#dlcc

I added Animaniacs Game Pack 1.0 (1997) to my DLCC legacy software archive.

— Heather Williams, President of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) commenting after Democrats flipped two legislative seats in Florida on Tuesday including HD-87 where Mar-a-Lago is located.

Since Trump's return to power, Democrats have so far flipped 30 state legislative seats.

State legislatures are the base of the constitutional pyramid in the US. If you are looking to take a more active political role this year, helping a Democratic candidate for state legislature is an excellent way to do so.

Over 85% of the states are having legislative elections this year. Flipping a GOP seat is awesome wherever it happens. Though some states like Wisconsin will be getting more attention than most.

To help out, contact the DLCC here. Or contact your county or state Democratic Party and tell them you'd like to help out in a state legislative campaign. Franklin Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama were all state legislators early in their careers. So you could be rubbing elbows with a future historical figure.

You don't have to live in a district to help a candidate in that district. But if you'd like to know which districts you're in, this link can help. Just enter your street address...

Eric Levitz at Vox:

Democrats have been raining cash on their presidential nominee like it’s confetti. Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign raised $204 million in July — more than four times the $48 million former President Donald Trump brought in, according to new filings with the Federal Election Commission. This was enough to erase the Republican nominee’s previous cash advantage; at the start of August, Harris had $220 million in cash on hand, while Trump held just $151 million. Official data on August fundraising has yet to be released. But there’s reason to believe that Harris’s money advantage grew last month, due in part to the Democratic National Convention. According to the Democrat’s campaign, it raised $540 million in the first six weeks since President Joe Biden handed off the nomination.

Yet this torrential downpour of campaign cash hasn’t trickled down the Democratic ballot: Even as Harris has begun outraising Trump, the Republican committee responsible for funding GOP state legislative candidates has amassed far more money than its Democratic counterpart. From January 2023 through the second quarter of this year, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) — the body tasked with electing Democratic state legislators — had raised $35 million, according to the committee. Over the same period, its GOP rival, the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC), had raised $62 million. Those figures do not include the fundraising of party-aligned outside groups that focus on state legislative races. In recent years, progressive organizations such as The States Project and Forward Majority have spent large sums on state-level races. It’s possible that when super PACs are taken into account, the GOP loses its apparent cash advantage. Then again, there are also conservative outside groups, such as Americans For Prosperity Action, that invest in down-ballot elections. What we know for sure is that, when it comes to the parties themselves, Republicans are outraising Democrats in the fight for statehouses. That fight is often neglected by the national spotlight — but it can have profound implications for Americans’ daily lives.

The Harris campaign appears to be conscious of its party’s down-ballot challenges. This week, it transferred $2.5 million of its own funds to the DLCC. Yet that largesse scarcely narrows the RSLC’s cash advantage. Ultimately, only Democratic donors can ensure that the GOP enjoys no down-ballot edge. Given blue America’s current enthusiasm and engagement, this should be possible — at least, if liberals come to appreciate the high stakes, and low cost, of winning state legislative races.

Dear Democrats: please prioritize state legislative races, especially in competitive states, as you get a lot more bang for your buck than the Presidential or Congressional races.

See Also:

smerry, v.

/smiɹə/

Middle English smerrey, Old English smereya. From Proto-Germanic smeɹeya, from PIE root *(s)mer-eyo.

To bring to mind; to cause to remember.

“That smell always smerries me of my grandmother’s house.”