Elizabeth Warren is one of four Democratic senators and potential 2020 contenders recording ads for a group connecting volunteers to down-ballot campaigns. | Scott Eisen/Getty Images Elections Warren and other potential 2020 Dems join fight to flip statehouses

Four Democratic senators in the discussion as potential 2020 candidates are joining the fight to turn state legislatures blue, recording ads for Sister District, a Democratic group connecting volunteers to down-ballot campaigns from far away.

“Getting involved in a state race is one of the best ways you can spend your time between now and Nov. 6,” says Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in one of the videos.


Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who this past weekend was in New Hampshire as part of his ongoing exploration of a presidential run, is also part of the effort, as are Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who are sometimes mentioned as possible 2020 contenders.

“There are going to be hundreds, if not thousands of state legislative races all across this country that are going to be decided by 100 votes, 200 votes,” Murphy says.

This is the first time that U.S. senators have so directly jumped into the fight for statehouses.

Sister District has connected with 30,000 people through its website, and broken them into 65 teams focused on races with the potential to flip, or begin to flip, Republican majorities in state capitols. In Democratic-heavy areas, they “adopt” districts in tougher-to-win areas, through phone banking, postcard-writing campaigns, and then traveling to them for door-knocking and other on-the-ground help closer to Election Day.

Top priorities this fall are flipping statehouses in Arizona, Colorado and New Hampshire, holding the Democratic majority in Washington state and shifting the calculus on gerrymandering in Pennsylvania and Michigan.

“We’re a majority — we just don’t have a majority in government,” said Sister District founder and Executive Director Rita Bosworth. “We’re taking the energy in these blue areas and taking it to other areas.”

