Happy Wednesday all. Got a few things for you today:
Abortion Moves Front and Center - With the Arizona and Florida Supreme Court decisions green-lighting draconian abortion restrictions, abortion and the stripping away of rights and freedoms away from the women of the United States is now at the very center of the 2024 election.
Yesterday I sat down with Anna Hochkammer, the Executive Director of the Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition, a leader of the coalition behind the Florida abortion ballot initiative. In our talk, above, Anna provides a great overview of where we are in Florida just days after the state Supreme Court’s decision to let the six week ban take effect in a few weeks. It’s a very informative discussion, and we are lucky to have Anna leading the now urgent fight for reproductive freedom in Florida. Hope you watch.
At a political level, it remains astonishing that Republican leaders continue to back six week bans or the things like the imposition of territorial law in Arizona. In Florida support for the six week ban is 22%. I assume support of the territorial law in Arizona is even lower. No American political party in modern times has advanced such unpopular issues that are so important to voters. It is a confirmation of how extremism and extremists have overtaken the GOP - imposing such unpopular things on voters and expecting them to roll over is far more authoritarian than something that would happen in a healthy democracy. But they keep doing it, again and again, in state after state, imposing their deeply unpopular and dangerous extremist agenda on all of us; and thankfully, people are rising up, doing the work, winning elections, passing ballot initiatives and repeatedly beating back this extremism.
The combination of the advance of these extremist laws in AZ and FL, and Trump’s ugly embrace of them in his remarks on Monday, however, make it clear that if Republicans are not defeated this year they will be emboldened, they will continue to escalate their attacks on our freedoms, and far, far worse will be in store for the good people of the United States. The stakes in the this election, somehow, got much, much higher in the past week, the work we do together here that much more important.
Helping Arizona - If you want to support people in Arizona there are many ways to do so but there are two ways we are doing it already at Hopium. First you can donate to Ruben Gallego’s race here, volunteer here and watch my recent interview with him here where he discusses the centrality of abortion to his race at length. To me this race, against a supporter of the imposition of the territorial law, Kari Lake, is our best chance in Arizona to really bury MAGA and this extremism. Ruben’s race can become the engine that drives our success up and down the ballot in Arizona this year, including Biden vs Trump.
Additionally, if you are Arizona next week I will be speaking at the 100th anniversary gala dinner of the Maricopa Democratic Party on Thursday, April 18th. Maricopa County is greater Phoenix. It’s the largest and arguably most important county in the 7 Presidential battleground states. You can buy a ticket for the event here. I’m excited to be supporting Arizona Democrats at this critical time and look forward to seeing members of the Hopium community on the ground there next week!
My NYT Interview, My Current Take On The Election - Last night a 20th poll with a Biden lead over the past few weeks dropped, Reuters/Ipsos, 41% Biden - 37% Trump. Note that in the past week we’ve begun to see polls with Biden leads of +2, +3, +4. As we discussed yesterday, it remains a close, competitive election but Biden and the Dems have gained ground in recent weeks and it can no longer be said Trump leads.
Below is a clip of my discussion with CNN’s Kaitlin Collins on Monday night. She had me on to talk about my NYT interview, and why I am optimistic about Democrats winning this November. This was a very good segment - hope you will watch!
The Hill did a fun write up of my CNN hit yesterday too - Republican Party ‘an unprecedented’ dumpster fire - Democratic strategist. Here’s the opening graph:
A veteran Democratic strategist painted a dark picture for Republicans on Monday ahead of November’s election, confidently claiming that the GOP’s intraparty conflict makes it an “unprecedented dumpster fire” that could end up helping Democrats.
Upcoming Events - Register Today! - Got two events on tap this week, and you can see our full event schedule here. If you want to join our paid subscriber events and aren’t yet a paid subscriber you can sign up here. Looking forward to seeing folks soon!
Wed, April 10th, 7pm ET - Monthly Hopium Paid Subscriber Get Together - Register here
Thur, April 11th, 1pm ET - With Democrats, Things Get Better - updated and fresh - Register here
Tue, April 16th, 8pm ET - Monthly Hopium Community Wide Get Together w/Simon - Register here
Thur, April 18th Evening - Simon speaks in person at the Maricopa Country Democratic Party 100th Anniversary Event (Phoenix) - Buy A Ticket Here
Sat, April 20th Evening - Simon speaks in person at the Arlington (VA) Democrats Blue Victory Dinner - Buy A Ticket Here
Let’s Do More, Worry Less - Here are Hopium we channel all the worry we have about the election into purposeful action. Hopium is a hope with a plan. We don’t just hope we will win this November we do the work to make it so. Right now we are in the final push for three must-win projects - the Biden-Harris campaign, Anderson Clayton/NC Dems and Ruben Gallego. Learn more, donate and volunteer here. Thanks to all of you who’ve stepped up so far! More to do!
Keep working hard all. Proud to be in this fight with all of you - Simon
A Deep Dive On The Abortion Fight in Florida (Video), Helping Arizona, GOP = An Unprecedented Dumpster Fire