Why 40% of Democratic Races Are Lost Before They Start

We sit down with Michelle Hornish, co-founder and executive director of Every State Blue, and Michelle Higgs of Indiana Rural Summit to expose one of the biggest blind spots in Democratic politics: 1 in 5 state legislative races had NO Democrat on the ballot in 2024, and another 1 in 5 were drastically underfunded. That's 40% of races across the country where Democrats essentially forfeited before the fight even began.Michelle Hornish breaks down Every State Blue's groundbreaking "bathtub method" of crowdfunding for candidates in the reddest districts in America, how a $7,000 funding floor transformed races in Missouri and Ohio, and her new national initiative "First in Line," which is putting resources into the hands of candidates running in previously uncontested districts across every state with the 2026 elections.Michelle Higgs shares how Indiana Rural Summit organized 12 house candidates across 30 counties in 2024, grew to covering 53 candidates across 75+ counties in 2026, and why the "churn and burn" cycle of candidate recruitment is failing rural America. She makes the case for voter agency, long-term bench building, and why Democrats need to stop treating rural races as lost causes.Together, they make a compelling argument: we don't have a money problem, we have an allocation problem. And the solution is coalition building, grassroots funding, and showing up everywhere.