SPRINGDALE (KFSM) -- The Family Research Council Action Team stopped in Springdale Tuesday (Sept. 20) to encourage voters to back local candidates who support religious freedom.
The FRC is a Washington, D.C.-based conservative Christian lobbying group that is pro-marriage and pro-life, according to its website.
"We are encouraging people to elect candidates who will stand for religious freedom," Brent Keilen, the director of the FRC Action Team, said. "We can’t afford to stay home and not vote in those races."
The visit included speeches by several candidates for office in the Washington County area, while Keilen and his team encouraged the community to consider voting for men and women who stand by religious liberties.
"Bad leaders are elected by good people who don’t vote," Keilen said. "So, make sure to get out and look at the candidates, and vote for the ones who will align with your values this year."
In the 2016 presidential race, no candidate has clearly stood by the principals supported by the national FRC team.
"The issue of the Supreme Court is one that is really one of the most important, I am hearing from a lot of people," Keilen said. "The next president will appoint one, maybe four, Supreme Court justices. In the U.S. Senate, one third of the U.S. Senate is up for election this year and they will have to confirm them. That is going to affect laws all the way across the board."
Dwight Conzales, a Republican who is running for Arkansas House District 85, spoke at the FRC Action stop.
“"A lot of the people who are talking about not voting in this election cycle, it is all because of the [race for] president," he said. "What people need to understand is local government touches their lives a whole lot more than federal government."
Gonzales also encouraged conservative voters to carefully evaluate their options.
"[After contemplating where candidates stand on religious concerns] we then have to look at the person themselves, and look at what guides them, what governs them, who their advisors are and who the people are who advise them and try to pick the best one,” Gonzales said.
Keilen said the FRC Action Team, and their PAC, do not endorse politicians running for president, but the PAC does endorse candidates for local offices.