Gun Safety Issues Helped Democrats Flip Virginia's General Assembly in 2019. Is Texas Next?
In 2019, Democratic legislators gained a majority in both Virginia’s state House and Senate for the first time in decades. After polls had closed, a survey of 600 swing district voters commissioned by gun control advocacy group Everytown For Gun Safety (Everytown) found that the issue that had most impacted their votes wasn’t related to the economy or even health care. It was a lawmaker’s position on guns.
Following the Virginia Beach mass shooting, Everytown spent $2.5 million on the state’s legislative races, focusing on Republican lawmakers who had resisted passing gun reform. Everytown became the largest outside spender in the election, outspending the National Rifle Association (NRA) by a four-to-one margin.
But can gun safety issues similarly mobilize voters in 2020 amid what to many may seem more pressing issues: a global pandemic, mass unemployment and calls to end systemic racism? Everytown believes so—the group, largely financed by Michael Bloomberg, is hoping to repeat their success in Virginia with $10 million focused on state legislative races alone, including seven-figure buys aimed at flipping state legislative chambers in Arizona, North Carolina, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Iowa and even Texas.
“Sometimes Congress is the curtain-raiser and sometimes it’s the finale, and that is certainly true when it comes to gun safety,” Everytown’s President John Feinblatt tells TIME in an email. “[Working] in the states is key to making sure that the majority of Americans who favor common-sense gun safety are represented by gun sense majorities.”
In 2019, Democratic legislators gained a majority in both Virginia’s state House and Senate for the first time in decades. After polls had closed, a survey of 600 swing district voters commissioned by gun control advocacy group Everytown For Gun Safety (Everytown) found that the issue that had most impacted their votes wasn’t related to the economy or even health care. It was a lawmaker’s position on guns.
Following the Virginia Beach mass shooting, Everytown spent $2.5 million on the state’s legislative races, focusing on Republican lawmakers who had resisted passing gun reform. Everytown became the largest outside spender in the election, outspending the National Rifle Association (NRA) by a four-to-one margin.
But can gun safety issues similarly mobilize voters in 2020 amid what to many may seem more pressing issues: a global pandemic, mass unemployment and calls to end systemic racism? Everytown believes so—the group, largely financed by Michael Bloomberg, is hoping to repeat their success in Virginia with $10 million focused on state legislative races alone, including seven-figure buys aimed at flipping state legislative chambers in Arizona, North Carolina, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Iowa and even Texas.
“Sometimes Congress is the curtain-raiser and sometimes it’s the finale, and that is certainly true when it comes to gun safety,” Everytown’s President John Feinblatt tells TIME in an email. “[Working] in the states is key to making sure that the majority of Americans who favor common-sense gun safety are represented by gun sense majorities.”
https://time.com/5880623/gun-control-everytown-texas-election/