DLCC and state Democrats swept nearly every single target race across the country in 2025
WASHINGTON — Today, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee unveiled a new strategy memo highlighting how state Democrats delivered one of the best election nights in modern history. The DLCC’s proven strategy around early investments and infrastructure paved the way for massive successes, including clinching the biggest Democratic majorities in Virginia and New Jersey in decades.
As we look ahead to 2026, the DLCC has the playbook to build legislative majorities that will shape Democrats’ trajectory of power and ability to win up and down the ballot for years to come.
Read the memo: 2025 Election Sweep – How We Did It
State Democrats had one of the best election nights in modern history in 2025. We swept nearly every competitive race across the country in blue, battleground, and red territory.
As the arm of the Democratic Party focused on state legislatures, we know these wins were no accident. They affirm the DLCC’s winning strategy of being the first national organization on the ground to build and resource strong caucus programs, deliver early investments across a broad target map, recruit stellar candidates, and support campaigns through Election Day. The DLCC and state Democrats didn’t just ride the blue wave – we built effective campaigns across the country to drive that wave. Our candidates outworked, outraised, and outmaneuvered their Republican opponents with strong campaigns and a laser focus on an affordability agenda.
2025 ELECTION NIGHT WINS RECAP:
- Virginia: House Democrats flipped a whopping 13 seats – reaching a 64D-36R seat majority – which marks the largest Democratic House majority in nearly 40 years. We flipped 5 seats that President Trump won, and won more districts than both former VP Kamala Harris and Senator Tim Kaine in 2024. Defending Democrats’ majority in the House of Delegates was essential to secure Virginia’s path to explore redistricting in response to Republicans’ rigging maps across the country. Additionally, we won the lieutenant governor’s race, which is critical given the LG serves as the tie-breaking vote in the Senate, where Democrats have a one-seat majority.
- New Jersey: Democrats flipped at least four seats and won a supermajority in the Assembly. The state saw record off-year turnout, and Democrats now have the biggest Assembly majority in 50 years.
- Mississippi: We flipped a House seat and gained two Senate seats, breaking the GOP Senate supermajority in Mississippi. These wins highlight how Democrats can gradually build power in red states, and Mississippi marks the sixth GOP supermajority broken by the DLCC in just two years.
- Minnesota: We protected our one-seat Senate majority, which was critical to shape control of the legislature given the tied House chamber. This was the fourth time that Democrats have won a majority-deciding special election in the state this year.
- Pennsylvania: All three Democrats won their retention races for the state supreme court, helping secure the majority through the end of the decade, which is essential for redistricting. These races brought the highest off-year voter turnout in the Philadelphia suburbs since 2011.
- California: California voters approved new maps to counter Republicans’ blatant power grabs, as the DLCC continues to lead the national effort to win more legislative majorities to even the odds in 2030 redistricting.
Our wins on Election Day built on state Democrats’ success throughout 2025, as we’ve consistently overperformed across blue, battleground, and red territory. We’ve now defended nearly 150 seats throughout 2025, while flipping 22 Republican seats, including nine that Donald Trump won. One-seat Democratic majorities were protected six times this year alone, and we broke two Republican supermajorities in Iowa and Mississippi. Across the map, the DLCC established a solid trend of overperformance that strengthened the firewall of Democratic power in the states against the Trump administration.
THE BOTTOM LINE: This kind of sweep wasn’t an anomaly or limited to a single night. Our year-round record affirms that the DLCC and state legislative Democrats are leading the party with a clear and disciplined strategy for communicating with voters about the issues that matter most while pushing back against Republicans’ chaos in D.C.
HOW WE DID IT:
The DLCC’s recipe for success has always been grounded in building incremental power and supporting caucuses through early investments and infrastructure. Laying the groundwork early sets campaigns up for success and expands the map of viable, winnable races across the country. Early investments allow programs to build candidates’ name ID from the onset, make reservations on TV and digital early at a better price, and make more informed decisions around resource allocation as the cycle goes on.
Take Virginia, for example. Just a decade ago, Virginia House Democrats were in a near superminority. Since then, the DLCC has worked with the caucus year in and year out to build incremental power, gradually positioning them to capitalize on the opportunity 2025 presented.
This cycle, the DLCC was the first organization on the ground in Virginia, making our earliest ever commitment of over $2 million to build the path for an expanded majority:
- Early infrastructure: The DLCC helped ensure key staff were on the ground from the very start, data and research informed the strategy, and best-practice metrics and tools were available to support target races.
- Data-informed candidate recruitment: The DLCC was also clear-eyed about the landscape of opportunity. Our data team pinpointed exactly which races would be competitive, and we helped recruit and support strong candidates across our target districts. These candidates reflected their communities and ran disciplined and effective campaigns, engaging a very active electorate and proving our ability to persuade voters on affordability and kitchen-table issues. On election night, every single DLCC Spotlight target candidate won.
- Year-round expertise and support: At every stage of the election season, our team provided expertise and planning to build the strongest caucus program to date, which capitalized on a favorable political environment to launch an ambitious target map. Our candidates consistently outraised their opponents and knocked on tens of thousands of doors, ultimately building the largest majority in nearly 40 years while supporting historic Democratic wins up and down the ticket.
This holistic strategy wasn’t unique to Virginia – the DLCC was clear-eyed about opportunities throughout the 2025 landscape. The DLCC worked with caucuses to deliver our winning playbook of early investments and infrastructure and ran effective campaigns grounded in the issues that voters care about most. As we head into 2026, the DLCC will continue to serve as the year-round presence that supports the infrastructure and resources needed for Democratic candidates to connect with voters and win in tough territory.
THE PLAN FOR 2026 AND BEYOND:
The 2026 midterms present a historic opportunity for securing Democrats’ foundation of power in the states. State Democrats will be competing everywhere, building off these wins with new and clear opportunities for building Democratic power. Our work will start with special elections in the weeks ahead as we defend one-seat majorities in states like Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, but it certainly won’t stop there.
This kind of electoral environment provides an opportunity for significant gains, and the DLCC is bullish on our chances. We’ll target immediate opportunities like flipping Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Arizona, while chipping away at GOP power in North Carolina and Georgia by 2030. 2025 showed us we have a clear path to go on offense beyond blue and battleground states.
We’re full speed ahead into 2026 midterms, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. As Donald Trump continues to sow chaos and dysfunction in D.C., a strong foundation in the states is how we invest in Democratic power and push back. That’s especially true as Republicans pursue blatant power grabs through gerrymandering and mid-cycle redistricting, which can only be stopped by building more Democratic state legislative power. Democrats have 10 more majorities and 10 more trifectas than we did when Donald Trump first took office, and we’re poised to grow those numbers even more.
The state legislative majorities won in 2026 won’t just shape the next two years – they will shape Democrats’ trajectory of power and ability to win at all levels of the ballot for years to come. The DLCC has the playbook needed to meet this moment.
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