The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), the state Democrat-aligned campaign arm, no longer thinks it can flip the Arizona and Pennsylvania legislatures after pledging to do so earlier in the cycle.
The DLCC released an updated version of its state legislative priorities, which illustrates the trouble they are heading into in the midterms and shows that the Republicans have momentum heading into November.
The new target memo from the state Democrat-aligned committee looks different from the original target chambers state Democrats released in March 2021. It showed that the DLCC no longer believes it can flip legislative chambers in Arizona or Pennsylvania.
The two states are now listed on the memo under “Reverse Republican Advantages” rather than “Make a Play for Vulnerable GOP Majorities.” The memo cites the “political environment” as a reason why the DLCC can no longer flip the two states.
This comes after the DLCC repeatedly targeted Pennsylvania and Arizona and touted their momentum in both states throughout last year and even in March.
For Arizona, the original strategy memo from March 2021 said that Democrats “are on the cusp of a legislative majority in both chambers” in the state. In September 2021, DLCC National Press Secretary Christina Polizzi also said that “Arizona is one of our [DLCC’s] top targets.”
Additionally, in December, DLCC President Jessica Post said that the committee is targeting Arizona because the new maps after the redistricting process “could present opportunities,” and the New York Times wrote that DLCC is “focused on flipping” Arizona.
In Pennsylvania, the original strategy memo from March 2021 called the GOP majorities “extremely vulnerable” and vowed to “mount an aggressive challenge” in the state.
Post also said that the DLCC is targeting Pennsylvania because the new maps after the redistricting process “could present opportunities.”
And in a March interview with the Daily Kos, Post said that “In Pennsylvania, huge improvements in the state House maps, certainly. There are about 12 more seats that Hillary Clinton won. That’s certainly one way that we can judge the data. So that’s a great possibility for us to flip that chamber red to blue.” [Emphasis added].
The Times noted that the DLCC is “focused on flipping” Pennsylvania.
With the new revelations from the DLCC, its counterpart, the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC), the state Republican-aligned campaign arm, responded by saying they are admitting to being dragged down by President Joe Biden.
“Even the DLCC is now admitting that Joe Biden is dragging down state Democrats and that they are in huge trouble ahead of November,” RSLC Communications Director Andrew Romeo. “It turns out mimicking the president’s radical agenda in states like Arizona and Pennsylvania is a losing strategy, which is why the DLCC is apparently waiving the white flag in those battlegrounds despite vowing to flip them earlier in the cycle.”
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
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