Dems Flooding State-Level Races Aren't Just Thinking About 2018
By Allegra Kirkland | March 23, 2018 6:00 am
Democrats are running a staggering number of candidates in state-level offices this year, especially in conservative areas the party once wrote off.
It’s a testament to the massive outpouring of grassroots energy spurred by the Trump era.
In Texas, Democrats are contesting 14 of 15 state Senate seats up this year, as well as 133 of 150 state House seats—an almost 50 percent boost from 2016. For the first time in years, almost all of the 170 state legislative races in North Carolina will feature both a Republican and Democratic candidate. Pennsylvania Democrats have filed to get on the ballot in 180 of the state House’s 203 districts—the most they’ve engaged in since 2000.
A string of Democratic successes in special election races, some in districts President Trump resoundingly won, has upended expectations of which of those seats are in play. Conor Lamb eked out a victory in a deep-red pocket of Pennsylvania, while Doug Jones became the first Democrat in a quarter century to represent Alabama in the U.S. Senate.
Rather than focusing just on flippable seats or purple states, Democrats, particularly on the state legislative level, are giving it a go pretty much everywhere.
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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/democrats-flood-state-level-races-midterms
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Josh Marshall is on vacation this week, but his able staff soldier on.
R&
