First off, thank you for welcoming me to the Daily Kos community. It’s an honor to fight alongside you.
While I don’t pretend to be an expert, one of the things that's become clear to me over the years is that state and local officials affect our lives as much as U.S. senators and congressmen.
Republicans have been playing the long game, building up power in downballot offices for decades. And Democrats have only recently been catching up.
Yet we still seem to have a collective blindspot when it comes to state supreme court races.
Why? One reason seems to be that there is no national organization on the Democratic side working to get good people elected, or even to shine a light on these critical races. This gap has left donors and volunteers with an alarming lack of information on who to support in 2022 to help defend our fragile democracy.
That's why I'm so happy to be teaming up with Daily Kos to promote a slate of incredible state supreme court candidates on the ballot this fall.
Please join me in supporting these seven fantastic Democrats and help us win majorities on the Michigan, North Carolina, and Ohio supreme courts!
I know what you may be thinking: State supreme court elections? Aren't judges appointed?
Well, no! As you’ll learn in my conversation with David Nir and David Beard on this week's episode of The Downballot podcast, the United States is almost alone in the world in electing judges to office, yet many states do in fact elect their judges.
These elections are important because while the U.S. Supreme Court may only hear 100 or 150 cases a year, the country's 50 state supreme courts can hear thousands of cases between them. Laws that touch every part of American life, from abortion to gerrymandering, are decided by these courts.
In 2022, Michigan, North Carolina, and Ohio are the states where the court majority is up in the air, and either Democrats or Republicans could come out on top. In fact, in all three courts, just one seat could change which side winds up in control. In Michigan and North Carolina, we're defending slim 4-3 majorities, while in Ohio, we're looking to topple the Republicans' 4-3 majority and flip the court to the Democrats.
These races are critical, and they deserve your attention even if you don't live in these states. I don't need to tell you how important Michigan, North Carolina, and Ohio are in presidential elections. Republicans almost succeeded in stealing the 2020 election, and they've spent the last two years learning from their near-failure. We need to learn from it too and be proactive in heading it off. We need to reinforce every one of our democratic institutions against election theft, and that includes electing dedicated public servants to these state supreme courts who will strike down attempts to invalidate the will of the people.
I’m thrilled to report that we’ve now smashed through the $100,000 mark, as you can see on the donation tracker above. These funds will go such a long way in these contests, which are determined with just a fraction of the budget of House or Senate races. Can we hit $150,000 next?
So please, if you haven't already, click here to donate $10, $100, or whatever you can give to elect Democrats to the Michigan, North Carolina, and Ohio supreme courts! And tell your friends to give too at JusticeWithJulia.com!