WASHINGTON — DLCC President Heather Williams recently joined Brian Tyler Cohen for an interview on the outlook for state legislatures and the pivotal role down-ballot races play in shaping the most critical freedoms. Heather outlined the importance of overcoming down-ballot roll-off, especially since electing Democrats to state legislatures is the best way to secure reproductive freedoms and democracy against MAGA extremism.
Check out DLCC President Heather Williams’ interview with Brian Tyler Cohen, with key excerpts below:
- “These elections for state legislature are really important in their own right. This is where our rights are being decided. This is where reproductive freedoms, voting rights, and protecting communities like the LGBTQ+ community and our neighbors is happening.
- “If you look at Michigan as an example, the Michigan House, which is on the ballot this year, recruited candidates in all of their legislative districts, so what that means is that there are Democrats running for local office across the state. Those candidates are on the doors talking to real voters every day. They’ve knocked over a million doors in Michigan already, and those real conversations with voters about their hopes, dreams, fears, concerns, and wishes is so meaningful – not just for our state legislative candidates, but for Democrats. They are three-dimensional elected officials or candidates representing the Democratic party, democratic values, and the entire ticket.”
- On Jan. 6th insurrection activity: “What we saw were dozens of Republicans in state legislatures willing to call into question electoral results, willing to plant the seed that it was not a free, fair election with actual results, willing to sign petitions and even to show up at the Capitol, and show up as an insurrectionist. These are the Republicans that are running in our statehouses, many of them are still there, many are still on the ballot… Republicans are sowing these seeds again, led of course by Donald Trump who is already starting to cast doubt on the results of this election.”
- “It is critical that we get federal abortion protections, there is no question about that. But while we wait for that to happen, states are determining these rights right now. The impact of a state and its control in a state capitol, whether Democrats have control or Republicans, means that you have rights that are expanded or secured, or you don’t and your rights are being rolled back. That is happening in real-time across this country… Like I said, 70 million people hang in the balance of our target map – that is incredibly important.”
- “I think what is special about our ballot level is these candidates are elected and still live in their communities. They still very much are a part of that fabric and the national issues still play a role but they become more localized.”
The DLCC is the official arm of the Democratic Party with the sole mission of building Democratic power in the states and setting the national agenda at the state level. Over the last decade, we have fought cycle-over-cycle to gain a dozen new legislative chamber majorities and we are leading the effort to bring national attention and investment to our ballot level. State legislatures are the building blocks of our democracy and have the closest connections to Americans’ day-to-day lives. From protecting fundamental freedoms and voting rights to growing the middle class, the DLCC and state legislators are moving the Democratic agenda forward and shaping the future of this country.
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