EMILY’s List to Spend $15 Million on Key State-Level Races in 2026
EMILY’s List, the influential Democratic-aligned political action committee, announced Wednesday that it would spend $15 million on state-level races across nine battlegrounds this year.
The PAC’s 2026 State Power Plan calls for hefty investments in non-federal contests in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in a bid to bolster Democratic power in state government.
The group, which is focused on electing Democratic women who support abortion rights, said it would also get involved in a handful of states with GOP-controlled legislatures, including Kansas and New Hampshire.
The goal of the investments, according to the group’s president, is to limit Republican power at the state level and build a Democratic bulwark against the Trump administration.
“States are an increasingly critical check on Trump and the Republican chaos coming out of Washington,” EMILY’s List President Jessica Mackler said in a statement. “Democrats need governing power in critical states to go toe-to-toe with extreme gerrymandering efforts, slashes to health care, and other fights that will directly impact voters’ lives.”
The planned spending will inject millions more dollars into some of the most competitive elections of the cycle. Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, for example, are set to host the closest-watched governors’ races in the country and are already drawing hefty spending and financial commitments from party committees and outside groups.
The investment from EMILY’s List comes amid a broader effort by Democrats and Democratic-aligned groups to reclaim or expand state-level political power, where Republicans have long dominated.
In a strategy memo late last year, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee outlined an ambitious plan to target more than 650 state legislative seats and pick up ground in 42 chambers in 2026. The committee is also aiming to raise $50 million this year – a goal that, if achieved, would amount to its largest-ever single-year fundraising haul.
