You often hear Democrats lament this ongoing GOP capture. Here’s what you hear less often: This is happening even as a confluence of factors are dramatically raising the stakes around who controls those governments on numerous fronts that carry far-reaching implications, including the survival of U.S. democracy itself.
A new report that the Democratic Super PAC Forward Majority will release this week urges Democrats to go on offense to change this state of affairs — with an eye toward the imperative of regaining ground in the states as critical to protecting democracy over the long term.
At first glance, the report’s conclusion seems grim. When it comes to macro national political trends, it says, “the outlook for Democrats is precarious.”
The study ran dozens of potential scenarios over the next decade, adjusting various factors, such as the national mood and support for Democrats among college-educated and non-college-educated voters. It concludes: “We anticipate a defensive map over the next decade.”
However, the report reaches a somewhat more optimistic conclusion about the implications of all this for state legislative contests. It challenges the conventional wisdom that Democrats are permanently locked out of power in many states due to gerrymanders and previous GOP gains.