Following the Republican playbook, the legislature created some of the most bizarrely gerrymandered Congressional districts in the country in 2011. The state Supreme Court required the lines be redrawn prior to the 2018 elections.
Democrats flipped a dozen state House seats in 2018 and are poised to flip at least one chamber in 2020 (the hope is a blue trifecta), giving Democrats a voice when it comes to Congressional redistricting in 2021.
There are several Congressional races to watch this year.
Pennsylvania is a presidential battleground state. Trump carried the state by a mere 44,000 votes.
Republicans brutally gerrymandered districts and instituted some of the worst voter suppression laws in the nation between 2010 and 2018.
Republicans also limited access to health care and widened the gap between rich and poor.
Flipping one branch of the General Assembly in 2020 would give Democrats a voice when it’s time to draw the state’s districts.
In 2020, there is a very competitive Senate race and three competitive Congressional races.
North Carolina is a presidential battleground state.
Republican gerrymandering has resulted in WI winning the distinction of having the worst case of gerrymandering at the state legislative level. In 2018, Rs won only 44% of the statewide vote, but they won 2/3 of the legislative seats. Republicans are 3 seats away from gaining a supermajority.
There are two important Congressional races to watch this year.
Wisconsin is considered one of the most important of the battleground states. Trump won the state by 23,000 votes.
Georgia’s rampant voter suppression tactics are legendary.
Georgia has been a Republican Trifecta since 2005 (meaning both chambers and the governorship are held by Republicans).
In 2018, Stacey Abrams lost the Governor’s race by 1.5%; Democrats gained 11 seats in the state House.
This year there are two competitive Senate races and two very competitive Congressional races.
While not necessarily considered a battleground state, Georgia is turning more purple and is ripe for building inroads.
The pathway to taking back the Senate necessarily runs through Maine. To flip this seat, Democrats need to improve on margins from Collins's last Senate election in 2014, particularly in the coastal regions of Portland, Augusta, and Bangor.
Democratic presidential candidates have typically carried these regions of the state, but Senate candidates have failed to break through in the last four cycles against Collins.
This year, with Collins’s flagging approval numbers after her vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Maine Democrats have their best opportunity in years to win at every level of the ballot.