RELEASE: State Republicans Spend Legislative Sessions Promoting Extremism and Ignoring Soaring Costs

WASHINGTON — Elections and polls since Trump was elected have affirmed over and over again that rising costs are voters’ top concern, but state Republicans are burying their heads in the sand and instead prioritizing the worst extremism state legislative sessions have seen yet. From making it harder to vote to charging women seeking abortions with homicide to threatening librarians with jail time, Republicans are only making families’ lives harder.

This extremism can only be stopped by sending state Republicans packing. The DLCC has flipped 30 seats already this cycle, and we are gearing up to flip hundreds of seats across the country. 2026 represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to remake the landscape of state legislative power, and our midterm strategy will put state Democrats on offense to combat GOP extremism in statehouses.

Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Heather Williams issued the following statement:

“As families’ budgets are squeezed, state Republicans are doing everything but addressing affordability concerns. Instead, they’re focused on toxic culture war issues like charging women seeking abortion care with murder and making it harder for Americans to vote. GOP extremism in state legislatures poses a serious threat to our country’s future – Project 2025 was born from years of Republicans testing horrific policies in statehouses. The DLCC is targeting more than 500 statehouse seats this November to remake state legislative power and put Democrats on offense to protect rights and lower costs.”

Here are some of the most dangerous GOP proposals moving through statehouses:

• Florida, Mississippi, and other GOP states have enacted state-level SAVE America Act legislation, making it harder for millions of Americans to vote.

• In New Hampshire, Republican lawmakers passed, and the GOP governor later signed, legislation preventing college students from using student IDs to vote, potentially disenfranchising those without a driver’s license.

• Nebraska Republicans passed a bill to lower the minimum wage for young workers.

• Ohio Republicans are pushing a bill that could expose women seeking an abortion to murder charges.

• Florida Senate Republicans introduced legislation to require parental consent for minors to receive contraceptive services.

• Mississippi Republicans have passed legislation classifying the mailing of abortion medications as drug trafficking. Under the new law, doctors and providers who distribute mifepristone or misoprostol without an in-person consultation could face imprisonment.

• Arizona Republicans advanced a book ban bill that threatens librarians with jail time.

• Kansas Republicans passed a bill and overrode Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s veto to invalidate the driver’s licenses of transgender residents, affecting about 1,700 Kansans. The state is the first in the United States to retroactively cancel licenses for those who had changed their gender markers and has also invalidated birth certificates for individuals who updated their gender markers.

• Tennessee Republicans advanced a bill that would require schools in the state to verify students’ immigration status and report the information to the Tennessee Department of Education.

• Republicans in Idaho have advanced bills, while in Iowa, the governor has signed GOP-led legislation into law that prevents local governments from enacting anti-discrimination protections for groups not covered under state law, particularly LGBTQ+ residents.