Progressives study the conservative playbook to build power in the states

Progressive organizer Gaby Goldstein, founder of State Futures, says the left has 'left a huge amount of power on the table' by not matching conservative groups like ALEC, which claims over 2,000 state lawmaker members and has shaped model legislation on education, labor and taxation since 1973. Her group has coordinated Democratic lawmakers on nearly 250 state bills this year aimed at limiting federal immigration enforcement.

ALEC president Jonathan Williams welcomed the attention, noting with some irony that groups long critical of ALEC now want to replicate its model, while suggesting progressive groups lack ALEC's sustained funding base. California Assemblymember Sade Elhawary pointed to a January gathering of Democratic lawmakers from over a dozen states in Minnesota as an example of cross-state solidarity amid immigration enforcement actions.

Earlier efforts to counter ALEC include ALICE, formed in 2012 in response to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's collective-bargaining rollback, which later merged into the State Innovation Exchange, now claiming about 1,800 lawmakers across all 50 states.

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