As Mark Twain might say, the reports of Democratic state legislators’ deaths are greatly exaggerated.

And by “deaths” I mean “defeats.” Every week it seems new articles and columns pop up describing how Republicans are going to make massive gains in state legislative chambers and, consequently, dominate the redistricting process in key states this fall. One observer went so far as to describe Democrats as “victims of their own success,” referring to the inevitability of Republicans eroding the gains Democrats have achieved in statehouses since the last redistricting.

Don’t buy into the hype.

The “wave election” narrative that’s being pushed by Republicans encourages observers to forget that the DLCC’s fortunes are not necessarily tied to those of the other party committees. (Although the DCCC's fortunes for the next ten years are inextricably tied to the DLCC's success this cycle.)

History supports this assessment. Democrats were making gains in state legislatures while Democrats on the national level struggled mightily. In the 2004 election, Democrats lost seats in the U.S. House and Senate while George W. Bush handily won reelection. Meanwhile, in the statehouses, Democrats picked up majority control in a net of six legislative chambers- and this was only the second election cycle after the 2000 redistricting, described by conservatives as the GOP’s “best in 50 years.”

In a non-presidential election year, it is reasonable to expect national politics to play even less of a roll in local, down-ballot races than they did six years ago.

The Democratic candidates for state legislatures have succeeded in both hostile and friendly political climates for several reasons. We worked with Democratic candidates to enable them to run technically and strategically adept races while also localizing the context of their elections. Strong candidate recruitment, district-specific polling and research, candidate-specific field efforts, and localized messages have been key in Democratic victories.

The DLCC continues to build and maintain winning, state-of-the-art campaign committees through partnerships with legislative leaders, professional staff, and supporters. We create strategic, accountable legislative programs in states through work with legislative leadership and caucus directors.

This is how we’ve won, and this is how we’ll continue to win.

So don’t you dare bury us yet.