Since published this morning Jasmine Crockett, a remarkable and inspiring leader, formally conceded to James Talarico. Unlike the clown show Republicans, Texas Democrats are united heading into the general election. All hail Rep. Crockett for her grace and commitment to the mission. Onward!
Good morning all. We had another good election night last night. To help make sense of it all we have a few live events in the next two days:
Today, 915am EST - I’ll be joining Jen Rubin and the Contrarians to discuss last night’s election results, Trump’s new war, and more. Click here to join us.
Tonight, 7pm EST - Weekly Paid Subscriber get together. Click here to join us.
Thur, 230pm EST - Texas Dem Chair Kendall Scudder joins us to discuss last night’s primary results and what comes next in battleground Texas. Click here to join us.
In addition, Governor Josh Shapiro is dropping by this afternoon for a recorded interview, and we are shooting to have that out to you by early evening. So today expect a series of posts from us, rather than the normal long morning one.
We had another good election night last night. We flipped a red state legislative seat in Arkansas blue; NC Dems beat four state legislators who had voted with Republicans in their primaries; we have a clear winner in our Texas Senate primary while they head to what’s going to be an ugly, ugly run-off; and there is more good news from the Texas primaries we will wade through as the day goes on.
The big news of the night is the Texas Senate race. We got a clear winner in a race between two of the brightest rising stars in our party, Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico. As of writing this morning Talarico’s lead is 53%-46% with a few more votes to be counted. Democratic turnout in the primary was enormous, and encouraging, and while this will be a hard race to win polling shows Talarico is competitive statewide. So it will be hard, but not impossible, particularly given the ugly run off Republicans are about to have.
This morning Hopium is endorsing James Talarico in the Texas Senate race. You can give directly to his campaign here, and watch an interview I did with him a few months ago (above) to learn more. He’s an incredible talented communicator, courageous, tough, and I am excited to get Hopium on board the Talarico train this morning. Our goal is to raise him $100,000 by the end of March - can you chip in something today?
The Republican run off will pit current Senator John Cornyn, who has the support of Senate Republicans, against the venal extremist Attorney General Ken Paxton. Republicans are about to go through twelve weeks of the ugliest politics anyone has ever seen. Watch his new ad from Senate GOP aligned group to get a taste:
So for the next twelve weeks until their runoff Republicans will be beating each other up while James Talarico, and Gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa, can introduce themselves to general election voters in Texas.
The other big ugly emerging for Republicans is Rep. Tony Gonzales, a guy who needs to resign as soon as possible, made it to the run off in his House primary. We will have more on this in the days ahead but this is now a huge problem for Mike Johnson and the Texas Republicans.
While the Senate map was always going to be tough for us, what’s unfolded this cycle so far is pretty close to the best case scenario for us to flip it. Texas has broken our way, so far; we got our preferred candidates in Alaska, North Carolina, and Ohio; Ossoff has gotten out of the box very, very strong in defending his Georgia seat; while we have primaries in Iowa and Maine, we’ve had encouraging elections wins in both states this cycle. Remarkably, we have a real shot at flipping the Senate this year.
Here’s the Senate Majority PAC’s (our Senate SuperPAC) statement on the Texas Senate race:
Senate Majority PAC Spokesperson Lauren French issued the following statement after James Talarico secured the nomination for the U.S. Senate race in Texas:
“James Talarico spent his time in the State House fighting for
working families and standing against the corrupt special interests making life unaffordable for Texans. That record is exactly what this moment calls for - and what neither Ken Paxton nor John Cornyn can offer.“The contrast between Talarico’s position of strength and the
Republicans’ weakness is stark. Both Paxton and Cornyn have significant
liabilities for the general election, and Republicans will be forced to spend
serious money defending a state they thought was untouchable.“The fact that Texas is even in play tells you everything you need
to know about where the 2026 election is headed. Democrats are playing offense with a proactive agenda focused on affordability, health care, and fighting corruption, while Republicans are bickering among themselves as to who can suck up more to Donald Trump, even when it means hurting families back home.”
Busy day today. More Hopium posts and interviews coming, and the debate on the Hill about Trump’s new Gulf War begins in earnest today. Here’s some of our most recent work on this reckless, illegal war - new, informative conversations with Rep. Adam Smith and Stuart Stevens; and my latest post, We Are Learning Why Our Founders Gave Congress - Not The President - The Power To Commit Us To War.
Congrats all. We had another good night in what has been an encouraging election cycle so far. Let’s rally behind James Talarico and start the hard work to make Texas competitive this cycle - Simon
Yes, There’s More To Do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Winning The Midterms, Competing In Red States and Red Places, Expanding The Map
Hopium’s Winning The House Campaign (2026) - $283,000 raised, $400,000 goal (new stretch goal) - Donate to all twelve of our endorsed House challengers with one click | Learn More | Enjoy our new conversations with Christina Bohannan (IA-01), Mayor Paige Cognetti (PA-08), Jo Mendoza (AZ-06), and Janelle Stelson (PA-10) and learn more about the eight candidates we just added to our campaign here.
We will be meeting the rest of our newly expanded slate of intrepid House candidates in the coming weeks. It’s a great crew! This fundraising total includes funds already raised with our friends at FridayAction for a joint event we’re doing later this month.
Hopium’s Audacious Expansion Fund - $389,600 raised, $500,000 goal (new stretch goal) - Join our new campaign to expand our map by investing in the Democratic Parties of Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Maine, and Texas. Many thanks to two generous Hopium community members who have audaciously donated $10,000 to each of our five state parties.
Mary Peltola For Alaska Senate - $41,600 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer and learn more. Amazing start everyone!
Winning Ohio - $66,600 raised, $250,000 goal - Our new campaign splits contributions evenly among Sherrod Brown, the Acton/Pepper ticket, and the Ohio Democratic Party. Donate today and help us turn this critical 2026 battleground blue! | Watch my conversation with David Pepper, who does a great overview of the opportunities we have in Ohio this year. Note a generous donor has sent $21,000 worth of Hopium-infused contributions directly to the candidates which are not included in our on-line goal tracker.
Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $136,100 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my inspiring conversation with Senator Ossoff
Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $81,800 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my conversation with Gov. Cooper
Advocate For The Hopium Agenda/Pass Resolutions Of Condemnation In Your Community/Study The Spangerberger And Padilla Speeches
Two more ways you can go to work in the coming days - call your leaders and advocate for elements of our working, ever evolving Hopium Agenda; and bring resolutions that condemn our Mad King and lets facts be spoken to a candid world to your state or local government.
This week our calls should clearly focus on reining in both the illegal war in the Middle East and ICE here at home.
I also strongly advise studying the speeches from Governor Spanberger and Senator Padilla this week. They charted a new, powerful rhetorical path forward for our movement, one that we can all use in our own work each day.
Keep working hard everyone. The momentum is with us, and we need to keep fighting as hard as we can - Simon
