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I think local action in other states can certainly pave the way, but I don't think local action in my state will make any headway at all until we're already at the point where people are seriously discussing federal mandates. They're just too dug in and entrenched.
The other option would be if the GOP imploded to the point where a concerted push by non-GOP voters could overcome the gerrymandering and voter suppression tactics in order to get a Democrat elected as governor and hopefully a majority of the state senate as well. At that point local pressure might be enough to get the RCV ban repealed and with even further pressure RCV or STAR voting enacted. I think that's less likely to occur than a federal mandate though.
Ultimately though, no matter the exact mechanism of achieving it every state is going to need to enact proportional voting if it's going to have any hope of fixing our politics, and for that I still think we'll need a federal mandate, whether the majority of states have adopted it at that point or not.
Of course, I don't deny that federal action is needed. I just think that historically local action builds momentum towards federal action. One federal action that is needed is a repeal of the outlaw of multi-member house districts. There is a 1967 federal law that requires single member districts. It was supposedly passed because of the fear that southern states might resort to winner-take-all at-large elections to dilute the voting strength of newly-enfranchised blacks in the South.
Even if RCV may not be feasible right now that doesn't mean that there isn't something that could be pushed for instead like a independent redistricting committee to fight gerrymandering or a minimum wage increase. Enough GOP voters will vote for good ballot measures to make them pass simply because there is no D or R attached. You only need to look at pro abortion access ballot initiatives to see that. Even Ohio amended their constitution to protect abortion access via ballot initiative.