Stopping the Trump-packed U.S. Supreme Court from helping Republicans and Donald Trump steal the next election is absolutely the objective of the 2022 midterm election. No, we can’t stop the Supreme Court from what could be an absolutely devastating ruling on on the absolutely made-up “independent state legislature” theory, but we can make sure that there are state and local officials who will create crucial bulwarks to stop the right wing from stealing the White House in 2024. And, well, democracy.
That’s the weight that Veronica Klinefelt, a Democratic candidate for state Senate in Michigan, feels every day on the campaign trail, she told The New York Times. “Nobody’s going to care or remember who Veronica Klinefelt is 20 years from now,” she said. “I talk about that. But what they will remember is what happened during this time. If the small-d democracy changes dramatically, they’ll never forget that. And so if I fail, and because of that, we don’t have protection in the Legislature, that’s something that I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life.”
The Michigan legislature and state officials, like the attorney general, secretary of state, and supreme court justices, are going to be absolutely essential to protecting the election—along with those officials in every swing state.
Democrats have their best shot in ages at wresting control of the state legislatures in both Michigan and Pennsylvania and depriving Republicans of their most powerful tool for rigging future elections. Donate now to flip the state houses in Michigan and Pennsylvania!
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The U.S. Supreme Court has not yet scheduled when it will hear Moore v. Harper, the case that could give state legislatures total authority over federal elections, unchecked by the other branches of state government, even by state supreme courts. That’s the direct path to Republicans determining the outcome of elections regardless of the popular vote. They would have the final say in drawing congressional districts and in choosing the slate of electors for the presidential Electoral College.
This is one of the theories that Trump lawyers were relying on in 2020, one they took to the Supreme Court in December of that year. The court did not take Trump’s case, but accepted one from North Carolina challenging that state supreme court’s power to adjudicate redistricting. Before Trump and McConnell seized the Supreme Court, a case pushing this crackpot theory would never have been put on the docket. With the solid 5-4 (and wavering 6-3) majority, the MAGA court is at least sympathetic to the theory. We’ll see if five of them are unprincipled enough to actually buy it.
Even apart from the Court, though, there have to be Democratic officials in place in key states to protect our elections: Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin. These officials—attorney general, secretary of state, and supreme court justices—all have a role in ensuring that voting laws are equitably applied and followed, that the vote counts are secure and valid, and that the will of the voter is followed.
To that end, Daily Kos has endorsed 17 Democratic candidates for attorney general, secretary of state, and state supreme court across eight crucial states. We’ve also endorsed 19 candidates in races in two of the most important states—Michigan and Pennsylvania—where Democrats are poised to flip state houses.
But of course we’re not the only ones. The Republican State Leadership Committee is targeting both state supreme court seats and legislative seats. They’ve raised $71 million in largely dark money this year to pour into the project. Fair Courts America, part of a big extremist dark money network under the umbrella of Restoration of America, is going to spend $22.5 million just on judicial races.
More than $12 million, most of it dark money, has been spent on electing Republican secretaries of state, 11 of whom are election deniers.
The majority of Republicans running in these key races and for state house seats are election deniers, so it’s not one bit hyperbolic to worry about the future of democracy. In their hands, it would be toast.
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Good judges are more important now than ever. In some states, judges are on the ballot this November. In this episode of The Downballot, we shine a spotlight on elections for state supreme courts: actor and activist Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Together, Daily Kos and Julia are proud to announce their endorsement of seven Democratic candidates running for closely divided courts in Michigan, North Carolina, and Ohio. You can support this slate by going to JusticewithJulia.com and donating today.