Democracy at a Crossroads: Abusive Preemption in 2026 – and the Fight to Reclaim Local Power
JUST PUBLISHED: The Local Solutions Support Center’s 2026 Legislative Session Report is now live – click here to read the report, which includes analysis of the number of abusive preemption bills introduced and passed, how trends have changed over the past few years, and a deep-dive case study into Virginia and the work to update home rule in the state.
Earlier this year, Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC) highlighted how abusive preemption has become a central tool in a broader effort to concentrate political and economic power. Increasingly, some lawmakers, backed by special interests, are using state power to reduce the ability of local communities to solve local problems, protect local residents and workers, and position their communities for growth.
As the majority of 2026 state legislative sessions have wound down across the country, it’s clear that trend only accelerated.
LSSC tracked nearly 1,000 abusive preemption bills this year. This historic surge isn’t occurring in isolation. It’s unfolding as part of a larger series of efforts to consolidate power and wealth, weaken accountability, and take power away from people and communities.
During the last year, as abusive preemption spiked:
The Trump Administration embraced authoritarianism and consolidated power at significant speed and with little resistance from Congress and the courts; creating a blueprint for state lawmakers who wanted to roll back policies across areas like immigration, civil rights, minimum wage and paid sick leave, and the environment.
ICE deployed to communities across the country, particularly Minneapolis, operating with little regard for local law enforcement and facing scant accountability for incidents of violence. ICE has shot nearly two dozen people on streets across the country over the last year, including fatal shootings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Alex Pretti, Renée Good, Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, and Ruben Ray Martinez.
Following the Supreme Court’s Callais decision, a number of states rushed to gerrymander Congressional districts - including Tennessee; which dismantled the state’s only remaining Democratic-held Congressional seat in majority-Black Memphis into three new Republican-leaning districts.
These are all disparate pieces of a larger story. Whether through federal authoritarianism, abusive preemption in the states, racist gerrymandering, attacks on democratic institutions – the common thread is the concentration of power in the hands of the few. The new class of American power brokers and oligarchs.