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There’s a lot going on, so every Wednesday, the DLCC is sending a roundup of the state legislative stories you might have missed. It’s September 2nd and here is the state of the states.
For questions and suggestions, e-mail us.
- With months to go before November 3rd, the DLCC has raised more than $36 million this cycle — more than the entire 2018 election cycle and far surpassing the $17 million the committee raised for the 2016 election. And on Monday, the committee had the best online fundraising day in its history.
- After the violent shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin, Democratic Governor Tony Evers called a special session on policing reform. The GOP-led legislature ended that session in less than 30 seconds. It’s deeply disgusting and they should lose their jobs.
- The Republican administration in Florida has spent $1.7 million to defend a law that requires those previously convicted of a felony to pay “legal financial obligations” before they can vote. The GOP’s continued desperate and unconstitutional attempt to suppress voters is costing Florida taxpayers an awful lot of money.
- This past week, the DLCC released its first round of Georgia Spotlight candidates and a round of Minnesota Spotlight candidates. With Republican extremism dragging down GOP candidates at all levels of the ballot, state Democrats are poised to make gains in Georgia and Minnesota.
- LBGTQ candidates in Pennsylvania and Delaware are working tirelessly to win state legislative seats in November — with the hopes of giving their communities more representation, defeating discriminatory bills, and inspiring more inclusive legislation.
- GOP House candidate Liz Harris has been attending Blue Lives Matter rallies every week in Arizona — one of the most recent rallies saw an outbreak of violence and attendees chanting anti-LGBTQ slurs and making Nazi salutes.
- The GOP is now the GQP. Georgia Republicans have fully embraced the dangerous QAnon movement, which is entirely based on outlandish conspiracy theories — some of which have resulted in real-life violence.
- North Carolina Republican Senator Bob Steinburg questioned “blue state Democrat governors” decision to shut down businesses when “only 9683 of all so-called deaths from COVID-19” didn’t involve an underlying condition. In addition to callously brushing off Americans’ deaths, Senator Steinburg also commented that COVID-19 shouldn’t have “shut down an entire economy for six months” because “most deaths [are] 65 plus.”
- Arizona Republican Representative Walt Blackman defended the 17-year-old shooter in Kenosha, Wisconsin who allegedly killed two people with an illegal gun. He also argued that people who seek abortions should go to jail.
- Michigan GOP candidate Gina Johnsen made some outrageous claims in a campaign video, asserting that Republicans secured equal rights for all (even though Michigan doesn’t* ban LGBTQ discrimination) and that racism is over because there are Black millionaires. *They will once when we flip it blue.
- In a public Facebook comment, Texas Republican Representative Sam Harless said that “now that schools and colleges are starting to re-open, that’s likely to be the next place to expect a surge.” He then expressed that he hoped the governor would lift the statewide mask mandate soon because “nobody we know likes the darn things.” Sure, masks can be annoying but they’re nothing compared to a ventilator.
- After attending a fancy GOP retreat in Georgia — a coronavirus hotspot — the top two Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly mightexpose all their colleagues. Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore have shared no plans to quarantine or get tested before convening in Raleigh today with the entire legislature. It seems like getting others sick is a price they’re willing to pay to avoid missing out on beach week.
- Illinois has already received1.1 million mail-in ballot requests for November — thanks to the Democratic-led legislature passing a new law that requires election officials to send vote-by-mail applications to active voters.
- Democratic elected officials in New Hampshire launched the Our Moment PAC, a new political action committee committed to increasing the diversity of elected state and local government officials.
- New Jersey lawmakers passed a landmark Democratic-sponsored bill to protect low-income communities of color from pollution — taking real action to combat environmental racism.
- Democrats are only nine seats away from flipping the Texas House. To make that happen, state Democrats announced a voter registration drive to contact one million unregistered Texans this week — the largest ever effort in the party’s history.
- Democratic Representative Ramon Alexander of Florida is introducing legislation in next year’s session that would create a compensation fund for victims of police shootings. He said that “police officers can obtain help to cope with trauma; victims and families should have the same service available to them.”
- Tomorrow is two months out from Election Day. As Republicans get more desperate, expect our GOP Fail section to get worse…
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