Our State Selection Convention
- State Fair
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 7 hours ago
Over the past few months State Fair has been busy planning our 2026 State Selection Convention to determine where we will be placing our support, as we head toward the midterms.
Much like in 2024 our leadership team each took on one of The States Project's targeted states to pitch (some had to pitch more than one due to the large and increasing pool of targeted states!), agonizing over deciding whether to take on one, two, or three states, then opening up the vote to our membership. We held two Zoom events, first to discuss the current landscape of state legislatures and the road ahead, and second to go into the details of what is at stake and where the opportunities are. We also had some fantastic guests joining in with the pitches representing their home states.
We gave members the chance to think on it, proposed a vote and ...
That's right, we are placing our support into a southern state where The States Project has identified the opportunity to grow the House minority caucus. As it stands, Democracts hold 49 seats in the House and 20 in the Senate. Previous work by The States Project in North Carolina broke the rightwing supermajority in the House and held ground in the Senate, allowing Governor Josh Stein the power to veto harmful policies advanced by rightwing majorities. However, increasing the seats in the House chamber will create a stronger buffer against extreme rightwing policy, since the current chamber makeup is relying on minority members to show up and vote, and only one seat is protecting veto power.
Whilst the general focus for The States Project is on states where Democrat wins are possible to shift the balance of power, this doesn't mean more red leaning states are overlooked. Their history with North Carolina stems from 2018, each election year gaining seats to break and buffer against a supermajority. In 2022, The States Project's electoral work held off a supermajority in the House by just one seat. However, with Representative Tricia Cotham joining the rightwing majority, more work was required to ensure the chamber was further protected from a supermajority. With such shifting alliance, this work is an antidote to staving off an increasingly extreme right wing in southern and redder states.
Currently, North Carolina is seeing threats to policy concerning everyday issues that affect the lives of North Carolinians, such as gerrymandering, immigration, healthcare, elections, AI, employment and housing.
NC Democratic Party leader Anderson Clayton has identified areas of work the party needs to win, such as increasing rural, young and black voters participation, the latter having been heavily disenfranchised by Republican approved districts.
Governor Josh Stein has taken strides to ban insider betting on prediction markets and reducing the environmental threats caused by data centers. Stein previously vetoed a bill determining that it would have walked back North Carolina's climate target commitment in reducing carbon emissions, but this was overturned by Republican lawmakers and even some Democrats.
With our focus on North Carolina and our donation goal of $150k (which we hope to exceed and be able to extend!), we can fuel The States Project's campaign work to help achieve their electoral goals. Work such as local press coverage, ad testing, recruitment for campaign staff and the all important and proven effective candidate door knocking.
North Carolina is hugely popular, with both our membership and other giving circle leaders who have placed their support into the state this year. Why not join us in the fight for democracy and creating fair governance in state legislatures by visiting the link to our Grapevine giving page. You can join as either a member, or with a donation, to participate in this proven successful work and make your political dollars go further!
