WASHINGTON — With the election just a week away, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee is announcing that it will spend a total of $3 million in the race for control of the North Carolina General Assembly, including direct contributions and independent expenditures. After breaking the undemocratic GOP supermajority in 2018, Democrats need to flip just six House seats and five Senate to win control for the first time in a decade. While overcoming years of Republican-rigged maps won’t be easy, flipping either chamber would allow Democrats to stop extremist partisan gerrymandering and make progress on affordable health care and stronger schools.
“North Carolina is one of the most important battlegrounds at all levels of the ballot this year, and we have an incredible slate of challengers who are waging strong campaigns to hold Republicans accountable for their disastrous, right-wing record,” said DLCC President Jessica Post. “North Carolinians are tired of extremists and obstructionists running the show in Raleigh, which is why we broke their supermajority in 2018 and why they’re fighting to hold on to their fragile majorities this year.”
North Carolina has long been one of the country’s most notoriously gerrymandered states. Democrats won the popular vote for both chambers of the General Assembly in 2018, only to fall short in terms of seats. Building up Democratic power will be key to standing in the way of further Republican efforts to rig the state’s elections.
Republicans’ toxic unpopularity is threatening to drag down all their candidates in the Tar Heel State. While voters give strong marks to Governor Cooper’s coronavirus response, GOP legislators have fought him at every opportunity and still refuse to expand Medicaid. Their increasingly extreme record has put them out of touch with North Carolina’s rapidly growing and diversifying population.
And the GOP is running out of time — as of today, 3.2 million North Carolinians had already cast ballots, representing 66.5% of the total turnout from 2016.
“The North Carolina GOP has nothing to offer but extremism, and that shouldn’t surprise anyone,” added Post. “After all, this is a party whose greatest hits include the infamous anti-trans HB2 and years of blocking affordable health care coverage. Voters are going to hold them accountable in just a week.”
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee is the official Democratic organization dedicated to winning state legislative seats. Earlier this year, the DLCC announced its $50 million “Flip Everything” campaign, an unprecedented effort to win legislative majorities across the country. Since Donald Trump’s election, the DLCC and state partners have flipped more than 450 seats and 10 chambers from red to blue.
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