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
Across the country, 30 state legislatures are under Republican control. (Minnesota’s, Alaska’s, and Virginia’s are split.)
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.
What's at Stake
Going into the 2020 elections, Republicans held 29 state legislatures. That number is now 30.
Democrats can’t win back these statehouses by only showing up every four years. It means building the party’s bench and voter base with a continued presence on the ground.
That’s why Progressive Takeover and our parent organization, Progressive Turnout Project, are investing millions in Turnout 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 2021 we were active in New Jersey and Virginia’s statewide elections. And in 2022, we plan to place hundreds of Campaign Fellows on state and federal campaigns across the country, for a total investment of $18 million in Fellows for 2021–22. 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