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Activist: Focusing on state-level politics can help Democrats beat GOP gerrymandering
The Hill ^ | 11/12/18 | Matthew Sheffield

Posted on 11/12/2018 5:06:37 PM PST by yesthatjallen

Progressive activists focused on opposition to President Trump are turning their attention to another target: state-level politics.

"States play a major role in national elections," Catherine Vaughan, the co-founder and CEO of Flippable, a political action committee that focuses exclusively on state governments, said during an interview broadcast on Monday's "Rising."

Vaughan noted that it is state legislatures that draw the district lines that set congressional seats, and that have protected a number of GOP lawmakers.

"The state policies on who gets to vote, how votes are counted, how district lines are drawn — which makes Congress so much more gerrymandered, and so much harder for Democrats to flip than it was before," she said.

Flippable is one of several new organizations on the political left that are cropping up in response to earlier successes by conservative groups like the American Legislative Exchange Counsel (ALEC) and the State Policy Network at using state politics as a means to implement their electoral and policy goals.

The GOP also made significant gains from a Republican State Leadership Committee initiative called the Redistricting Majority Project (REDMAP) which focused significant Republican donor funds on flipping state legislative seats in swing states.

Vaughan also argued that state-level politics matter because that's where many federal politicians begin their public service careers.

"State governments build the bench for federal government," she said. "Almost 50 percent of members of Congress started at the state legislative level. Barack Obama was a state senator in my home-state of Illinois."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: democrats; dnctalkingpoint; dnctalkingpoints; gerrymandering; matthewsheffield; mediawingofthednc; partisanmediashills; presstitutes; smearmachine; thehill
Democrats never stop. They're always looking for ways to game the system.

Democratic 'activists' just made it clear what their plans are.

Will Republicans take them seriously or dismiss this as "fake news"?

1 posted on 11/12/2018 5:06:37 PM PST by yesthatjallen
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To: yesthatjallen

Republicans just sit on their hands.


2 posted on 11/12/2018 5:08:07 PM PST by virgil (The evil that men do lives after them)
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To: yesthatjallen

I smell a Soros.


3 posted on 11/12/2018 5:08:59 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Democracy dies when Democrats refuse to accept the result of a democratic election they didn't win.)
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To: yesthatjallen

Actually, I think it’s been repeatedly demonstrated that courts control gerrymandering and the redrawing of districts. Legislatures simply rubber-stamp the judge’s instructions.


4 posted on 11/12/2018 5:31:24 PM PST by FoxInSocks ("Hope is not a course of action." -- M. O'Neal, USMC)
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To: FoxInSocks

That certainly happened in Pennsylvania this year!


5 posted on 11/12/2018 5:34:34 PM PST by originalbuckeye ('In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act'- George Orwell)
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To: yesthatjallen

Or you guys could just add more votes after the election. :)


6 posted on 11/12/2018 6:19:25 PM PST by Tzimisce
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To: yesthatjallen

The best defense is an offense! Projection! Projection! Projection!


7 posted on 11/12/2018 6:45:42 PM PST by originalbuckeye ('In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act'- George Orwell)
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