How Democrats are Ready to Win Back State Races

Did you vote for President Trump?

I did three times.

Why?

Because I thought he was the right person for the job. And I didn't expect this.
I didn't expect this. You know, they say all politics is local.
And when you go and speak to people now at the local level, you're hearing stories like that individual, a disabled veteran who was recently fired from his job after glowing performance reviews. More on him in a moment, that three-time Trump voter who now has regrets.
You look at red states like Iowa, a recent town hall that was held there with Senator Chuck Grassley, who's been representing that state for like literally decades and decades. Here's what happened at that town hall in Ruby Red, Iowa.
Let's play it. Congress is created and in violation of the Constitution.
My question to you is,

why do you believe that President Trump is above the law? And I'll just reinforce what

other people have been saying here. Why have you not spoken out for it? Yes.
We have trusted you with our votes. We have sent you to Congress for decades.
We expect you to follow through what we Iowans really want our government to do and not to have a federal government that is being dismantled by this President Trump and Elon Musk. Please stand up for what's right and do your job.
Please stand up for what's right and just do your job. I'll take to a pennsylvania butcher who's commenting on how trump's tariffs crushing their business let's play it here this is all domestic but as you know you used to work at costco uh the big chains they get a lot of their beef from canada and mexico if you get a 25 tariff on that's that do? It's going to increase the price.

The consumer's going to pay for it. You're on board with that? Well, listen, I mean, you have no choice in a way.
I mean, my philosophy is to sell it as low as you can to show a savings of value to the customer, and hopefully you have more customers to generate your. Notable as you look at that chyron right there, you see the market tanking once again for a lot of Americans, especially when you ask them at a local level as well.
That means their pensions are getting destroyed, their 401ks are being destroyed, their life savings is suddenly disappearing. In addition to a lot of people being affected in lots of different ways by what's going on in the government.
I mean, take a look at this. You have a promising advance in the fight against Alzheimer's now being threatened by doge cuts.
A promising advance in the fight against Alzheimer's could be threatened by doge cuts and funding delays. Researchers have developed an experimental drug that appears to delay symptoms in some people who are genetically destined to get the disease in their 40s or 50s.
It is a first of its kind study, but early results have been encouraging. However, the NIH grant that researchers hoped would fund further research to save lives has been delayed.
An example of how spending cuts and confusion in Washington are affecting critical scientific research. You know, finally, Donald Trump's Commerce Secretary, billionaire Howard Lutnick, he's been the one who's been on TV telling people to buy Tesla stock and he wants everyone to in the future by Tesla robots for $30,000 a piece.
Must be nice. He went on a tech bro podcast called the All In Podcast, where I guess they just talk about like rich people problems and like their mansions and their stock portfolios, like whatever, their Bitcoins.
I don't know what the hell they talk about. But here they ask Howard Lutnick, should we be speaking in a more empathetic way about Doge destroying people's lives? The official answer from the Trump regime.
Let's play it. Before we get there, I want to ask one last question on the cuts.
Can we speak in an do we need to speak in a more empathetic way? Because that trillion dollars of spending flows into someone's pocket. Some percentage of that pays people a salary, and they live on that income.
And I think a lot of the— No, no. Okay, I think this is important for you to highlight, because a lot of people are reacting.
No, no, no, we shouldn't be more empathetic. Let's just be the way we are and just destroy people's lives.
I want to bring in Heather Williams. She's the president of the DLCC, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.
You focus on the state races. All things are local, Heather.
You watch that. Some of the data that we have shows that this is permeating some of the local special elections.
I want you to speak about that. But state Democrats are now overperforming by an average of nine points in state legislative special elections.
Can you speak to what you're seeing at the state level and how important it is at these state races? Yeah, thank you. And I love being here with you.
What we're seeing is people show up for these special elections. This idea that we are powerless is not actually true.
We have a lot of impact and power at the state level. 50% of Americans have legislative Democrat power in their state.
And these special elections are showing us a place where we can channel our energy. Much like we're seeing folks rise up in these town halls and make sure that their voice is heard against this incredible Republican harm that is being done.

These special elections provide a great opportunity for people to show up and make their electoral voice heard.

And we've got another really important one coming up on Tuesday in Pennsylvania.

Big race in Pennsylvania, as you mentioned, majority control in the statehouse there in Pennsylvania and the Commonwealth will be determined by this race. A Democrat passed away.
So right now it's one oh one one oh one. And this race right here features an individual by the name of Guggenhauer, who's the Democratic candidate against the Republican Davis.

Guggenhauer is a police officer who supervise detectives and he serves on the school board. And then he's running against a guy who's a fire chief.
And, you know, this one's been, I guess, nationally a little bit under the radar. I think people in the Commonwealth, you know, know about it.
In my view, I think it was important to share all of those clips at the beginning because, you know, I think the strategy, and correct me if you think I'm wrong here, is the Republican candidate, the fire chief, he's trying to go under the radar. He's trying to disconnect himself from the ramifications, which would be the doge-ification of the Commonwealth of

Pennsylvania. A vote for the Republican in this race means all of those things that Elon Musk is

doing at the federal level, they're going to wreck the Commonwealth and it's just going to become

doge all over again. So the protections that Governor Shapiro has been able to fight for,

that may be in jeopardy now if you tip the scales to the Republican. Tell us about that race.
That is exactly right. Every Republican should be held accountable for what they are doing to dismantle not only our government, but cancer protection for kids, for our education funding, for the things that make our communities thrive.
And what's interesting, it's a little more context maybe about this Pennsylvania race is, you know, in 2024, this is a place where state Democrats did well. We held onto this chamber by one seat, the federal results obviously being different.
And this will be the fifth opportunity this year for Democrats to hold a legislative chamber. And Pennsylvanians, I think, are well aware of their choices and their options.
And there is no way that Republicans here can dodge what is happening within their party and what they are ultimately supporting. Can't dodge, doge.
It's right in your face. They're calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme.
They're taking away your Medicaid. You feel it in your 401k and every day you wake up and it's like, what new drama are these people going to be inflicting in our lives? It feels like, as I like to say it, we're kind of non-consensual participants in their dystopian reality show.
And all we want to do is just try to take care of our family and get on with our day and make an honest day's living. What else should people know about your organization? And it's very important.
Everyone always talks about how one of the ways Democrats have been outflanked in the past was that Republicans focused on local. They focused on the states.
And so I want to highlight what you're doing because Democrats are now focusing on the states and local and you're the person leading that. I mean, you're an official.
It's an official arm of the Democratic Party at the local level. This is what people have been asking to see.
So I want to show them this is what's happening. So what should they know? What can they do? Anything else you want to tell the people? Yeah.
You know, we've got elections again coming up sort of all the time. We start in November with really critical, important races in Virginia, where we'll be holding on to that chamber.
And then moving into next year, these local races are everywhere. And they are a great place to channel your energy.
We need to win at the ballot box against these Republicans and build power in the states alongside building our federal power. You can head to dlcc.org, find out more.
You can follow us at DLCC, cross all the social platforms, lots of opportunities to get involved, lots of opportunities to channel your energy and your frustration, and to stand up for democratic values that really just mean we're fighting for people to live the lives they want to live with the opportunities that they deserve in communities that are resilient and supportive of all. The lives they want to live, the opportunities they have, and just treat people right.
I said at the beginning, I was going to go back to that first clip I showed you of that veteran. And I just want to briefly close this video by showing people the types of individuals who Doge and Trump are picking on, disabled veterans.
And if they're picking on disabled veterans, don't think that you are immune. They're there.
If they haven't already come for you, trust me, they're they're coming for you. So why don't we why don't we play out with this with this clip right here, just so we can see here.
Play it. It's estimated at least six thousand veterans have lost their government jobs over the past month.
Kind of ironic. Many of them are disabled vets like Stephen Dow.
And then they said you have about five minutes, pack up your personal things. Dow served in the Air Force for 20 years.
A blast in Afghanistan left him with a broken neck. Why did you decide to look for a job with the federal government? Because I want to continue to serve.
He started working as an executive assistant at the Pentagon nine months ago. I mean, your review says you have a mastery of technology.
Steve sets the standard for productivity. You were good at your job.
I was. Yeah.
I take initiative for things. I find things that are broken and try to fix them.
And that's ingrained in me from when I was in the military. Did you vote for President Trump?

I did three times.

Why?

And that right there, I think, shows you the problem and shows you what the solution is.

Heather Williams, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate you.

Thank you.

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