This essay is part of Beyond the battlegrounds, a special opinion series from MS NOW that digs into a number of lesser-known elections to watch, which will each nonetheless impact the national balance of power in important ways.
Every other year, Michigan often finds itself at the center of the political universe.
And the 2026 cycle is no different — millions of campaign dollars are flowing into the state. The stakes in this and other states across the country are momentous as candidates battle over who’s going to make life more affordable, protect folks’ rights and generally improve the lives of the people they represent.
But the candidates best positioned to make both immediate and lasting impacts aren’t running for federal office.In Michigan and a handful of other key swing states, the real change-makers are the folks about to be elected to their state legislatures.
In an election where voters are seeking change from the lousy status quo, winning those trifectas is essential to rebuilding the Democratic brand across the country.
Voters in Michigan, Arizona, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have a rare opportunity this year. In each state, Democrats could emerge with governing trifectas — control of the governorship, state house or assembly, and state senate.
And in an election where voters are seeking change from the lousy status quo, winning those trifectas is essential to rebuilding the Democratic brand across the country.
In each of those states, Democrats need to capture just a handful of seats on Nov. 3 to take or expand majorities in their legislative chambers.
In Michigan, Democrats are looking to flip at least four seats to take back the state House while keeping — or even expanding — their 20-18 Senate majority.
In Arizona, flipping just three state Senate seats will give Democrats a majority in the upper chamber, and netting four seats will give them outright control of the state House. The party hasn’t held a majority in either chamber since 1991.
In Minnesota, Democrats can break the 67-67 tie in the House by flipping a single seat. In the state Senate, they hope to expand their one-seat majority.
In Pennsylvania, Democrats would love to broaden their slim three-seat majority in the lower chamber, but the real prize this year is winning the three seats and flipping the state Senate. Democrats haven’t held a trifecta in the Keystone State since 1993.
And in Wisconsin, Democrats hope to build on their dramatic netting of 10 seats just two years ago by flipping five more on Nov. 3 to win a majority in the state Assembly for the first time in 16 years. Flipping just two state Senate seats will give Democrats the majority in the upper chamber.
In everything from media coverage to campaign and ad spending to placement on actual ballots, state legislative elections register as lower political priorities with most Americans.
More than 6,000 state legislative seats are up for grabs this year. Flipping fewer than two dozen of those thousands of seats, though, could be enough to give Democrats complete control of policymaking in five states. (And in two other states — Nevada and Vermont — the gubernatorial race is all that stands between Democrats and two more trifectas.)
And yet, despite the incredible amount of power fully Democratic-controlled states have to impact people’s lives, many progressive donors, activists and voters sleep on these races. In everything from media coverage to campaign and ad spending to placement on actual ballots, state legislative elections register as lower political priorities with most Americans.
This is a massive mistake — and this year it could be especially costly.
No matter where you live, if there’s an issue you care about, the folks representing you in the state legislature likely have passed a law impacting it: education, traffic, environmental protections, gun safety, healthcare, the economy, voting rights, reproductive freedom. While legislation takes months or even years to make its way through Congress (if it even does at all), any given state’s legislature passes anywhere from dozens to hundreds of new laws each year, establishing myriad new policies with both immediate and lasting impacts on people’s lives.
At the federal level, voters are widely expected to give Democrats control of the U.S. House — and possibly even the U.S. Senate majority. But even with full majority control of Congress, most changes Democrats will try to enact to improve Americans’ lives will founder against the likely vetoes of a Republican president.
This is why winning these state trifectas is particularly important this year. Democrats can use their unified control of these states to generate evidence for why voters should trust them in 2028.
Take Pennsylvania, for example. If Democrats flip the state Senate and keep the House and governorship, Keystone State residents can reasonably expect this new trifecta to finally raise the state’s minimum wage above the woeful federal rate, make child care more affordable and enshrine abortion rights in state law.
In Arizona, Democrats plan to pass new laws to reduce prescription drug costs, make housing more affordable, block spikes in utility rates and improve public education funding by reigning in the state’s over-sightless and corrupt school voucher program.
And Democrats in Michigan hope to use their majorities to rein in pharmaceutical costs, block algorithmic price gouging and protect residents from spillover effects from data center, like energy and water rate hikes.
The clear through line across all the states where Democrats hope to win new governing power in November is making folks’ lives more affordable — which is the top priority for voters of both parties all across the country.
Even when policies do move at the federal level, they move slowly. But voters are notoriously impatient, and most of them expect Democrats to provide affordability solutions sooner, not later. At the state level, big change can happen incredibly quickly, and that can help Democrats at every level of government demonstrate proof of concept, so to speak, so voters back them in 2028.
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