Friends,

Every week we're reminded of the incredible power that states have to shape our democracy.

States are at the core of political power in our country: overseeing elections and redrawing all our electoral maps every 10 years after the census. Across the country, Republicans are pulling the rug out from under our democracy with the levers of power at their disposal in state governments—cementing their power through gerrymandering and voter suppression. Two recent examples that caught our attention:

• Texas: A new study from the Leadership Conference Education Fund found that Texas has shuttered 750 polling locations since the Supreme Court decision, Shelby v. Holder, released the state from federal oversight of its voter laws and practices. That accounts for nearly half of the polling locations closed nationally in the past six years as Texas Republicans have systematically limited access to the ballot box.

• North Carolina: After a state court recently ordered North Carolina Republicans to redraw the state’s electoral maps without partisan gerrymandering, a GOP state senator was caught trying to gerrymander his own district. The state senator has since announced his retirement, but he’s certainly not the first or last state legislator to gerrymander electoral maps.

Chip in now to help us win back power in key state legislative chambers and put a stop to these rampant attacks across the country on our democracy.

With the 2021 redistricting process set to redraw all our electoral maps for the next decade, the 2019 and 2020 elections are our last chance to take back key GOP-held state legislative chambers and prevent the GOP’s gerrymandering of maps through 2032.

With your help we can restore the fundamental building blocks of our democracy.

Grateful for your support,