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ICYMI: DLCC Drives Home Stakes of State Legislative Races in Shaping Abortion and Democracy in Final Stretch

The DLCC is making closing arguments for state Democrats, spending nearly $2 million in new abortion-focused ads and unveiling a memo on how state legislatures can prevent insurrection activity

WASHINGTON — The DLCC is delivering its closing message to voters ahead of the election, and we’re centering the stakes for freedoms and democracy in state legislative chambers across the country. Last week, we announced nearly $2 million in new ads highlighting state Republicans’ extremism on abortion in the key battleground states of Arizona and Pennsylvania. We also unveiled a new memo on how state legislatures shaped democracy and could prevent or incite the next insurrection. Reproductive freedom and democracy are top issues for voters, and the DLCC is getting the message out that electing Democrats to state legislatures is the strongest way to safeguard these freedoms.  

Check out the DLCC’s recent coverage:

DLCC President Heather Williams on CNN’s This Morning with Kasie Hunt: Dem State Legislature Group on “Insurrection Watch” Ahead of Nov. 5 Election

  • “State legislatures are the foundation of our democracy. They determine how people participate, their voting rights, their timelines for voting and the counting and so having secure elections means that we’ve got legislatures that care about our democracy.”
  • “What we’ve seen from Republicans right and Donald Trump is that they are leading for themselves and their own power. They don’t care about the American people. They don’t care about whether or not people’s votes are accurately counted. They just care that it counts for them, and that is a problem. People in this country need to believe in their system. They need to get out and vote. It matters. It will be counted. It will be a free and fair election.”

DLCC Board Chair and New York Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins on MSNBC’s PoliticsNation with Rev. Al Sharpton: Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee Targeting PA, AZ, MI, and NC to Expand Ranks

  • “State legislatures have a real key role to play. When Democrats are in charge, we don’t let them mess with the voting system. You know, Donald Trump was trying to get state legislatures to elect new electors, do whatever they want. So we understand that we have to be clear about getting Democrats elected.”
  • “We understand that defeating Trump is important, but we also understand the down-ballot races are important, the congressional races are important, the state legislative races are important, every single one, because, you know, the Republicans are trying to install a MAGA agenda on every single level of government.”

The Washington Post’s Early 202: Democratic group launches abortion spending blitz in state legislative races

  • A group that works to elect Democrats to state legislatures is launching a nearly $2 million abortion-focused ad blitz in the final two weeks of the campaign in Arizona and Pennsylvania, two states where control of the statehouse is on the line.
  • The ad campaign — a combination of television and mail ads in Arizona and mail ads in Pennsylvania — charges that Republican candidates are threats to a woman’s reproductive rights. In a post-Roe v. Wade world, state legislatures are playing a key role in determining state abortion laws.

Huffpost: These Under-The-Radar State Races Have Big Implications For American Democracy

  • “‘In this election, defeating Donald Trump at the top of the ticket is not enough to protect our democracy,’ Will Rusche, the DLCC’s vice president of marketing and communications, told HuffPost. ‘The majorities that we elect in these battleground states are going to determine our voting laws and protect our democracy.’”

Roll Call: DLCC launches abortion ad blitz in Arizona and Pennsylvania

  • Protecting access to abortion has been the top issue for Democrats up and down the ballot, and the effort builds on the strategy the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee unveiled in March. 
  • The group is focusing on the state legislative bodies in Arizona and Pennsylvania, they said, because they’re likely to be narrowly won majorities in states that will also be crucial for the top of the ticket.

Politico: Dems eyeing battleground state legislatures make their democracy pitch

  • “‘Electing Democrats to statehouses next month will have immediate and long-term impacts on upholding our democracy and ensuring a safe and stable transfer of power,’ DLCC President Heather Williams wrote in an Oct. 23 memo shared exclusively with POLITICO.”
  • In a scenario where Republicans dispute the election results, state legislatures could, in theory, send these alternate slates to Congress and force a Jan. 6, 2025 conflict. It’s an approach that got little traction and ultimately failed in 2020 — but is still one that’s keeping Democrats up at night.

Business Insider: Democrats are using January 6 to hammer the GOP in state legislative races in a push to flip key seats

  • “‘As we approach the first presidential election since the events of January 6th, 2021, state legislatures remain the building blocks of American democracy,’ Heather Williams, the president of the DLCC, told Business Insider in a statement.”

Pennsylvania Capital-Star: DLCC shifts ad focus to target candidates on abortion access

  • Democrats in the Pennsylvania House hold a one-seat majority, and Republicans still hold a 28-22 majority in the state Senate.
  • “Control of Pennsylvania and Arizona’s legislatures will come down to just a handful of votes, and abortion could be the driving message that determines who wins in November,” DLCC spokesperson Sam Paisley said in a statement.

The Hill: Democrats warn of threat to democracy in closing pitch to voters

  • “‘We see this level of the ballot very much as the building blocks of our democracy,’ said Will Rusche, vice president of marketing and communications at the DLCC. ‘We have a dozen examples in the states of state legislatures who, based on what we saw in 2020, have shown their willingness to go along with these types of challenges to our democracy and our elections.’”

The DLCC is the official arm of the Democratic Party with the sole mission of building Democratic power in the states and setting the national agenda at the state level. Over the last decade, we have fought cycle-over-cycle to gain a dozen new legislative chamber majorities and we are leading the effort to bring national attention and investment to our ballot level. State legislatures are the building blocks of our democracy and have the closest connections to Americans’ day-to-day lives. From protecting fundamental freedoms and voting rights to growing the middle class, the DLCC and state legislators are moving the Democratic agenda forward and shaping the future of this country.

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