They join Donald Trump in juicing UP the Democratic and Independent base of voters AGAINST Republicans country wide….
When Tennessee Republicans expelled two young, Black Democratic lawmakers from the state House last week, the national reaction was swift and intense.
Videos of their defiant speeches racked up millions of views on social media. Top figures in the Democratic Party, like Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), marshaled hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of online, grassroots campaign contributions to Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, and to the Tennessee Democratic Party.
Vice President Kamala Harris met with the “Tennessee Three” in Nashville; President Joe Biden, as well as former President Barack Obama, issued statements condemning their expulsion.
Millions of people who might not otherwise have cared about the machinations and players in the state house of a deep red state were, all of a sudden, devouring information about it.
Those striking responses reflected a sea change within the Democratic Party: national energy, outrage, and dollars flowing to fierce battles unfolding in the state capitals they once neglected.
After losing hundreds of state legislative seats nationwide in the 2010s, Democrats began reversing the trend in 2022. Backlash to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, among other things, fueled successful campaigns to flip state houses in places like Michigan and Minnesota.
To Democrats who have toiled for years to rebuild state level power, the reaction to what unfolded in Tennessee not only crystallizes the party’s recent shift, but signals the increased investment they believe is coming to states where Democrats hope to make gains in the 2024 election cycle….