State Legislatures Matter
State legislatures matter. We said this in January, and now recent decisions by the Supreme Court signal that state legislatures are the battleground for the White House and fundamental rights.
Formerly established fundamental rights under the federal constitution are now being eviscerated by the most actively conservative Supreme Court in a century.
Democratic elections are also in danger.
The Court’s decision to accept Moore vs. Harper, the North Carolina case on state legislative gerrymandering of Congressional election maps in the next term underscores the importance of gaining ground in state legislatures in the 2022 elections.
Here is why. What is considered a fringe Constitutional theory of “Independent State Legislatures” has support from four and possibly five members of the Supreme Court. (Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett). On its face, if adopted by the Court, it would allow state legislatures to gerrymander Congressional districts, independent of review by State Constitutions and State Supreme Courts.
A further warning advanced by J. Michael Luttig -- who formerly served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for 15 years, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, and advisor to Vice President Mike Pence -- is that the “Independent State Legislature” theory could be used as part of an attempt to steal the 2024 Presidential election with fake electors chosen solely by state legislatures contrary to the popular vote in the state.
Luttig explains how the Trump Republican claim that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen, and attempts to foist alternative electors from states won by President Biden such as Pennsylvania and Georgia, is actually a prologue for stealing the 2024 election regardless of the popular vote.
The plan only works in states with Republican controlled state legislatures that choose to adopt the anti-majoritarian scheme.
This leads us to Pennsylvania.
Republican state legislators, who are currently a majority in both the Pennsylvania state House and Senate, are advocates of 2020 election denial. Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for Governor, is an election denier. But Pennsylania is poised to flip one or possibly even BOTH legislative chambers! Even if the Supreme Court adopts the Independent State Legislature theory, it would be mitigated by Democratic control of the state legislature.
States such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin where President Biden won the popular vote, have Democratic Governors and Republican state legislatures.
And here’s where we all can play a role.
Unlike federal House and Senate seats, state legislative races can come down to just a few more voters reached, a few more dollars raised, a few more doors knocked. Remember our efforts in Virginia? Our Diversity Pipeline Pledge champion Joshua Cole lost his race for state legislature in 2017 by less than 100 votes. Then he came back in 2019 and won by over 1,000 votes - and this helped flip the Virginia legislature from red to blue!
We are targeting Pennsylvania this year because we believe we can win. Half of the Pennsylvania State Senate is on the ballot every year. In the State House, Democrats have a wide number of battleground seats to compete in for the majority.
Election of Democrats to the Pennsylvania state legislature will have great consequences for Presidential and Congressional elections, and fundamental rights despite any Supreme Court actions to overturn the popular vote at the state level.
So join us as we get active in Pennsylvania! Our champions will not only be bringing better and more representative governance to their constituents and communities, but to all of us across the nation.
- Diversity Matters Team
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