Washington, D.C. — Today, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) announced a new partnership with The States Project in support of state legislative races in five key states. The partnership will help support multi-million dollar electoral programs in Arizona, Colorado, New Hampshire, Michigan and Pennsylvania. All of these states have been named to NDRC’s 2022 Democracy Targets, an electoral program that supports candidates for offices that are critical to protecting democracy overall, in addition to those that are involved in redistricting.

“State legislatures are crucial in the fight to protect our democracy. We have seen over the past several years that, across the country, Republican-dominated legislatures have led the greatest attack on the right to vote since the Jim Crow era. We have seen this in several forms ranging from gerrymandering, to introducing hundreds of voter suppression bills, to threatening impeachment of state judges simply because Republicans did not like to be held to account for breaking the law,” said Eric Holder, the 82nd Attorney General of the United States and Chair of the NDRC. “A cruel result of the Supreme Court’s abysmal Dobbs decision is that it is has further empowered and emboldened these same power-hungry politicians to pass consequential legislation that is directly at odds with the will of the voters, including extreme abortion restrictions, and will change American life as we know it. 

“The alarm bells are ringing in our state legislatures. Whether it is stopping the 2024 presidential election from being stolen, protecting the individual rights that Americans hold dear, or ensuring the legislative districts that choose our nation’s representatives are drawn fairly and legally, the most important fights facing our country will be settled in state legislatures. We are proud to partner with an organization like the NDRC that is working to put an end to unconstitutional, gerrymandered maps and ensure that it is the voters who choose their representatives, not the other way around,” said Adam Pritzker, Founding Partner of The States Project. 

“State legislatures may just be our last best hope to protect American democracy. The States Project is committed to building pro-democracy majorities in crucial state legislative chambers to prevent power-grabs from the rightwing that overrule the will of the voters. Working hand-in-glove with NDRC, we are deploying the most effective, evidence-based tactics to net the most votes possible in races that will be decided by razor-thin margins,” said Daniel Squadron, Founding Partner of The States Project.  

“The dangerous potential consequences of this election are real, but the good news is that there is something all of us can do: vote – and help others to vote. As a result of our fight for fair maps this past redistricting cycle, there are more fair legislative maps this decade than before. This has created an opportunity for voters to make their voices heard in more legislative chambers. That’s why we are proud to partner with The States Project to support state legislative races where we have a real chance to flip control over key chambers. This effort is critical to ensuring voters understand what is at stake in this election and to shine a spotlight on pro-democracy state legislative candidates, who will not only defend our democracy but also strengthen it. Now is the time for the people to engage in the electoral process in order to ensure our institutions are responsive to the will of the majority and live up to our founding ideals,” Holder concluded. 

###