WASHINGTON — This week, The DLCC rounded out February with two game-changing, powerhouse announcements – unveiling our multi-cycle strategy memo and our first 2024 announcement of battleground state investments. Our multi-cycle strategy memo outlines our plan to push into red territory and earn a majority of state legislatures by 2030, while our critical early investments in battleground states have reached nearly $750K thus far and will strengthen critical infrastructure to support staff hiring, digital infrastructure, field operations, and more.
2024 is the year of the states, and the DLCC has the plan needed to shift the balance of power at this level of the ballot. With so many fundamental rights being decided in the states, this is the most important year in state legislative campaign history and there’s never been a better time to join our movement at the DLCC.
T0 read more about the multi-cycle strategy memo, see below:
CBS News: Democrats outline strategy to flip more statehouses over several years
- “The national Democratic campaign arm funding state legislative candidates unveiled a multi-cycle strategy Monday laying out its plan to gain control of more than half of the country’s legislative chambers by 2030.
- A memo first shared with CBS News outlines the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee’s long term targets including chambers in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia — three presidential battleground states — as well as North Carolina and Kansas.
- ‘We can’t just get caught up in the places where we can flip majorities today, because we also have to build for the future,’ DLCC President Heather Williams told CBS.”
HuffPost: Inside Democrats’ Strategy For Winning Back Statehouses — In 2024 And Beyond
- “Democrats at the state level are pursuing an ambitious six-year plan to control half of state legislative chambers by 2030, according to a new strategy memo released Monday
- The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the party arm in charge of winning state-level elections, plans to dedicate roughly a third of its 2024 spending to building up power in chambers it does not expect to capture this year but could flip in future cycles.
- ‘State power is so incredibly important for moving the president’s agenda, for moving our party’s agenda forward,’ said Heather Williams, the committee’s president. ‘But state legislative majorities aren’t won in a single cycle.’”
The Washington Informer: DLCC Unveils Ambitious ‘Multi-Cycle’ Strategy for Long-Term Democratic Dominance
- “‘With new redistricting maps decided by 2030 elections and in order to fundamentally transform the balance of power in states, we need a long-term strategy to break into territory that Republicans have long dominated,’ DLCC President Heather Williams said in an email. ‘That’s exactly what this plan does.’”
To read more about the DLCC’s battleground state investments, see below:
The Washington Post: Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee makes first investments in battleground states
- “DLCC President Heather Williams said the committee has invested ‘nearly $750,000’ in its target states this election cycle. The committee is aiming for a $60 million budget this cycle, its largest ever.
- ‘We’re making sure we are the permanent year-round presence,’ Williams said in an interview, adding that the planning for both special elections and the November elections is like a ‘big game of chess.’”
The Guardian: Democrats target statehouse races in first big campaign spend of 2024
- “‘Republicans continue to govern in the statehouse as if it’s 1924 and nobody has any rights but the men,’ [DLCC President Heather] Williams said. ‘We have more tools and resources and a better platform to hold them accountable than ever before and that is exactly what we plan to do.’
- An ‘umbrella of freedom’ that includes access to abortion, IVF and contraceptives, as well as democratic participation and gun safety, will be a central campaign theme.
- ‘Those conversations are rich and they are happening at the door. They were certainly a part of the elections in 2023 and we expect them to continue to be a conversation in 2024.’”
Reuters: Democrats outline first stage of planned $60 million campaign to win state legislatures
- “Abortion, in particular, is now a state-by-state matter after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to eliminate a nationwide right to end pregnancies.
- ‘We need power in the states, because it is the states that are implementing our agenda,’ DLCC President Heather Williams said in an interview.”
The New Republic: Trump’s Panicky Eruption Over Embryo Ruling Won’t Fix GOP’s IVF Mess
- “‘The stakes have never been higher in the states,’ Heather Williams, the president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, told me, adding that legislative races will help determine whether ‘women continue to get to choose how, when, and if they have families.’
- More generally, the [IVF] ruling is a vivid reminder that the future of reproductive rights will likely live or die in the states—and that this could intrude to an untold degree on intensely personal decisions about whether to have children despite infertility.
- As Williams of the DLCC points out, the Alabama outcome again demonstrates that the ‘Republican crusade against women’ isn’t ‘just about abortion.’ ‘It is about control and power,’ Williams said.”
Insider: Eyeing state legislative gains, Democrats are making an early $750,000 push to counter the GOP in key battlegrounds
- “After Roe v. Wade was overturned, abortion has taken on even greater resonance in the states and created electoral difficulties for the GOP as voters — especially in urban and suburban areas — have pushed back against the decision.
- ‘We’ve seen Republicans try to wiggle their way around new language about their perspective around abortion, but voters are not hearing them,’ Williams told Business Insider. ‘Republicans are now being held to their word. Fundamental freedoms are on the line in this election.’”
PennLive: Lots of outside dollars expected to be invested in Pa. House campaigns
- “‘It’s to make sure that the speaker’s gavel remains with Speaker Joanna McClinton,’ Rahman said. ‘It’s to really hold and strengthen our majority in the Pennsylvania House which is arguably one of our top priorities.’
- Being a target state in presidential campaigns also is helping spur national interest in Pennsylvania, said Madeline Zann, executive director of the House Democratic Campaign Committee… Money from outside groups including the DLCC will help the House Democrats’ ‘grow our bandwidth to invest in more races across the state,’ Zann said”
New Hampshire Union Leader: DLCC makes first investment in N.H. Senate
- “‘We know the stakes of winning these crucial battleground states are high, with abortion, voting rights, fundamental freedoms, and more on the line,’ said Heather Williams, DLCC president.
- ‘Our Democratic candidates need early and strong support to build sustainable winning campaigns – early investments are often what make or break races.’”
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: National Democrats ramp up efforts on legislative races under new Wisconsin maps
- “‘For too long, Wisconsin voters faced unfair, gerrymandered maps in the Legislature but with new maps this year we have new opportunities. We know the stakes of winning these crucial battleground states are high, with abortion, voting rights, fundamental freedoms and more on the line,’ said DLCC President Heather Williams in a statement.
- ‘Our Democratic candidates need early and strong support to build sustainable winning campaigns — early investments are often what make or break races. That’s why the DLCC is on the ground early, working hand and hand with our caucus and campaign committees across the country so we can win in November and beyond.’”
The Capitol Times: National Democrats to spend in Wisconsin after maps change game
- “The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee announced Wednesday that it will add $24,000 to hire staff, build out campaign infrastructure and other work to support state Assembly and state Senate races in Wisconsin. That comes on top of $24,000 the party initially pledged last year to the Badger State.
- By contrast, the outlay in 2024 puts the state as one of the party’s top five priorities in legislative races, alongside other swing state chambers in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Michigan, as well as Wisconsin’s western neighbor in Minnesota.”
Minnesota Reformer: National Democratic group spends $50K to keep Minnesota House in November
- “A national group aimed at securing Democratic majorities in state legislatures on Wednesday announced it has invested $50,000 to keep Democrats in control of the Minnesota House, and it plans to spend more until November. Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Heather Williams called Minnesota ‘one of our top strategic priorities of 2024,’ in a statement.”
KJZZ: National Democratic group invests in flipping Arizona Legislature
- “The new announcement comes in addition to $70,000 the group promised to spend in Arizona in December. ‘These investments are not our last,’ DLCC President Heather Williams said in a statement. ‘As the arm of the Democratic party with the sole mission of setting the national agenda in state legislatures, the DLCC is only just getting started in making 2024 the year of the states.’”
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) is the official Democratic Party committee dedicated to winning America’s state legislatures and building state infrastructure. 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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