HOW
WE
WIN

Republicans have long understood the power of state legislatures, and where they have strategically invested for more than 40 years. In contrast, Democrats have treated state legislatures as an afterthought.

Winning where it counts requires a new approach. As we saw in 2018 and 2020, well-funded candidates and campaigns were insufficient to win majority-making districts in the most valuable state legislative chambers. Our 10-year strategy includes three pillars designed to build advantage and Democratic performance in the elusive districts that are the lynchpin of power.

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THREE PILLARS TO ACCELERATE POWER

EXPANDING THE ELECTORATE

Voter registration is one of the best tools to create long-term change in the fundamentals of the electorate – but, it has never been deployed at scale to specifically win state legislative races. The overwhelming majority of existing voter registration efforts are focused on the Democratic base, and fail to reach the heart of the state legislative battleground in the suburbs and exurbs. We have identified ~1.7M unregistered likely Democrats in our target state legislative districts across AZ, PA, MI, TX, GA and NC. Capturing this opportunity is a groundbreaking, foundational element of our work for the decade ahead.

THREE PILLARS TO ACCELERATE POWER

CAMPAIGN PROGRAMS

Through extensive experimentation and testing, we know our programs to be some of the most effective in the field. We have doubled down on our campaign talent, data and innovation to drive Democratic margin, win key races, and put a check on Republican efforts to subvert democracy.

THREE PILLARS TO ACCELERATE POWER

STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS

Democratic legislative candidates typically communicate with voters for just two months out of every 24-month election cycle. This is exacerbated by right-wing propaganda and disinformation, increasingly inundating these races. To compete, we are building experimental approaches to long-term persuasion and narrative-building with key, must-win audiences in our targeted races.

Blueprint
For Power

Reclaiming critical footholds of power to protect democracy requires a long-term, strategic approach to the state legislative battleground – focused on neglected priorities and geographies.

With new maps comes newly competitive chambers, but a precarious outlook for Democrats in the years ahead. We are fighting for near-term gains, while making longer term investments. Our Blueprint for Power includes states that will be essential to national Democratic wins, paired with investments designed to seed the ground to increase the probability of chamber-flips and to accelerate the timeline of progress.

View our Blueprint

CHANGE STARTS WITH YOU

State legislatures are setting the agenda, and our urgent work is happening on the ground NOW.

Winning is possible – but it requires us all to act.

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