State Legislative Leaders Converge in Washington to Plan for 2018

State Legislative Leaders Converge in Washington to Plan for 2018
DLCC Executive Director Jessica Post and DLCC Chair, Oregon Speaker Tina Kotek, lead strategy sessions

WASHINGTON — This week state legislative leaders from all over the country convened in Washington D.C. for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee’s annual Emerging Leaders Forum.

Leaders heard from keynote speakers U.S. Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii, U.S. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez during the conference that included policy discussions and networking opportunities.

“As the DLCC prepares to build on our winning momentum heading into the 2018 midterms, we’re looking forward to working closely with our legislators and allies in all levels of government as we fight to expand Democrats’ control of legislative chambers across the map and position state Democrats for success ahead of crucial 2020 redistricting,” said DLCC Executive Director Jessica Post. “It is my privilege to lead our committee as we work together to fight back against right-wing extremism by encouraging strong local leaders to step up to run for office and use their vote to defend our values and principles.”

The DLCC also released its 2018 Roadmap that outlines some of the organization’s goals ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. The memo highlights that Democrats are 13 seats away from flipping a total of seven chambers and notes that in 2017 alone, Democrats have flipped 33 contested seats from red to blue.

“The DLCC develops talent, and puts them in a position to lead at the local level, which remains critical for those who will become our future national leaders,” said U.S. Sen. Schatz. “…the people who know how to do business [in Congress] are people who have held elected office of some sort before and have respect for making budgets and passing policies by working together and understanding that politics is the art of compromise.”

“There’s so much energy in the DLCC because Democrats know that what’s happening in state legislatures really determines the destiny of this country,” said U.S. Sen. Booker. “In the next year, Democrats will be going all-out to recruit good candidates to run for office and win at the state level. This will develop a new generation of talented leaders and help make change real across the country.”

DNC Chairman Tom Perez said, “Last month, voters rejected a Republican Party that wants to take away people’s health care, cut taxes for millionaires and corporations at the expense of the middle class, and tear apart communities through travel bans and mass deportations. Our victories in state legislatures across the country were no coincidence. They were the result of the meaningful and unprecedented partnership we built with the DLCC. Now we need to organize, fight, and build a blue wave together through 2018, 2020, and beyond.”

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee is the only organization exclusively committed to electing Democrats to state legislatures all over the country and winning Democratic control of chambers. For over two decades, the DLCC has been working with state legislative leaders to invest strategically in state programs, which has led to Democrats flipping 33 contested seats in 2017 alone. The DLCC is building on Democrats’ winning momentum and continues to lay the groundwork for substantial gains in 2018 in statehouses nationwide. State Democrats recently scored critical victories in Washington, Virginia, Oklahoma, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York, New Hampshire, Georgia, and elsewhere. You can learn more about critical upcoming elections and follow DLCC’s Spotlight Races at races.dlcc.org.

For more information or to schedule an interview with the DLCC, please contact Mara Sloan at [email protected].

# # #