Democratic group pledges millions for state legislative wins

WASHINGTON — The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), the official organization dedicated to electing Democrats to state legislatures around the country, committed Thursday to spending $50 million to help the party get an edge ahead of key redistricting battles of 2021.

That spending will be part of its “Flip Everything” campaign, which the DLCC announced Thursday during a press briefing in Washington D.C.

While the group has a vast range of targeted states, its map also includes presidential battleground states like North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Texas, and Arizona.

According to DLCC President, Jessica Post, “there’s so much power on the line” when it comes to statewide elections.

“The states are our first line of defense against Donald Trump,” Post said. “The states serve as a firewall against the administration’s policies.”

The stakes are high for this year’s elections specifically because in many states, the legislatures play a key role in drawing the district maps for the next decade of elections. Republicans gained 675 state legislative seats in the 2010 midterm elections, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which put Republicans in strong shape when maps were drawn in 2011.

The DLCC has helped Democrats win majorities in 10 state legislative chambers since President Trump was elected — flipping a total of 436 seats from Republicans, including wins in 425 districts that the president won in 2016. The organization hopes to bring another 10 state chambers under Democratic control in 2020.


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