Democrats target statehouses
AUSTIN, Texas— Democrats still shaken by the 2010 tea party wave that netted Republicans six governors' offices, flipped 21 state house chamber sand drove nearly 700 Democratic state legislators from office are mounting a comeback, pouring millions of dollars into state level races.
In along time Republican district covering a wealthy enclave of Dallas, Democratic challenger Shawn Terry has raised $ 235,000, an eye-popping amount for a statehouse race that's more than a year away. In Virginia, where the GOP holds a slim majority, Democrats have out raised Republicans for the first time in years. Democrats are even putting some money in deeply Republican Louisiana.
The cash deluge shows how the consequences of next year's elections run far deeper than President Donald Trump's political fate. The party that controls state legislature s will take a leading role in the once-in-a-decade redistricting process that re draws congressional maps. Newly empowered Republicans used that process to their favor following the tea party victories, and Democrats want to use the same playbook.
“There is, especially for this cycle, a very strong focus on redistricting,” Terry said.
The stakes are particularly high following a recent Supreme Court ruling that decided federal courts have no business policing political boundary disputes in many cases. The ruling doesn't apply to districts gerrymandered along racial lines but otherwise gives states wide latitude to draw maps with little concern for an eventual judicial rebuke.
“Everybody knows everything is at stake ,” said Stephanie Schriock, president of the group EM IL Y' s List, which recruits and trains women to run for office and plans to spend $ 20 million on legislative races .“We just have to go in and win chambers.”
Organizations like EM IL Y' s List, the Democratic Governors Association and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee have seen a sharp increase in donations, nearing parity with Republicans who almost always outraise and outspend them, according to an analysis of IRS data by The Associated Press.
And Democratic donors who gave little to nothing to down-ballot race sin the past are cutting large checks to groups focused on state races, the AP's analysis shows.
Among t hem are bil-lionaire George Soros (at least $5.4 million), hedge fund billionaire Donald Sussman ( at l east $ 4.8 million) and bill i onaire investor and entrepreneur Fred Eychaner ( at l east $4.2 million).
The numbers don't take into account the activities of nonprofit“dark money” groups that both Republicans and Democrats operate. They won't have to disclose their finances until next year at the earliest.
But already the money is filtering out to the states.
Priorities USA, the largest Democratic outside group, and EMILY's List recently announced they would spend $ 600,000 on voter mobilization for Virginia's fall elections. For the first time, the Democratic opposition research group American Bridge is digging into the pasts of Republican statehouse candidates.
And the DLCC, which is spearheading efforts in Virginia, says it has collected $9 million since the 2018 midterm elections, an off- year record, and is on pace to reach its $50 million fundraising goal for the cycle.