Arizona State Representative Juan Mendez (below) has won his re-election battle, giving him a second term in office.

The openly atheist politician delivered a secular invocation on the State House floor back in May, leading a Christian colleague to deliver two religious invocations the following day (to make up to God for the “mistake,” I suppose). Since then, Mendez has been a firm supporter of church/state separation, even speaking out against the “Governor’s Office of Faith and Community Partnerships.”

In a four-way race in which the top two candidates earned seats in the state House, Mendez appears to have squeaked by in second place:

Congratulations to him, one of just a handful of out atheists in political office.



