THE FOURTH BRANCH

A veteran state legislator argues that the real battlefield for American democracy lies in state government.

A former New York state senator and longtime aide to U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, Squadron brings insider experience to this debut effort, arguing that Americans have fundamentally misunderstood where political power resides. “On the things people care about most, the state is almost always responsible,” he writes. His central aim is to redirect civic attention away from Washington gridlock and toward state legislatures, the arenas where redistricting, voting rules, and policy frameworks are shaped long before reaching the national stage. At one point, underscoring the labyrinthine nature of state governance, he notes that “Between them, there are fifty-one different election laws,” a reminder of how fragmented and consequential state authority has become. The book is laid out in three broad sections. The opening section serves as a civics-heavy foundation, explaining how state governments function and how their decisions ripple upward into federal law and Supreme Court rulings. The middle chapters shift toward the mechanics of power: redistricting strategies, legislative alliances, and the steady growth of political advantage. The final portion reads as a kind of playbook, urging readers to fund, organize, or even run for state office. These arguments prove especially urgent within the context Trump’s second administration, where executive power and judicial appointments have intensified ideological divisions. Squadron repeatedly points to long-standing Republican efforts to build institutional leverage through conservative policy organizations and advocacy networks, as well as think tanks, such as the Heritage Foundation or the Koch brothers’ Cato Institute, that have refined messaging, drafted model legislation, and steadily influenced statehouses across the country. Read in sequence, the book serves as a kind of handbook for political engagement. Yet in its first half especially, the tone somewhat resembles an extended civics lesson, thorough and relatable, though occasionally dense with procedural detail. For motivated readers, that density provides an essential foundation rather than a barrier.

A well-informed civics-driven guide arguing that state legislatures, not Washington, will shape America’s political future.