2024年的总统选举消耗了大量的政治氧气。但是民主党人敦促选民不要忘记州立法选举的重要性——他们正在花费大量资金来确保他们不会忘记。
根据最先与美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)分享的计划，民主党立法竞选委员会(Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee)周一发起了一场1000万美元的支出闪电战，以推动全国各地的关键州立法候选人和竞选活动。这项投资被称为“美国之夏”竞选活动，标志着DLCC首次在选举周期的这个时候发起如此大规模的推动。
除了资金，竞选活动还包括微型站点这将是观看和关注候选人竞选的重要比赛。
“我们肯定看到了更多的兴趣。DLCC总统希瑟·威廉姆斯(Heather Williams)告诉美国广播公司(ABC News)，我们正在与人们进行更好的对话，讨论关注这两件事的重要性，关注华盛顿特区正在发生的事情，以及我们的州议会正在发生的事情。“我们也知道，在这些选举中，选票层面的竞选资金的价值要大得多，投资意味着更多。”
她补充说，“我们不能把所有的注意力都放在白宫，而让各州无人问津。”
民主党在州竞选中的投资在特朗普政府期间大幅增加，此后继续攀升，这是奥巴马政府和多年前的一个历史性转变，当时该党的州立法竞选基础设施萎缩，导致共和党在东海岸和西海岸的州首府竞争中占据主导地位。
唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)的胜利震动了民主党人，促使他们在这些比赛中投入更多资金，当最高法院取消对堕胎的宪法保护时，这一趋势得到了放大，使州立法机构在决定进入该程序方面拥有巨大的权力，此外还有投票权和州在认证总统选举结果中的作用等其他民主党优先事项。
其他民主党团体也在州立法选举中投入了数百万美元，这表明选举现在有多么重要。隶属于民主党和自由主义事业的团体States Project上周宣布，计划今年在立法竞选中支出7000万美元。DLCC 1000万美元的夏季支出狂欢是其2024年6000万美元预算的一部分，以及结盟集团Forward Majority 3500万美元的计划。
最近的支出已经显示出切实的红利，在民主党花费超过共和党后，密歇根州和宾夕法尼亚州等战场州的议院在2022年翻转。
威廉姆斯表示，鉴于共和党人可能会推翻白宫和参议院并控制众议院的风险，今年的支出尤为重要，在这种情况下，民主党控制的州立法机构可能会成为共和党联邦三连胜的主要缓冲。
她说:“我们正在进入真正的竞选季节，选民将不得不开始做出选择，我认为至关重要的是，他们应该明白，共和党的议程，包括收回我们的许多权利，将出现在他们的州议会中，关心选票上发生的事情是不够的。”。
DLCC的资金将集中在几个州。一些地方，如密歇根州和明尼苏达州，有民主党试图保护的三连胜。其他州，如亚利桑那州和新罕布什尔州，民主党在至少一个州的立法院中占据多数席位。在堪萨斯州和北卡罗来纳州等其他州，民主党人正试图削减共和党人的立法优势，足以剥夺他们不受否决的绝对优势，并恢复民主党州长的否决权。
该组织的投资不太专注于特定的策略，而是将资金投入到威廉姆斯所谓的“制胜计划”中。
“每一个州和每一个将接受这些投资的项目可能会将其用于不同的事情...因此，这将是一种全面的方式，从投票和数据到付费通信再到数字通信等等。，”她说。
威廉姆斯补充说:“因为我们是这些项目的永久成员，我们正在与实地的竞选团队并肩工作，制定我们相信、他们相信的真正强大的竞选计划。”
共和党州领导委员会(相当于DLCC的共和党)尚未宣布2024年的筹款目标。该组织主席迪·邓肯承认，该组织和附属的外部团体没有像民主党一样投资州立法竞选。
“虽然民主党外部团体今年的支出将一如既往地超过我们，但共和党人更有信心解决家庭面临的最紧迫问题，如生活成本上升和边境危机。邓肯在一份声明中说:“我们在政策上的优势加上我们的战略性早期投资，包括我们在宾夕法尼亚州的历史性邮寄投票计划，使我们相信共和党处于有利地位，可以抵御民主党涌入的大量资金。”
Democrats launch summer spending blitz highlighting state legislative races
The presidential election is taking up much of the political oxygen in 2024. But Democrats are urging voters not to forget the importance of state legislative races -- and they're spending big to make sure they don't.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the Democrats' campaign arm for state legislative races, launched a $10 million spending blitz Monday to boost key state legislative candidates and campaigns across the country, according to plans shared first with ABC News. Dubbed the "Summer of the States" campaign, the investment marks the first time the DLCC is launching a push of this size at this point in an election cycle.
Along with the money, the campaign alsoincludes a micrositethat will feature key races to watch and spotlight candidates running in them.
"We've definitely seen more interest. We're having better conversations with folks about how important it is to care about both things, about what is happening in Washington, D.C., and also what is happening in our state houses," DLCC President Heather Williams told ABC News. "We also know that the value of a campaign dollar at this ballot level in these races goes so much further, and that investment means it just it just means more."
She added, "We just cannot turn all of our attention to the White House and leave the states unattended."
Democrats' investments in state races, which jumped during the Trump administration and have continued to climb since, are a historical shift from the Obama administration and the years before, when the party's state legislative campaign infrastructure atrophied, leaving Republicans dominating contests for state capitals from coast to coast.
Donald Trump's win jolted Democrats into investing more into those contests, a trend that was amplified when the Supreme Court scrapped constitutional protections for abortions, leaving state legislatures with immense power over deciding access to the procedure -- on top of other Democratic priorities like voting rights and states' roles in certifying presidential election results.
In a sign of how important the races are now, other Democratic groups are also dumping millions into state legislative races. The States Project, a group affiliated with Democrats and liberal causes, announced last week that it is planning to spend $70 million in legislative races this year. The DLCC's $10 million summer spending spree is part of its own $60 million budget for 2024, along with the aligned group Forward Majority's $35 million plan.
Recent spending already showed tangible dividends, with chambers in battleground states like Michigan and Pennsylvania flipping in 2022 after Democrats outspent Republicans.
Williams said spending this year is particularly important given the risk that Republicans can flip the White House and Senate and hold onto the House, a scenario in which Democratic-controlled state legislatures could be a major buffer against a Republican federal trifecta.
"We are entering the true campaign season where voters are going to have to start making choices, and I think it's critically important they understand that the Republican agenda, which includes rolling back so many of our rights, is going to show up in their state houses, and that caring about what is happening at the top of the ticket is not going to be enough," she said.
The DLCC's money will be focused on several states. Some places, like Michigan and Minnesota, have Democratic trifectas that the party is trying to protect. Others, like Arizona and New Hampshire, have a Democratic majority in at least one state legislative chamber within reach. And in others, like Kansas and North Carolina, Democrats are trying to cut into Republicans' legislative margins enough to deny them a veto-proof supermajority and restore a Democratic governor's veto power.
The group's investment is less focused on specific tactics rather than funneling money to campaigns in what Williams called "winning plans."
"Each state and each program that is going to receive these investments may apply it to different things ... so it'll be sort of across the board, everything from polling and data to paid communication to digital communication, etc.," she said.
"Because we are a permanent presence in these programs, we are working side by side with the campaigns on the ground to develop really strong campaign plans that we believe in, that they believe in, from start to finish," Williams added.
The Republican State Leadership Committee -- the DLCC's GOP equivalent -- has not yet announced its fundraising goal for 2024. Its president, Dee Duncan, conceded that it and affiliated outside groups aren't investing in state legislative races like their Democratic counterparts.
"While the constellation of Democrat outside groups will outspend us as usual this year, Republicans are more trusted to solve the most pressing issues facing families, such as the rising cost of living and the border crisis. Our advantage on policy coupled with our strategic early investments, including our historic mail-in voting program in Pennsylvania, have us confident that Republicans are in a strong position to stave off the massive onslaught of money pouring in from the Democrats," Duncan said in a statement.
