Evening all. Sending along a recording of my talk with Anderson Clayton this afternoon. The video is above and a transcript is below.
For those new to Hopium winning North Carolina was our biggest undertaking in the 2024 election cycle. We raised over $1.1m for Anderson and the NCDP, helping them have the most successful cycle downballot of any the 7 Presidential battleground states. This model - investing early, creating capacity, getting wins across a critical expansion state for us - is the model we are following in our Audacious Expansion Fund this cycle. This time thought, with a very different map, we are not working to develop capacity and get wins in one expansion state but five - Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Maine, and Texas.
I asked Chair Clayton to drop by and share with us some exciting news - Democrats are running candidates in all 170 state legislative and 14 Congressional districts in North Carolina this year! It was a huge undertaking for the Party and its allies, and a successful one. In our discussion you can hear us talk about why this matters so much - for it brings the fight to every corner of the state, 24/7/365, and lifts up all Democrats in every race throughout the state.
We got a similar report a few weeks ago from the dynamic new chair of the Texas Democratic Party, Kendall Scudder. The Texas Democratic Party is fielding a full slate of candidates statewide for the first time in more than 60 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s a testament to what state parties can do if we invest in them.
Anderson also shares with us her thoughts on the 2026 election landscape in the state, including the all important efforts to elect Roy Cooper to the US Senate and keep Anita Earls on the state Supreme Court. The bottom line - things feel good, but there is a lot of work ahead of us.
Anyway, it’s a wonderful and uplifting discussion with our good friend and one of our party’s most inspirational leaders. Get to it when you can, and if you are so moved, help Anderson win in 2026 by giving to Roy Cooper or the North Carolina Democratic Party directly.
Keep working hard all - Simon
Transcript - Simon Rosenberg and Anderson Clayton (1/13/26)
Simon Rosenberg:
Welcome, everyone. Simon Rosenberg, Hopium Chronicles, back with another great event. Joining me today is a dear friend of the Hopium community, Anderson Clayton, the state party chair of North Carolina. Welcome, Anderson.
Anderson Clayton:
Hello, Simon Rosenberg, and hello, Hopium.
Simon Rosenberg:
Listen, we're glad you check in, we try to get you to come once a quarter or so to give us an update. But I really wanted you to come on today because you have a big announcement that you just made a few days ago that was really exciting. And I wondered if you wanted to share it with all of us here.
Anderson Clayton:
Well, we have prioritized in North Carolina, as all of you know, making sure that we're competing in every single state legislative race across North Carolina. And so we were able to compete or contest in 170 out of 170 state legislative seats. So we completed our state legislative ballot this year in North Carolina. And we've also fulfilled our congressional seats, also. And so all of our congressional tickets are going to have amazing people running on them who are going to represent their districts.
And we're really excited because our members of Congress have been up to some dirty tricks in Washington, D.C., trying to take away people's access to health care. And we're excited to have good candidates to run against them everywhere.
Simon Rosenberg:
Anderson, can you talk a little bit about why this is so important and also what went into getting this done?
Anderson Clayton:
A lot of good partner organizations and people on the ground everywhere who were willing to step up and hold Republicans accountable. North Carolina, I think, definitely took the title as being the most gerrymandered state in the country at one point in time before we saw what Republicans have done all across the country with Texas. And then as we've seen in other states, that they've also tried to make sure that they're gerrymandering power for themselves because they know that 2026 is not going to be a good election cycle for them. But one thing North Carolina, I think, has always tried to do is make sure that regardless of what the district looks like, that we hold Republicans accountable, but that we also give Democrats somebody to vote for. And that was a winning message across all the 170 seats that we had this year.
And we're really excited about the competitive nature of a lot of these gerrymandered districts that we're seeing. Because as we saw in Virginia, our +9 state legislative seats became competitive last year, thanks to Republicans and the decisions that they've made both in Congress and in state legislatures across the country.
Simon Rosenberg:
What would that mean? I mean, the Republicans have a significant advantage in both the Senate and the House. When you say +9… how many more seats do you think would be in play than normal? I mean, what could happen in a good year for you if this all plays out the way you hope?
Anderson Clayton:
I mean, I think what we're looking for in North Carolina this year is obviously we're going to flip a U.S. Senate seat with Governor Roy Cooper, making sure that we hold down and take out the idea that North Carolina is a great white whale for the federal level. And so we're excited that his polling numbers are great. He just got fundraising numbers out from this quarter that he had doubled the amount that his Republican opponent had raised in the state already. And then also looking to hold a Supreme Court seat with Justice Anita Earls on our ballot for our state Supreme Court, working towards making sure that we take back our state Supreme Court.
And then looking at our state legislative seats, really saying that in the State House right now, we have 49 seats that Democrats hold. And I think that we're looking at the fact that there are five to ten seats that could be stretch seats for us to be able to take in this year. Five that are definitely take seats for us. And they look like places out of Wake County and Mecklenburg County and in Forsyth County, too. We've got some urban areas that we need to juice the turnout in. And then we've also got some rural areas like where Dante Pittman won his state legislative seat in 2024 and where Lindsay Prather won her state legislative seat in 2024, Wilson County and Buncombe counties that are some of our more rural areas of the state that we're going to need to make sure that we're still holding ground in. But I definitely think that we could take back a state legislative chamber by 2030 if we do our jobs right in this election cycle. And we really push towards free and fair elections in North Carolina with our state Supreme Court.
Simon Rosenberg:
Well, and I think you said something that I just want to put an exclamation point on. And first of all, congratulations. I know that you worked your ass off on this. And we're glad that some of the little money we put in helped contribute to this.
Anderson Clayton:
Not just some, Simon. You don't give yourself nearly enough credit. Our million-dollar investor, along with the investees of Hopium in North Carolina last year, helped us keep a Supreme Court victory with Justice Allison Riggs. So thank y’all again.
Simon Rosenberg:
No, listen, we’re proud partners with you, Anderson. But I think for people to recognize… I just want to put an exclamation point on this because I don't know that people really understand the significance of what it means to have a Democratic candidate running in every district.
You know, we talk a lot about the information wars at Hopium and the information superiority that Republicans have. When you have a candidate running in every district and in every community, it means that you have somebody actually engaging in this information war every day, making our case for our agenda and our values. And degrading theirs. And to have this in every place, to allow every district to be able to connect to this argument, to hear from them, to bring it to life, to show that we're not an urban-based party, but that we're fighting and competing everywhere. The significance of this, of making us louder and more effective communicators in the day-to-day scrum, where we have so much work to do to break through… it’s a big deal. We just interviewed Kendall Scudder from Texas, where they had also had a similar achievement like this, the new Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em chair down in Texas. A cousin of yours spiritually, I think, Anderson. But it really is a big deal, and I'm just really proud of you guys, because I think of any year where we need to be loud, it's got to be this one.
Anderson Clayton:
Yeah… I think you can attest to that by looking at the history of North Carolina Dems. You know, 2022's election cycle, we left 44 state legislative seats uncontested, which meant that 3 million people didn't have somebody locally to go in and vote for on their ballot. And you know, if you don't have somebody running for state legislature in your backyard, you sure as hell don't have somebody running for county commission or any of the other… the school board races, the down ballot races that really matter too. And so we tried to prioritize on filling every level of the ballot this year. And we saw that victory come back in 2024 when we were able to recruit 168 out of 170 legislative seats. And this year, again, being able to make sure that that's something Democrats are not going to do again is, you know, forsake the fact that people need somebody to vote for, not just a party to vote against right now, in some ways.
And I think that the other side of that is that a state party has got to be prepared to help those candidates, though. And so some of the things that the North Carolina Dems have done to be proactive about helping those candidates be successful is, you know, making sure that we give out free data access to every candidate that's on the ballot. We don't charge people for a little tool called VoteBuilder, which is the access to all of the data that the state party has collected over previous campaigns and election cycles. We also make sure that there's a full-fledged organizing and training department that's operated year-round. So I've had organizers that are from the communities that they represent that have been with the state party for the last two years and have really made the relationships holistically in the communities that we need to, to have canvas launches go on for local candidates that then are making sure that the top of the tickets, our Supreme Court justice candidate, is also mentioned in that. Because we are really focused on judicial races as well as the full ballot this year in North Carolina. And the U.S. Senate election is just going to be the cherry on top of everything for that, too, for us.
Simon Rosenberg:
Well, it's really exciting. And hats off to you, my friend, for another little another feather in your feathered cap down in Raleigh. And so, listen, I have a couple more questions. How does it feel? I mean, what's on people's minds? How is politics playing out there right now…are they focused on the national craziness? Are they focused more at home? I mean just give me your sense of the lay of the land right now.
Anderson Clayton:
I mean, just looking at municipal elections and the turnout results in North Carolina for them, this was the year that we saw the highest municipal election turnout that we have in our state's history. And I think part of that was definitely driven by the attention that we're seeing on national politics, and how nationalized local politics have gotten with everything that we're seeing coming out of Washington, D.C… the cuts that we've seen, but also the sort of unknowingness about what's coming next and the uneasiness in communities. A lot of people are looking to their local elected officials to provide them with guidance. And I think we saw that play out in the municipal elections.
And so definitely the feeling on the ground, I don't think is any different than the last election cycle. It's definitely one of change and one of wanting to see promises that were laid out by the Trump administration. And I think that what we're seeing right now is a lack of oversight about what Americans are really caring about and what North Carolinians really care about, which is… do my kids have a good school to go to? Can I afford my grocery bill? And do I have a hospital that's within a 20-minute drive of me that I could get to if I actually need help? And for a lot of North Carolinians right now across the state, they can't say that.
And I think that Roy Cooper is really going to be focused on that this year. And so is Anita Earls, for that matter. When we think about affordability and holding corporations accountable in North Carolina, our Supreme Court does that when you're thinking about companies like Duke Energy that have monopolies throughout the state… that need to have an accountability measure that just do not right now with Republicans that control both our judicial system and our legislative branch in North Carolina.
Simon Rosenberg:
Are there any big issues coming up in the state legislative session this year that are going to be important that you're tracking?
Anderson Clayton:
Yeah, Simon! Didn’t you hear North Carolina is the only state in the entire union right now that does not have a budget. We are still waiting for Republicans to hold hands with each other and decide that they would like to negotiate with their own party and figure out how they're going to actually keep Medicaid subsidies in North Carolina and the budget to be able to do that with. But we've yet to see that.
And so students or teachers that are across the state right now, state employees right now have gone without a raise for the last year and a half. And somebody that makes forty five thousand dollars a year right now has had to go without because people in Raleigh could not make up their minds on whether or not they want to cut healthcare or they actually want to pay our teachers. So… we're expecting a state budget at some point in time, hopefully this year, fingers are crossed, but knowing Destin Hall and Phil Berger, probably not. And I also think that, you know, just in general, how they're going to react to federal cuts. I think 2026 is… we saw a little bit of it in 2025. I think 2026 is really going to be the testing ground for a lot of the nonprofits and the NIH funding that North Carolina lost last year too.
Simon Rosenberg:
Yeah, I mean, one of our big beliefs here is that one of the reasons that things are going to get worse for Republicans this year is that every state and local government in the country is now reconvening to have to deal with the harms that the Trump administration has brought. And that there will be debates, hearings, budget fights, speeches and op-eds all around the struggle to deal with the harms. And as you mentioned, it's the ACA subsidy cuts, it's the cuts to SNAP, the cuts to Medicaid, the cuts to rural hospitals, the cuts to the NIH and the pulling of funding. Trump just announced that he's going to cut all funding to any state or city that has sanctuary cities in it anywhere in the country.
And now you've got these legislative sessions. You've pointed out your own Republican-led legislature is struggling mightily to be able to govern against these draconian cuts that have come down. And so it's our view that just the way that you just expressed it, that these kinds of brutal debates that are about to happen literally in every state and local government in the country are going to bring the harms of Trump's regime closer and closer to people as we get closer to the election.
Anderson Clayton:
Yeah, I mean, I think that’s definitely what’s going to happen. And we already are seeing, I think, the type of candidates that we need to go out there and take on that message. That’s something when we talked earlier just about the type of people that have been recruited to run for these seats. You know, Amy Taylor North out of Forsyth County is running again against Jeff Zenger, and she’s someone who almost won that seat, came within a 2,000 vote margin… I think in 2026 when people have had enough of a legislator in Raleigh that refuses to pass a budget, you know, it's a good talking point for us to be able to use at the doors to your point about how Republicans can't govern whether that be in Raleigh or in Washington, D.C. right now. But it also is going to bode well for us in some of our congressional seats. So I'm excited to have the national… the DCCC, right, interested in you know, NC-03, NC-11, NC-01, and keeping up the pressure on Republicans because that also really helps us have a 100 county strategy in North Carolina to make sure that we're getting out the vote everywhere across it.
Simon Rosenberg:
Anything else we didn't cover, Anderson, that you want to share with folks? I mean, you've been one of our besties here since we started at Hopium… it's just great to see you. I haven't really talked to you in a while. Anything else we didn't get to that you want to mention?
Anderson Clayton:
If you go to [Mobilize], you can read all about what we're doing right now with our court races. And it's a really cool opportunity, I think, because North Carolina Dems are working hard to make sure that 2026 and 2028 are going to be the most impactful election years that we have to ensure that there's a lot of power given back to the nation from North Carolina. So I hope that y'all will join us for it. But Simon Rosenberg, thank you for all that you do to help uplift Southern states. We appreciate you. It comes from me and Texas apparently right now as well. I’ll have to go text Kendall after this and be like, oh my gosh, hello, brother and friend in Christ right now. [Simon laughs.] But we are, we're so thankful to you. So I thank you. Thank you to Hopium. Thank you to all that y'all do for us each and every day.
Simon Rosenberg:
Anderson, keep fighting and let's catch up soon. We always threaten to do a call once a month or so in our busy lives. But I'm really proud of you. And it's been… you know, look, I think that when we first met, you know, part of the issue was could a young person be party chair? And now, what's happened, for those of you who don't know, is that the North Carolina party under Anderson's leadership has really become a national exemplar. And many other states are learning from her leadership and her design and the structure of what they've built to try to emulate it in their states.
And I know this from being at state party meetings over the last year. And so, we did invest a lot of money with you last cycle, but you had remarkable returns. I mean, North Carolina was arguably in 2024 the most successful down-ballot state underneath the presidential of any of the battleground states. You continue to do really well in 2025. And you've got enormous opportunities in 2026. So we're happy to be here at every step of the way with you. And let us know when you've got news or other things we can share with folks in the Hopium community. You've got a lot of fans here. And so keep up the good work, Anderson. And thanks for dropping by today.
Anderson Clayton:
Thank you…
Simon Rosenberg:
See you everybody. If you like this, please hit like, share with all your friends, and keep working hard, everyone. Take care.
