Democratic National Committee launches voter registration efforts in swing states Arizona, Nevada

The Democratic National Committee has announced a seven-figure investment to register voters ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, beginning in Arizona and Nevada, where DNC Chair Ken Martin sees untapped potential among the states’ unregistered Latinos.

In Arizona, the effort aims to chip away at a Republican voter registration advantage that has steadily widened since 2020 — an alarming trend reflected among the national electorate, Martin acknowledged in a press call Tuesday morning.

“For too long, Democrats have ceded ground to Republicans on register and voters,” Martin said. “Between 2020 and 2024 alone, our party lost a combined 2.1 million registered voters. Meanwhile, Republicans gained 2.4 million voters.”

While the Republican Party has directly invested in partisan voter registration drives, Democrats have largely outsourced their voter drives to nonpartisan 501(c)3 organizations that by law are barred from discussing the Democratic Party’s platform and candidates, Martin said.

“The challenge … for outside groups is that they cannot connect the dots between our party values, our candidates, and of course, the party itself, because they can't legally talk about those things,” Martin added.

U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego said the investment is essential in Arizona, where he says Republicans increased their registration advantage over Democrats in the state by roughly 115,000 voters over the course of his 2024 Senate campaign.

While Gallego won his Senate race, President Trump easily won Arizona's 11 Electoral College votes that year, in part by swaying support from Latinos and other demographics that Gallego and Martin said Democrats have taken for granted.

“As we learned in 2024, we can't just assume that certain demographics, whether they be young voters, voters of color or otherwise, will automatically support the Democratic Party,” Martin said. “We have to earn every registration so that we can earn every vote, and that's why this new initiative, beginning with our investment in Arizona and Nevada, puts the DNC back in the game.”

Democrats have a lot of ground to make up in states like Arizona, where Republicans and MAGA-aligned organizations like Turning Point USA have heavily invested in registering new GOP voters.

The DNC’s initial investment in Arizona and Nevada — where Democrats hold a slim voter registration advantage — underscores the emerging importance of the southwestern states as battlegrounds that can tip the balance of power in Congress and help provide a path for future Democratic presidential candidates to take back the White House.

“There is no pathway to victory for Democrats going into the future without Nevada and without Arizona as part of the Electoral College,” Gallego said. “The swing seats that you're going to see in the future from congressional seats will be from our states when we expand after the census. Our Senate seats are always swing seats.”

While Arizona and Nevada will serve as something of a testing ground for the DNC’s initial investment, Martin vowed the voter registration will be a nationwide effort by the party.

“These deficiencies exist throughout the country, right? We've been getting our butts kicked for years now by the Republicans on voter registration,” Martin said.

“So yes, we'll be making initial investments in Nevada and Arizona and piloting some of this work here,” he added. “But make no mistake about it, this is a national initiative.”