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State legislative bodies have always played a leading role in determining outcomes for fundamental but humdrum issues like state budgets, insurance regulations, road safety laws, and civil services. But the last few years have demonstrated their overriding importance in matters related to personal freedom and social wellbeing.
One issue where this has played out powerfully has been in reproductive rights. Since the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022, access to reproductive care has almost entirely been up to state legislatures, and sometimes elected state Supreme Courts. Add to this, access to gender-affirming care, the availability of Medicaid, and even whether a background check is required to buy a gun. Not to mention who gets to vote—and how. All these critical issues largely depend on the people elected to statehouses.
That’s why fundraising for these races has been a special priority for the two parties. And this year, the primary group responsible for electing Democrats to state legislative chambers nationwide, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), has set a new record for its first quarter fundraising: $6.9 million since January 2024.
That’s nearly an 8 percent hike from the first quarter of the last presidential election cycle, the DLCC says. Meanwhile, the DLCC’s grassroots fundraising numbers—raised through digital, text, and phone call outreach—are up 45 percent from the group’s previous best first quarter. Since the beginning of the 2024 campaign fundraising cycle (which started right after the 2022 midterm elections), the DLCC has raised $28 million toward its $60 million goal for 2024.
But despite the record figures, the DLCC is still lagging behind the Republican State Leadership Committee and its affiliated social welfare organization, the State Government Leadership Foundation. Together the conservative groups raised $12 million in the first quarter of 2024 and a combined $47 million at the state level this cycle, eclipsing the DLCC and its affiliated 501(c)(4) partners by $19 million.
“Republicans know the importance of the states, especially as the Supreme Court continues to kick down issues to the states,” says DLCC communications director Abhi Rahman, “and states are where fundamental freedoms are being decided.”
That Republicans have an edge over Democrats in state legislature races isn't new. During the first Obama administration, conservatives were building the tea party movement from the local level up while Democrats remained focused on Washington. After the 2010 midterms, Republicans controlled the majority of state legislatures. With their newly entrenched power, state Republicans redrew district maps in ways that helped them keep existing statehouse seats and gain new ones. (This helped them at the national level too; elected state legislators often make strong congressional candidates). In 2009, Republicans had legislative control of 14 states (Democratic legislators controlled 27 states, 8 states had split chambers, and one state, Nebraska, has a unicameral nonpartisan chamber). By 2011, it was Republicans who had legislative control of 27 states. They now have control of 28 states.
While OpenSecrets shows Democrats have enjoyed more success than Republicans at the national level this cycle, that advantage hasn't translated to the state efforts. "It's not enough to fund the top of the ticket," says Rahman. "This is the [governmental] level now that needs to be funded more than ever before."
"I think Democrats are catching up," Rahman adds, "but it's not fast enough."
Correction, April 16: Rahman's name was misspelled in an earlier version of this article.
