Former President Barack Obama is asking Democrats to look past Congress and toward the races he says will shape Americans’ lives more directly: the contests for seats in state legislatures.
In a fundraising email sent Tuesday evening for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), Obama argued that state lawmakers often matter more to ordinary people than the officials in Washington.
“In a lot of ways, the people who represent us at the state level have more of an impact on our lives than our elected officials in Washington,” Obama wrote.
He said the fight over civil rights, fair representation and “elections that reflect the will of the voters runs through America’s statehouses.”
Obama pointed to his years in the Illinois Senate, where he said he “saw how state legislators could use their power to improve the lives of millions of Americans and strengthen our communities.”
He also suggested that the stakes have grown under President Donald Trump’s second term, though he did not name Trump specifically.
“In fact, with the weakening of democratic norms we’re seeing right now, our state legislatures have never been more important to safeguarding our future,” Obama wrote.
The email said Democrats have “only 21 days to take advantage of a generational opportunity to win power in the states.” It warned that the DLCC faces “critical program gaps that will leave legislative seats vulnerable” ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms.
The DLCC says it runs national strategy for more than 3,000 state legislators and thousands of Democratic candidates in all 50 states.
“At a moment when our country feels divided and our democracy seems broken, I still believe change only happens when ordinary people get involved and stay engaged,” the ex-president wrote.
He signed off with a short call to action: “Show up. Dive in. Stay at it.”
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