Dem
47
GOP
53
Republicans are notoriously good and Democrats are notoriously bad at paying attention to state legislative races, even though control of a state is hugely important. If the Democrats have the trifecta in a state, they can get things done and help repair the Democrats' badly tarnished brand.
The DLCC (Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee) is aiming to win back 650 of the 800 legislative seats Democrats have lost in the past 15 years. In what could be a blue wave election, that might be doable. The Democrats are well aware, for example, that they picked up a dozen seats in the Virginia House of Delegates in November on the coattails of Abigail Spanberger. They've also noticed that the party has been winning in red districts, including in Georgia on Tuesday.
The president of the DLCC, Heather Williams, is hoping to raise and spend $50 million for state legislative seats. She hopes to flip chambers in Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and reduce Republican majorities in Kansas, Missouri, and Ohio. Of course, this goal will only be plausible if Williams can convince Democratic donors that not all their money should go to the North Carolina Senate race.
In case anyone wondered if control of state legislatures matters, they only have to look at the recent spate of new maps. Other than California, mid-decade redistricting has only happened in states where the Republicans control the legislature. If the Democrats can flip some chambers, further shenanigans will become impossible. It could happen. The minority leader of the Wisconsin state Senate, Dianne Hesselbein (D), said: "I think there are a lot of people in the state of Wisconsin that showed up for Donald Trump that now have buyer's remorse." That could be true in other states as well. (V)