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Pressing On

Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal was again chosen as chairman of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, a group dedicated to electing and supporting Democratic state legislators.

Gronstal became chairman of the DLCC in 2007 after Colorado Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald stepped down to run for Congress. He served previously as the group’s vice chairman and finance chairman.

Gronstal came to the Iowa House in 1983 and to the Iowa Senate in 1985. He was introduced to the DLCC after he became Minority Leader in 1996 and went to Kansas City for a DLCC training seminar.

In addition to strategically funding campaigns for state legislatures, the DLCC also provides technical assistance for candidates, Gronstal said.

“Being at the forefront of nimble and strategic and modern campaigns, I think some people would be surprised at the level of sophistication of legislative campaigns,” Gronstal said. The DLCC offers candidates support in targeting voters, for example, or in finding someone to design their websites. In 2011, it will be mindful of redistricting efforts.

Gronstal wasn’t the only officer the group’s board of directors chose at its December meeting. Nevada Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford will be vice chairman, New Hampshire state Sen. Sylvia Larsen will be the board secretary, Pennsylvania state Rep. Mike Gerber will be treasurer and Virginia House Democratic leader Del. Ward Armstrong will be finance chairman.

The Real Prize in Tuesday's Elections

Forget the Senate and House. That's short-term thinking. The real prize in Tuesday's midterm elections is the power to draw congressional seats and determine the country's balance of power for the next decade.

If either party can achieve what politicos call the "trifecta"—control of the governorship and both chambers of the state legislature—in a given state, it will be able to draw congressional districts within that state unencumbered by any need to compromise with the other party. That's the kind of power that creates electoral maps like the one former GOP Majority Leader Tom Delay helped bring to Texas in 2003—a map that pushed four of the state's Democrats out of their seats.

Five states bordering the Great Lakes—Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—are the central battleground in the fight to control redistricting. Sure, the Republicans might take back the House of Representatives on election night. But winning gubernatorial and state legislative races in these five states could allow the GOP to dominate the House for much longer than the next few years.

They Who Draw the Lines

Both parties are waging fierce battles for state legislative chambers in anticipation of 2012 redistricting battles.

Over coffee and doughnut holes at a Tim Hortons restaurant here on a recent Saturday morning, freshman state Rep. Nancy Garland (D) assessed the consequences of her own reelection battle. “This election could determine who leads this state for the next 10, maybe 20 years,” she said. “That’s why the fight is so intense.”

Across the country, contested elections like the one in Garland’s Ohio House district, located east of Columbus, have taken on a special intensity in those states that will gain or lose congressional seats when state and federal legislative boundaries are redrawn in time for the 2012 elections. This fight to control the decennial redistricting process has been largely overshadowed by the titanic struggle for congressional control this midterm-election season, but the battles are no less intense.

Since most states allow their governors and legislatures to manage and administer the redistricting process, the outcome of these state-level elections could affect which party controls Congress for the next 10 years.

State races to redraw lines of power in Washington

As Democrats struggle to keep their majorities in the U.S. Congress in the November 2 elections, the next decade of party control may well be determined by scores of state legislative races also on the ballot.

At stake is the redrawing by state lawmakers of electoral districts for the House of Representatives in Washington -- an adjustment of boundaries every 10 years that tends to favor the party in charge of each state legislature.

The Democratic Party, which has gained seats at the state level since 2004, faces a Republican onslaught expected to alter the balance of power in Congress and in the states.

As Redistricting Looms, Dems Step up the Fight for State Legislatures

In recent weeks, residents of the Cincinnati area have received a barrage of mail about Mike Wilson, the Republican candidate for Ohio's 28th House District. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), a national party organization that works to elect Democrats to state-legislature seats, has put out nine ads assailing Wilson, the Cincinnati Tea Party founder who is running to unseat Democratic state representative Connie Pillich. That may seem like a lot of resources to throw at a down-ticket skirmish. But Ohio's state house, where Democrats hold 53 of 99 seats, is a crucial combat zone in one of this fall's hidden, high-impact battles: the fight for control of the state legislative chambers that next year will redraw the electoral map.

It's a fight Democrats have won over the past few years. The party boasts 55% of the nation's 7,382 statehouse seats — the most it has held since before the Republican rout of 1994, and enough to control 60 legislatures nationwide, including both chambers in 27 states.

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"Our legislative majorities are the firewall for the Democratic Party," says Michael Sargeant, executive director of the DLCC, which has spent more than $10 million so far this year to defend key chambers. "If we're able to hold our majorities, we'll make sure we have fair representation in Congress."

Redistricting Battles Spur Wave of Cash

Republicans and Democrats, hoping to pick up seats in Congress through redistricting, are pouring money and political muscle into statehouse races in about 16 states.

State legislatures will next year redraw congressional districts based on the 2010 census. Cutting out a wealthy suburb or looping in an ethnic neighborhood can turn a district from Republican to Democratic, or vice-versa. If done across the board, redistricting can tip a congressional delegation red or blue for a generation.

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"The fortunes of Democratic state legislators are truly the firewall for Democrats this year," said Michael Sargeant, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee's executive director.

The Long Game

We all know that the 2010 midterm elections are important. But many voters -- and particularly unenthusiastic, disappointed Democrats -- may not realize just how important this November's vote will be, not just for the next Congress, but those in 2012, 2014, and 2016. Not only will this election influence how Congress is composed for years to come, but it is also an opportunity for progressives to shift the balance of the Democratic coalition to the left.

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On Election Day, Democrats will try to ensure they can influence the process by winning as many state chambers as they can. Even if they fail to secure majorities, Democrats can push for a reasonable compromise -- or, more likely, prepare for near-inevitable court fights over the new maps by making sure that there is a favorable legislative record of their intentions, which courts must give special consideration. These Democratic state legislators are "the firewall for the rest of the party," DLCC Executive Director Mike Sargeant says.

... "[Redistricting] is going to determine the balance of power in Congress for at least a decade."

[Redistricting] is going to determine the balance of power in Congress for at least a decade." Not, then, the best election day to stay home, or perhaps worse, get to the voting booth and fail to make it down the ballot to your state legislators. Remember: It's not just a decision about next year's vote on the Bush tax cuts, or whatever subject motivates you most. It's a decade of votes on every issue that matters. Not, then, the best election day to stay home, or perhaps worse, get to the voting booth and fail to make it down the ballot to your state legislators. Remember: It's not just a decision about next year's vote on the Bush tax cuts, or whatever subject motivates you most. It's a decade of votes on every issue that matters.

Secrets of the Census

Blue states losing six electoral votes and red states gaining six isn't exactly a disaster for Democrats. The big fight, however, will be over congressional redistricting. That process—which will force some incumbents out of their jobs and protect many others—is controlled by the states. Governors play a role, but most of the work is usually done by state legislators. Whichever party controls the legislature generally gets to draw the maps.

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Between the current GOP-drawn maps in Michigan and Pennsylvania, the Tom Delay-led Texas gerrymander of 2004, and other supposedly unfair maps around the country, the strategists at the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee—which helps Dems in state legislative battles—figure that the national House map is already tilted towards the Republicans by some 25 seats. Republicans have estimated that they could turn 25 more their way via redistricting.

If the Republicans fall just short of a majority in 2010, they could use redistricting to ensure they gain back the House in 2012. Or, if they make huge gains, they can use redistricting to lock them in. "If you care about a progressive future for the next decade, you can't allow Republicans to control this process," says Michael Sargeant, the executive director of the DLCC.

Democrats target 'essential' state races as redistricting approaches

Reporting from Washington — Democrats, concerned about losses in statehouse contests this November, plan to release a first list of "essential races" Monday, part of a new program designed to call attention to the "key contests for Democratic state legislative control this fall."

That's the phrase used by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee's executive director, Michael Sargeant, who has the tough job this year of overseeing Democratic efforts at the state level.

The 2010 elections are crucial to determine who will be in charge in the decennial process of redistricting, the redrawing of congressional boundaries that follows each census.

DLCC Executive Director Michael Sargeant on the Challenges and Opportunities for Democrats at the State Level

Sargeant: The DLCC has been working on these issues for many years. We work very closely to put together the best campaigns possible. We have built a large infrastructure over time. We got to 60 [Democratic] majorities to 36 [Republican majorities], that didn’t happen overnight. Our candidates talk about issues that pertain to their districts. Their campaigns are about what happens in their communities, and not about divisive national issues. Our campaigns weather good or bad national elections, and we try to do this all the time. That’s why we are able to hold majorities in so many “red states.” This is part of our strategy all the time and it is not foreign to us now.

Sargeant: We work on state legislative races all the time, and we work closely with individual campaigns and leaders to run the best race possible; personalizing campaigns, localizing them. Talk to concerns of those districts, not necessarily things that don’t concern them, like larger political conversations. The DLCC works on localizing and personalizing these campaigns. State legislatures are the true firewall for the Democratic Party. The [Democratic] gains in the state legislatures preceded the Democratic “waves” of 2006 and 2008, and we had successes prior to those as well. Our leaders are going to hold strong in this cycle as well.

Sargeant: State legislatures are the firewall for the Democratic Party. We have built a strong amount of majorities over the last 6 years, and we are poised to hold onto those majorities. Whatever happens throughout the rest of the ticket, if Democrats hold state legislatures the health of the party will be strong.