The F*ck Gerry(mandering) Fund

While the fight for the White House and the Senate are getting all the attention as we get closer to November 3, we're thinking bigger. In 2020, we not only have the chance to undo the damage that has taken place since the 2016 election, we can also start to fix some of the bigger structural damage that has been in place since 2010, when the Republican backlash to the election of President Obama resulted in massive down ballot Republican gains. 

That meant Republican state legislatures were able to gerrymander state and congressional districts to disadvantage Democrats and pass voting rights restrictions which made it harder for Democrats to win state and congressional races. So how do we fix it? 

Last year, with your help, we flipped some of the closest state legislative races in Virginia and Democrats won both legislative chambers and will be able to draw newer, fairer maps in 2021. This year, Data for Progress has helped identify key races in states where Democrats have a real shot to make progress where your money can make the biggest difference. DFP did some analysis and these are three states that rely on state legislatures for redistricting, are still flippable, and would benefit from grassroots support:

In Florida, Republicans hold a trifecta in state power, but Democrats have a real opportunity to build back a strong bench to take back power in the state. Some of the most flippable districts are the 13 GOP-held seats that were won by either Hillary Clinton in 2016 or by gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum in 2018. Those districts include: 

Tammyette Thomas, HD-15 

Pasha Baker, HD-28 

Jared West, HD-41 

Nina Yoakum, HD-50 

Drake Buckman, HD-72 

North Carolina is one of the most severely gerrymandered states in the country, but since 2016, Democrats have flipped 16 seats in the state House and Senate and this year represents a major opportunity to flip both chambers. We can do that by helping elect:

JD Wooten, SD-24 

Virginia Cox-Daugherty, HD-12 

Frances Jackson, HD-45 

In Georgia, we need to win 16 seats to gain the majority in the House. Stacey Abrams won 81 in 2018. We’d need to win a mixture of suburban, rural, and small city districts and these are our best shots to do that.

Connie Di Cicco HD-44

Jason Hayes HD-49

Mary Blackmon Campbell HD-97

Nakita Hemingway HD-104

Regina Lewis-Ward HD-109

Stephen Baughier HD-147

Marcus Thompson HD-164

Pennsylvania will have a Democratic governor and won’t have a Republican supermajority, so we're a bit safer from Gerrymandering here. However, if we want to ensure that, we’ll need to hold the state house and flip the state senate. Here are some seats that help us get that done.

Janet Diaz SD-13

Julie Slomski SD-49

Harold Hayes HD-18

Lissa Geiger Shulman HD-30

Dana Gulick HD-97

Lauren Lareau HD-142

Mike Doyle HD-170

Adam Rodriguez HD-189

Thank you for chipping in what you can!

P.S. These are by no means all the most important races at the state level. If you want to learn more about the map this year and where you can chip in, check out our friends at the National Democratic Redistricting Committee: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ndrc-donate