While Republicans in D.C. tend to dominate the news, their counterparts in state capitols have quietly spent years pushing the same maligned agenda that coddles the rich and screws everyone else. Often with far too little attention, they’ve eviscerated worker protections, attacked women’s reproductive rights, made voting harder for communities of color, cut funding for education, allowed roads and bridges to fall into disrepair, and slashed taxes on the wealthy.
And then there's the original sin of politics: gerrymandering. By drawing distorted districts that entrench their grip on power, state Republicans ensure they have a free hand to advance their extremist policies and, at the same time, keep their counterparts safely ensconced in Washington. It’s a double win for the GOP, and lose-lose for voters.
But this year, we have a singular opportunity to thwart the Republican plot against the states. Powered by intense progressive enthusiasm and disgust with Donald Trump, Democrats are on the offense—and it’s not just Congress we have in our sights. Republicans are defending almost three quarters of the 36 governorships up for election in November, and many of those are vulnerable. Win these, and we can not only bring Republican legislation to a halt, we can start to roll back their worst excesses.
And in some states, we can do one better: We can stop the GOP from gerrymandering again. That’s why Daily Kos is pleased to endorse three fantastic progressives running for governor in three Midwestern states all controlled by Republicans—and where redistricting will be a huge issue following the next census:
Please give $1 to each of these three Democrats running for governor and halt GOP gerrymandering.
Whitmer, the Democrats’ former leader in the state Senate, was known as one of the most progressive voices in the Michigan statehouse throughout her career. In office, she helped lead the fight to expand Medicaid—under a Republican governor, no less—to 680,000 state residents, increased the minimum wage, and, in an unforgettable moment, made national headlines when she shared her own story of surviving sexual assault on the floor of the legislature when her GOP colleagues sought to require women to buy “rape insurance” as part of their healthcare plans.
Cordray is a former Ohio attorney general, but you likely know him best from his time as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the government agency proposed by Elizabeth Warren to safeguard the financial interests of ordinary Americans after Wall Street recklessness helped bring about the Great Recession. There, he cracked down on abusive payday lenders, forced credit card companies to refund billions for deceptive marketing practices, and enforced new rules to make mortgages safer. He also earned the virulent enmity of big banks and their Republican enablers—all for trying to protect consumers from the financial predators who fund the GOP.
Evers is the schools chief in Wisconsin, and you’re well familiar with his opponent: Gov. Scott Walker, who is seeking a third term. Evers has fought Walker for years, like casting the lone vote against a policy passed by Walker’s board of regents to crack down on student protesters and vowing to undo Walker’s massive cuts to education funding. Republicans despise Evers so thoroughly that last year, they passed a bill stripping him of his authority by requiring him to seek approval from Walker before issuing any regulations—a law Evers is challenging in court.
The 2018 midterms are so important for so many reasons, but here’s one that mustn’t be overlooked: It’s the last gubernatorial election in many states—including Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin—before the 2020 census. That means it’s the last chance for us to take the mapmaker’s pen away from Republicans before the next round of redistricting. Winning the governorship in these three states, which combined have more than three dozen congressional districts, will ensure Republicans can’t gerrymander new districts for themselves for another decade.
No more GOP gerrymanders! Donate $1 to each of these Democrats now.