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Democrats announce first slate of state legislative targets ahead of November

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by Caroline Vakil - 04/06/26 9:55 AM ET

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by Caroline Vakil - 04/06/26 9:55 AM ET

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A Democratic group tasked with growing the party’s majorities in state legislatures across the country announced their first slate of target candidates on Monday.

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) announced it would be backing candidates in races for both state legislative chambers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina. The DLCC also announced candidates it will back in the Arizona Senate, Georgia House, Texas House and Iowa Senate.

The Democratic group said it’s expecting to wade into elections for about 300 Republican-held state legislative seats, with the group planning to weigh in on at at least 500 races overall.

The DLCC’s announcement follows a string of wins in local races since Trump took office last year. Democrats last month even flipped two red state legislature seats in Florida, with one of those seats including President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

“We’ve been winning them in sort of every environment,” DLCC President Heather Williams told The Hill in an interview ahead of her group’s announcement.

“We’ve been winning them under this war in Iran. We’ve been winning them as the [Jeffrey] Epstein files were front and center, and they were being released. We’re winning them under the context of tariffs, under [Department of Government Efficiency],” she said. “I think the reality is, is that Trump is the Republican Party. He is the Republican Party’s agenda.”

Williams touted that Democrats have picked up more than two dozen seats in special elections and the November 2025 races, chalking it up to what she described as a lack of focus from Trump and his administration on issues most important to voters.

“The lack of attention this administration has on the issues that the vast majority of Americans care about that are crushing them in this economy is the stuff that they’re not paying attention to,” she added.

Nonpartisan election handicapper Sabato’s Crystal Ball from the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia in January rated both chambers in Arizona, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan in addition to the New Hampshire House as “toss-ups.”

State legislature races have only become more critical in recent years, particularly this past cycle amid redistricting battles. State lawmakers in places like Texas, California, Missouri, Indiana, Virginia and Florida led — or thwarted — different pushes to redraw their state’s congressional maps as both parties have sought to gain House seats this November.

Williams said the DLCC is looking at how the group continues “to build power for Democrats, how do we break these Republican supermajorities, putting Democrats in the negotiating room and …. how do we fight for more power as we head into the traditional 2030 redistricting cycle.”

“That is the lens through which we are looking at this cycle,” she added.

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