Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Why 2018 Is Do-or-Die for Democrats

A combination of Donald Trump's unpopularity and significant demographic shifts in once-solid Republican suburbs has given Democrats an opportunity-more perishable than many observers realize-to reverse a "Lost decade" after their disastrous performance in 2010 elections.

Republicans currently control both the governor's mansion and state legislature in 26 states, while Democrats do the same in only 8 states.

In 2010, Democrats lost six Senate seats, 63 House seats, six governors, and 729 state legislative seats.

The real question, I think, in 2018 is going to be, "Who votes?" There is no question, based on the 2017 elections and the three or four specials in 2018, that Democrats are highly motivated to turn out to vote against Trump-particularly amongst African Americans, young people and suburban women.

For me as a Democrat, there are 13 states in particular that I'm focused on in the 2018 governors' races.

If Democrats can win the governorships in these states and hold the one in Virginia, then we have a seat at the table at the redistricting coming up-we can't be politically gerrymandered in these big industrial Midwest states and Florida.

There are eight other states that have the potential for Democrats to actually take control of all aspects of reapportionment so that we can draw lines that are more favorable to Democrats.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/23/2018-election-analysis-politics-217073

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