3 DNC Candidate Forums This Week, The President Addresses The Nation, Weekend Hopium Fare
Today's DNC Candidate Forum Begins At 11am ET/Tom Bonier On Lessons From Arizona
Good morning all. It’s going to be a busy week. On Wednesday night President Biden will give a farewell address to the nation at 8pm ET. There are also three opportunities to see the DNC Chair candidates this week:
Today, 11am ET - DNC Officer’s Forum. This forum is for all the candidates for all the offices open at the DNC. While a full schedule has not been released the Chair’s forum is expected to being at 4pm ET today. You can watch all this on the DNC’s youTube channel and do subscribe while there.
Tues, 8pm ET - Chorus Forum. Chorus is proud to host a first-of-its-kind, creator-led forum for the Democratic Party Chair candidates. RSVP here.
Hosted by online personalities Brian Tyler Cohen, Elizabeth Booker Houston, Leigh McGowan (Politics Girl), Adam Mockler, and Zackory Kirk, the Chorus DNC Chair Forum will be a conversation that bypasses traditional media gatekeepers, allowing you to hear directly from the candidates about their plans to revitalize the Democratic Party, achieve electoral victories, and advocate for issues that improve the lives of all Americans.
Thurs, 130pm ET - DNC and Politico Officer’s Forum, Detroit, Michigan. On Thursday, January 16, the DNC and POLITICO will co-host an in-person candidate forum for DNC officer elections in Detroit, Michigan focused on the Midwest region. The forum will be moderated by POLITICO journalists Eugene Daniels, Dasha Burns, Jonathan Martin, Elena Schneider, and Holly Otterbein.
The forum will begin at 1:30 pm ET and feature candidates for Chair, Vice Chair, Vice Chair of Civic Engagement and Voter Participation, Secretary, Treasurer, and National Finance Chair. The forum will also be livestreamed on the DNC’s YouTube Channel, on POLITICO.com, and on POLITICO’s YouTube Channel.
Enjoy Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ speech to kick off the 119th Congress. In 10 days he and Leader Schumer will be our two most important leaders, and I will be doing more to bring in their words and arguments into our daily work at Hopium:
I strongly recommend Tom Bonior’s new analysis, Lessons From Arizona. It makes a very strong case for the DNC and state parties to once again take responsibility for partisan voter registration:
When we look at the voter registration trends in the state over the intervening four years, and combine that with the partisan turnout data from each election, it is not surprising that Dem support fell off the table in Arizona. Heading into the 2020 election, the Republican share of all registered voters in the state eclipsed that of registered Democrats by 3 points. By 2024 that margin had more than doubled, to 6.8%.
Look at this chart of party registration among new registrants over the past 3 election years in Arizona. Over the course of 2020, GOPs accounted for a 3pt larger share of new registrants. By 2020, that margin grew to 6 points. In 2024, that margin almost doubled again, to +11 GOP. Simply put, Republicans won the voter registration battle in Arizona (this is for another post, but we witnessed the same thing around the country over the past four years).
I am very heartened by the many self-reports from Hopium community members about the calls you are making to your Senate and House offices insisting they fight Trump’s unaccetpable 4 - Gabbard, Hegseth, Kennedy and Patel. Weighing in with your electeds and encouraging them to do the right thing should become a cornerstone of our “doing more and worrying less” approach here this election cycle. And don’t just do it with your Federal representatives. Extend your advocacy to your state and local electeds too. Part of our “do” culture here should become a committment to letting our representatives know how we feel, what we expect from them, all the time.
Finally, for your weekend reading, viewing and listening pleasure, I share a few of our recent offerings if you haven’t gotten to them yet:
On Biden and Dems Making Things Better - Another Strong Jobs Report, The New York Times On The Undeniable Success Of The Biden Presidency
On The Path Forward For Democrats - Raising Our Game, Building The Next Thing, Going 24/7/365 (post and video, includes my current working 7 key takeaways, recommendations and to dos), Dem Party And Our Electeds - Getting Louder, Going 24/7/365
On Trump’s Unprecedented Ugliness - Not Letting Trump’s Madness Become Our Own, January 6th - Another Date That Will Live In Infamy and a reminder that our next President is, literally, a serial criminal. Despite the bluster and the blather Trump 2.0 is off to a very wobbly start.
Reupping my first 9 interviews in our “What Happened, What Comes Next” video series. Some really good and timely stuff in here:
On Winning Arizona And Getting Latinos Back - With Senator-Elect Ruben Gallego
On Winning Virginia In 2025 - With Rep. Abigail Spanberger, The Democratic Nominee for Virginia Governor
On Winning Minnesota The Future Of The DNC and The Democratic Party - With Ken Martin, Minnesota Democratic Party Chair and A Leading Candidate For DNC Chair
On Winning Wisconsin and the Future of the DNC and Democratic Party - With Ben Wikler, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair and A Leading Candidate for DNC Chair
On North Carolina’s Impressive Downballot Wins - With Anderson Clayton, Chair Of The North Carolina Democratic Party
On Winning The Blue Dot And The Urgent Need To Invest in Democratic Party, Partisan Infrastructure - With Jane Kleeb, Nebraska Democratic Party Chair
On Trump’s Big Gains With Young People, Particularly Young Men - With John Della Volpe Of Harvard’s Institute For Politics
On The Power of Networks - With Joe Trippi, Legendary Democratic Strategist and Campaign Manager, Founder Sez Us and Resolute Square
On Reinventing Government and The Perils of DOGE - With Dr. Elaine Kamarck Of Harvard and The Brookings Institution
We close today with inspiration from Martin Luther King, Jr:
Keep working hard all. Proud to be in this fight with all of you - Simon
Simon, Field Team 6 is already doing partisan registration. They have considerable experience and claim to use proven methods. Yes, it’s an outside organization – but rather than reinventing the wheel, perhaps the DNC should work with FT6 (or at least learn from them)? I am looking forward to the organization releasing state-by-state data on their work preceding the 2024 election. (Perhaps we should try to elicit this.)
May I suggest you interview someone from Field Team 6 about voter registration of new Democrats? With a focus on hard data, discussion of what worked and what didn’t.
With so much deep sadness in my heart—the fires, the coming administration—I can think of little that would lift me more than listening to Hakeem address the chamber. His rhythms, his humanity, his assurance that we will still be fighting for what is right. Thank you for sharing that today. I deeply needed it.