Democrats Have Launched A Massive Spending Blitz To Take Over State Governments
Ending Trump’s presidency and winning a majority in the U.S. Senate are the Democratic Party’s top priorities this November. But at the end of a decade that saw Democrats lose hundreds of state legislative seats nationwide, the party and a new crop of outside organizations have set their sights on races like Evans’ in Arizona, where Democrats have a shot to flip both the state House and Senate. Arizona Republicans now hold a two-seat edge in the state House and a three-seat advantage in the state Senate.
There are similar opportunities across the country: Democrats need small gains to win state House majorities in Texas, Iowa, Michigan and Pennsylvania. They need two seats to win the Minnesota state Senate and take total control of the state government. In North Carolina, as in Arizona, they could flip both legislative chambers. A wave election could potentially hand them the majority in the Florida state Senate, while Democrats hope to prevent a GOP supermajority in Wisconsin and break one in Kansas.
State legislative races may not be as sexy as the contests at the top of the ticket, but they’re just as important. In most states, they’ll help determine how congressional redistricting unfolds next year, and while progressive bills may stall in a deadlocked U.S. Senate, statehouse Democrats could advance policies to expand voting rights and health care access to millions of Americans.
Unlike years past, the Democratic Party is putting serious money and effort into flipping statehouses.
“The Republicans have never faced a challenge like the one that we’re mounting,” said Christina Polizzi, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the party body that helps elect Democrats to state legislatures. The DLCC, which often gets less attention than its counterparts at the federal level, has raised a record-breaking $45 million for its candidates this year. The party committee expects to raise $50 million by Election Day ― $14 million more than it raised two years ago.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/democrats-flip-state-legislatures-2020-election_n_5f88b7bcc5b69daf5e117b8d
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