Sept. 30, 2024, 6:58 p.m.
Democrats at the state-legislative level face an age-old problem as the campaign season enters its most crucial period: fighting for their party’s attention, and resources, during a presidential election year.
In just 36 days, voters in 44 states will decide state-legislative races across the country. In a handful of those states, most of which are presidential battlegrounds—Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania—Democrats say legislative majorities are in play.
In order to be competitive in those states and others, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee has set its most expansive budget yet for the 2023-2024 cycle, at $60 million. According to the most recently available fundraising reports, the committee raised $35 million between the beginning of 2023 and the end of this June. To put things in perspective, Vice President Kamala Harris recently raised $28 million for her presidential bid at a single fundraiser.
“With the overlay of legislative targets and presidential targets and U.S. Senate targets, we're obviously all competing for airspace and to tell our story,” Heather Williams, president of the DLCC, said in an interview with National Journal. “And we are competing harder than everyone else because of the resource gap. The energy around the top of the ticket still has to translate down, and we have to continue to build that.”
It’s possible that the energy in the national political environment can trickle down the ballot much like the issue of abortion access has.
The backlash against Republicans after the fall of Roe v. Wade has been lifting the sails of downballot Democrats. Following the 2022 midterms—which typically punish the president’s party downballot—Democrats exceeded expectations and picked up legislative chambers in Minnesota, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Last year, Democrats kept the momentum going by flipping the Virginia House of Delegates and maintaining their majority in the state Senate.
Downballot Democrats’ fight for the investment and attention from their party is nothing new. Republicans have a more long-standing tradition of investing aggressively in state-legislative races, while Democrats have traditionally focused on federal contests.
“The Republican Party has long understood that the foundation of effective governance starts in the states,” Republican State Leadership Committee spokesperson Michael Joyce said.
At no time was this more apparent than the 2010 midterms, when the GOP poured resources into state-legislative races after losing the White House in 2008. Democrats would go on to lose control of 21 chambers, limiting their influence in drawing legislative maps that would determine political power for the next decade.
Leslie Martes, chief strategy officer at Forward Majority, an outside group that invests in Democrats at the state-legislative level, worked in North Carolina during the 2008 and 2010 cycles. Republicans in the Tar Heel State seized control of the General Assembly in 2010, controlling both chambers for the first time since 1870.
“It was really, really hard to watch,” Martes said. “One of our senators in North Carolina said that Election Night, as we lost both chambers—that it was like we were fighting a tsunami with a piece of cardboard. And it felt really true—that we were just kind of on our own.”
The DLCC is getting outraised by its Republican counterpart, the RSLC, which raised $62 million during the same period. Unlike the Democratic committee, the RSLC is responsible for investing in a range of state-level races including state Supreme Court contests.
The fundraising gap also doesn’t account for the massive investments of Democratic-aligned outside groups like Forward Majority—which is focused on targeting suburban voters—and the States Project, both of which are stepping in to fill the gaps for Democrats. The States Project has announced plans to spend $70 million, and Forward Majority is on track to spend $45 million this cycle.
“While the RSLC will never be able to match the $175 million investment from national Democrat organizations that spend on state-legislative races dollar for dollar, we can still fight back with smart, targeted investments of our own,” Joyce said.
While it is not a new issue, the renewed scrutiny from downballot Democrats comes amid an apparent cultural shift in the party, as state-level leaders—governors in particular—have become the proverbial bench of the party after leading their states through the COVID pandemic and post-Roe reproductive-rights battles over the last four years.
While the full embrace of state leaders is welcomed, those working at the state-legislative level say the spotlight needs to be directed farther down the ballot.
“We've got to think about the full picture of it. And while the role of the governor is really important, it's not on its own,” Williams said.
Despite frustrations, there are tangible signs that national Democrats are taking downballot races seriously.
Earlier this month, Harris announced a plan to transfer $25 million to support downballot candidates, $2.5 million of which was directed to the DLCC. Additionally, the Democratic National Committee is sending $2.5 million to all state parties. Martes told National Journal that the investment by Harris is greatly appreciated—but should be just a start.
“I am really, really excited that Vice President Harris did that. She cares a lot about state legislatures and what is at stake,” Martes said. “I think $2.5 million is great. I think there needs to be lots more.”
