershons 17,275, according to elections results that have yet to be certified.)
Why is any of this relevant here?
If Goroff wins the race this November, she would be the first and only female non-theist in Congress. She would also be the first female Ph.D. scientist!
According to the Freethought Equality Fund PAC, which endorsed her candidacy, Goroff is a self-described secular Jew who has one hell of an impressive résumé:For the past twenty-two years, Goroff has taught at Stony Brook University and for the past two and a half years she has served as chair of the Chemistry Department. She will bring her academic training and experience to Congress to trust the facts, find solutions, and work with everyone with good ideas. Her policy priorities include: taking action to address the climate crisis, expanding access to quality affordable health care, defending reproductive rights, amending the Civil Rights Act to protect the rights of the LGBTQ community, developing innovate and good paying jobs in her district, and passing common sense gun legislation to end gun violence. Goroff identifies as a secular Jew.
While Im personally excited about the possibility of having another non-theist in politics, it would be incredible for the country to have a career scientist in Congress certainly over another Trump-loving Republican.
I guess I'm still shocked to be reminded that, even as late as 2020, we have not yet had a female Ph.D. scientist in congress.
A bit gobsmacked by that re-revelation.
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Nancy Goroff, a Secular Jew from New York, Wins Democratic Primary for Congress (Original Post)
NeoGreen
Jul 2020
OP
Any idea how many (if any) self identified non-theists are currently in Congress?
rurallib
Jul 2020
#1
rurallib
(62,451 posts)1. Any idea how many (if any) self identified non-theists are currently in Congress?
The only one I ever remember was the atheist from California (Pete McCloskey maybe?). Bernie seems to be atheist, but I don't think he has ever said anything about that.
Other than that I know of no one.
It would be nice to have a small sliver of representation.