Our Mission
Taking Back
State Legislatures
About Progressive Takeover
Progressive Takeover, an affiliated organization of Progressive Turnout Project, is a grassroots-funded effort that uses the latest in tested field tactics to increase Democratic voter turnout in competitive state-level races.
Our successes have included:
- Helping flip Virginia’s legislature in 2017
- Electing Democrats to all five statewide offices in Wisconsin
- Working to elect state Supreme Court justices in North Carolina and Wisconsin
We prioritize state-level races where we can have the most impact — like in Virginia and New Jersey’s 2021 elections. Our Campaign Fellows will offer critical support to candidates who need it. And, wherever possible, we overlap our efforts in federal races with key state legislative districts for maximum downballot impact.
Why State Races
State legislatures are the front line for so many of the fights we’ve seen over the last few years: reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, police violence, and ballot access, to name a few.
Redistricting in particular continues to be an important battleground, and we’re determined to help elect the legislators, judges, and others who will fight to end gerrymandering and draw fair maps.
With a 6–3 far-right majority on the U.S. Supreme Court ready to rubber-stamp the Republican agenda, it’s even more important that bad laws never get passed in the first place.
Gaining Ground
In the historic 2022 midterm elections, Democrats not only defended every legislative chamber in their control — we flipped the Pennsylvania House, the Minnesota Senate, and both chambers of Michigan’s legislature. We also blocked Republican supermajorities in Wisconsin and North Carolina, keeping the Democratic governors’ important veto power intact.
That’s a huge deal — and it couldn’t have happened if Democrats resigned to only showing up every four years.
We can continue to build on these successes by maintaining our investments, building the Democratic bench, and keeping an on-the-ground presence.
That’s why Progressive Takeover and our parent organization, Progressive Turnout Project, have invested millions in Campaign Fellows to support legislative candidates at the state level. In these out-of-the-spotlight races, our investment can have a real impact — and pay dividends for Democrats for years to come.
In the 2021–22 cycle, our 1,040 Campaign Fellows supported Democrats running for federal and state office across the country. Read more about the Fellows program →
Paid for by Progressive Turnout Project (www.turnoutpac.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee