WASHINGTON — DLCC President Heather Williams recently joined Molly Jong-Fast on the Fast Politics podcast for an interview on how state Democrats emerged with key victories in a tough election year and how Democratic power in state legislatures will be crucial in the fight against Project 2025 and MAGA extremism.
Check out key excerpts from Fast Politics below:
- “When you look at what happened in state legislatures vis a vis what happened at the top of the ticket, you would have expected Democrats to have a really rough night. What actually happened was we were able to prevent a red wave in the states… And broadly, I think the good news is all of these places [on the DLCC’s target map] remain very competitive as we move from the 2024 cycle into the 2026 cycle.”
- “[State legislators] are able to tell the story of Democratic leadership, of Democratic Party values, of the things that Democrats are out there fighting for every single day in such an authentic and personal way. They were able to bring to life things like the infrastructure bill, and talk about it in context of their community, in terms of good-paying jobs, in terms of better infrastructure in their community, helping connect neighborhoods, or fixing a bridge…. There is something just really tangible about having the person delivering that message be a member of your community fabric and being able to tell that to you face to face on the doors.”
- “We have really strong leaders in these states, candidly and honestly in both red and blue states, who are ready to fight for their communities, who are ready to ensure that we are a country that is still rich in good quality public education, that we are still fighting for strong wages and a strong middle class, that we are still working to ensure that we have equitable health care in this country, and we’re going to continue to see that fight happen in the states.”
- “We have seen increased power and increased attention on the states, and the strength of our firewall in state legislatures has never been more important. We know that nearly half of Americans will continue to be protected by at least one Democratic majority in their statehouse. When Donald Trump won in 2016 there were just 29 Democratic majorities, now there are 39 so we’ve made progress.”
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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