Stewart-Cousins to Lead the Democrats’ Efforts to Take Back State Legislatures

By Barrett Seaman

If you can make it in New York, the saying goes, you can make it anywhere. That appears to be the reasoning of the Democratic Party’s Legislative Campaign Committee in their choice of New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins as the person to lead a nationwide effort to take back state legislatures from Republicans in 2020.

Last year, Stewart-Cousins led the ticket as her party regained a majority in the New York Senate while enlarging its gains in the Assembly.

Republicans currently hold majorities in 30 of the 48 state legislatures that have partisan elections as well as 61 of the 98 “chambers” that are typically divided into assemblies and senates. That power has also allowed them to control how electoral districts are adjusted in census years—a process commonly known by its sobriquet: gerrymandering.

The National Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee that Stewart-Cousins will take over is on track to raise some $50 million, much of which will be funneled into southern states where the GOP holds super-majorities.