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Hi Friend,
This year, we focused on Virginia a lot and for good reason: Virginia was the first state to hold its last round of legislative elections before the redistricting process begins in 2021. Thanks to the hard work of strong Democratic candidates, grassroots groups, volunteers, and donors, the Virginia General Assembly flipped blue one month ago today.
But Virginia isn’t the only state where the Flippable community saw victories in 2019. Here’s a list of Flippable alum highlights from the 2019 legislative session:
Colorado
 Newly blue Colorado passed the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, which was sponsored by Flippable alum Senator Jessie Danielson, in May. The comprehensive equal pay law made it to the governor’s desk thanks to a Democrat-led state Senate that Senator Danielson, along with fellow alums Senators Tammy Story and Faith Winters, helped flip blue in 2018.
This spring, Colorado also became the 15th state to adopt Extreme Risk Protection Orders, also known as “red flag laws,” and authorize the removal of firearms from high-risk individuals. Notably, the ERPO passed the state Senate in an 18–17 vote. And in July, lawmakers passed legislation that allows people convicted of felonies to vote once they’re on parole; previously, people could only vote after completing their parole sentence.
New Hampshire
 In May, New Hampshire abolished the death penalty after the Democrat-controlled state Senate—which Flippable alums Senators Shannon Chandley, Jeanne Dietsch, and Tom Sherman helped flip in 2018—overrode the GOP governor’s veto. New Hampshire is now the twenty-first state to ban capital punishment.
Pennsylvania
 Pennsylvania passed an election reform package, the state’s biggest in over 80 years, earlier this fall. Most notably, the bill, which received the support of Flippable alums Representatives Joseph Ciresi, David Delloso, Jennifer O’Mara, Christina Sappey, Melissa Shusterman, Mike Zabel and Senators Tim Kearney and Pam Iovino, allows no-excuse mail-in voting and lengthens the voter registration deadline from 30 days before an election to 15 days prior.
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While we celebrate these victories, the fact is that many Flippable alums still work in chambers that are under GOP control; this limits their ability to pass popular progressive policies and pro-democracy measures.
The only way to ensure that we see more legislative and democratic victories in the years ahead is by flipping critical state legislative seats in 2020. Just as we returned to Virginia this year to finish what the Flippable community started in 2017, we—together with Swing Left—look forward to building upon our 2018 work in more states next year.
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