November 21, 2024
Democrats at the state level have largely held their ground, even with key wins in contested states, and that will matter under Trump.
U.S. Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, Democrat of Delaware and the first transgender person elected to Congress, attends the drawing of party-elect members on Capitol Hill on November 21, 2024.
(Samuel Korum/AFP via Getty Images)
To say that 2024 was a difficult year for Democrats is not breaking news. Republicans have captured the White House and both houses of Congress, creating a federal GOP trifecta that will give Donald Trump and his allies free reign in Washington for at least the next two years.
What’s missing from the national headlines is that sweeping Republican victories have soured a little further afield, in the states. Given what we saw at the top of the ticket, conventional wisdom says there should have been a red wave in our statehouses. But as a result it did not happen. In fact, Democrats in state legislatures have largely held our position, even scoring key victories in battleground states like Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, while fighting to a tie in others like Minnesota. We’ve won important races by narrow margins in battleground states that have turned red for the presidential race, the Senate race, and the congressional race, and we’ve done it with fewer resources at our disposal. The presidential campaign spent the entire budget of our cycle every week.
That’s why it’s important as we prepare together for what’s to come: Democratic state power emerges as the strongest counterweight to the Trump administration. When Donald Trump was first elected in 2016, states had just 29 Democratic legislative majorities, and only six states had the trifecta of Democratic governorships. This meant that states had very little opportunity to quickly or effectively counter the harmful effects of federal MAGA policies.
This time, the Democrats are in a much stronger position. Thanks to a decade of investment and accomplishments—including our victories in 2024—Democrats will hold nearly 40 majorities in our states and are poised to face the worst of the Trump presidency. We also nearly tripled the governing trifecta to 15 states, including big blue states like New York, California and Illinois with large populations and fast-growing economies. Case in point: California alone is the fifth largest economy in the world.
That means the state’s Democrats will have major influence under a second Trump administration. If Trump goes full force with the many extreme and dangerous promises he made during the campaign, including Project 2025, Democrats in state legislatures are ready to hit the brakes.
If Republicans try to gut the Department of Education, state Democrats are ready to fight back and put money into public schools. As Republicans dismantle the Paris climate accords and eliminate NOAA, state Democrats will be in charge of climate solutions. If Republicans embrace sweeping attacks on reproductive care, state Democrats are ready to fight for women and those who love them.
Current issue
We’ve seen Democratic state legislatures serve as a critical counterweight to the first Trump administration, and they’re poised to play that role again on an even larger scale. 160 million Americans — or nearly half the country — live in a state with a Democratic legislative majority, and that will have major policy implications.
State Democrats are ready to answer the question of where to focus their energies and attention after the losses in 2024, and there are opportunities in the weeks ahead through the upcoming special state legislative elections. At this level the ballot is not out of years and we have to be ready to roll up our sleeves to take advantage of the opportunities.
State legislatures will not only protect our future in the short term, but are critical in the long term to charting a new path for this country. Redistricting is just around the corner and will affect the state and congressional maps, determining whether we will have competitive elections for the next decade. The importance of these cards cannot be overstated. If the extremists are allowed to draw the maps, they will be able to override the will of the majority and impose their agenda on the voters. The damage will be done for generations. Work is now beginning to ensure a fair and democratic redistribution in 2030.
The road ahead under another Trump administration is and will be difficult, but there is a way through the chaos, and it starts with state legislatures. The power of our firewall in state legislatures has never been more important—all eyes must be on the states to restore our power and protect our future.
We cannot retreat
We now face a second Trump presidency.
There is nothing to lose. We must use our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger to oppose the dangerous policies that Donald Trump is unleashing on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as principled and honest journalists and authors.
Today we are also preparing for the future struggle. It will require a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis and humane resistance. We are faced with the passage of Project 2025, a far-right Supreme Court, political authoritarianism, rising inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis and conflicts abroad. Nation will expose and propose, develop investigative reporting and act together as a community to preserve hope and opportunity. NationThe work will continue — as it has in good times and bad — to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and in-depth reporting, and to expand solidarity in a divided nation.
Armed with 160 years of courageous independent journalism, our mandate remains the same today as it was when the Abolitionists were founded Nation— to defend the principles of democracy and freedom, to serve as a beacon in the darkest days of resistance, and to see and fight for a bright future.
The day is dark, the forces are building tenaciously, but it’s too late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is just the time when artists go to work. No time for despair, no room for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we make language. This is how civilizations heal.”
I encourage you to support Nation and donate today.
next,
Katrina Vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, Nation
