ICYMI: DLCC Joins Jaime Harrison’s “At Our Table” Podcast to Discuss How State Legislatures are Shaping Power in 2026

Jaime Harrison: “If you care about abortion rights, voting rights, education, health care, or even who draws the maps, then you should care about what’s happening in statehouses.”

WASHINGTON — As state Democrats’ momentum continues building ahead of the midterms, Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Heather Williams joined Jaime Harrison’s podcast, “At Our Table,” to discuss why state legislative races are the most important place to watch in 2026 and the stakes of winning down-ballot.

State Democrats have been connecting with voters and delivering upset wins since Trump’s election, laying the foundation for a once-in-a-generation election in November. And these wins won’t just shape state legislative power – they’ll impact Democrats up-ticket by supporting overlapping congressional races, shaping redistricting battles, and determining voting laws that shape the path to victory.

Watch the full interview here.

Check out some highlights below:

Jaime Harrison on the importance of state legislatures:

“Heather Williams has one of the most important jobs in American politics that most folks don’t talk about enough. She’s the president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the DLCC, the organization responsible for building Democratic power in state legislatures all across this country. And if you care about abortion rights, voting rights, education, health care, or even who draws the maps, then you should care about what’s happening in statehouses, because that’s where so many of these fights are actually being won or lost.”

Heather Williams on the power of state legislatures:

“It is state legislators that draw congressional maps. It is state legislators that protect that path to the presidency. It is state legislators that are enshrining our rights in our state’s constitutions to ensure that we can love who we want to love, that we can get the reproductive health care that we deserve, and that’s going to continue unless Republicans take over.”

Heather Williams on redistricting battles and the future of the party:

“We think about the future of the redistricting fights that will take place this decade – because the [Voting Rights Act] falls or because Republicans are just going to continue to mid-cycle redistrict – [we] think about the population movement and what it means on the other side of 2030… really building for the here and now and also for the future is something we’ve always done really well at DLCC.”

Heather Williams on the DLCC’s midterm strategy:

“We are competing in traditional battlegrounds – so Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Minnesota. These are all places where we have very slim Democratic majorities, or we are fighting to challenge these really weak Republican majorities. But, [we are also targeting] breaking these supermajorities and putting new legislative chambers and states back on the map, as we build not only something tangible, not just for 2026, but when we think about the future.”

“We can see all the signs that say the wind is at our back, and we’ve got this great opportunity… but we have to work for it, and we have to work for it everywhere, because… it’s not just the Democratic seats that we may have lost over the last couple of years that we’re trying to get back. We are trying to build the kind of power that makes an honest difference, and it’s going to take all of us. It’s going to take us standing our asses up and getting involved and participating and saying enough is enough – not just with our voice but with our actions…We’ve got a lot of opportunities, and they’re ours to take… We understand the strategy, the path forward, and how to get it done.”

Heather Williams on how state races improve Democrats’ brand everywhere:

“We’ve got a team of folks who are arm in arm with these campaigns, making sure that we’ve got the best data, the best targeting, that our paid communication plans are contextualized with what else is happening on the ballot…The kind of work that these candidates do not only moves their own races forward, but we’re competing in all kinds of places that allow us to reintroduce voters to Democrats in a way that we haven’t done in a long time.”

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) leads the national strategy to secure Democratic power in our state legislatures. We are the campaign arm for more than 3,000 state legislators and thousands of candidates across all 50 states who are advancing Democratic values and standing up to the dangerous MAGA agenda every single day. Over the last decade, our work has flipped 10 new chamber majorities. Those new majorities have ensured Democrats in state legislatures are positioned to protect our democracy and fundamental rights, while addressing the high cost of living and advancing opportunities. The DLCC’s national strategy and target map continue to pinpoint the most efficient paths to Democratic power across all 50 states.

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