Cook Has 4 GOP Gov Seats As Toss Ups Now, Maine Dems Take Next Steps In Picking New Senate Candidate, Senate Dem SuperPAC Reports Record Quarter
Let's keep rallying for the Maine Dems everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Morning all. Its been a week, hasn’t it?
Got a few things for you today……
The Cook Political Report updated its Governor Rate Ratings (paywall, sorry) and now has four currently held GOP seats - Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, and Ohio - rated as toss ups. Here are the results of Fox News’ recent polling in three of these races:
GA 52%-47% (+5) - Lance Bottoms (D) leads Rick Jackson (R)
IA 53%-44% (+9) - Rob Sand (D) leads Zach Lahn (R)
OH 50%-49% (+1) - Amy Acton (D) leads Vivek Ramaswamy (R)
If we win all four Dems will control a majority of governorships for the first time since 2010. As I explain in this week’s talk all the data continues to point to this being a year of remarkable opportunity for us across the country.
The Senate Dem SuperPAC and its affiliate has reported a record breaking fundraising quarter. Encouraging stuff. From The NYT:
The leading Senate Democratic super PAC and an affiliated nonprofit raised $147 million from April through June, the groups said, notching its best-ever second quarter haul as the party seeks to win back control of the upper chamber in this fall’s midterm elections.
Senate Majority PAC, the super PAC that is aligned with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, brought in $58 million and entered July with $126 million in its account, more cash to spend than it has had at this point in previous election cycles. Along with Majority Forward, its associated nonprofit, Senate Majority PAC is expected to spend big in this year’s marquee Senate races.
Here’s more from the SMP press release:
“These numbers speak for themselves - Democratic donors and grassroots supporters are stepping up like never before to make sure Senate Democrats have the resources they need to win in November,” said Senate Majority PAC Spokesperson Lauren French. “This is our best second quarter ever, our strongest cycle-to-date fundraising total ever, and the most cash we’ve ever had in the bank at this point in a cycle. We are building the resources to compete and win up and down the map.”
Last night the Maine Democratic Party announced the next step in the process to pick a new Senate candidate - rules for candidates to declare their intent to run and to become an official candidate. Here’s MDP Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson’s latest update:
We’ve now raised $35,000 towards our $50,000 fundraising goal for the Maine Dems. Please consider donating today. These funds help the Maine Party pay for their upcoming Convention and related expenses, activities that are draining time and money from their general election program.
Devon texted me yesterday and sent a huge THANK YOU from the Maine Dems to all of you who have given to this effort, and previously through our Audacious Expansion Fund that has now raised $125,000 for the Maine Party. I hope everyone can see why these state party fundraising campaigns matter so much. What we are seeing in Maine right now is a strong state party doing its work on behalf of the people of Maine and democracy itself. They are going a great job, and I am proud that this community has become one of the Maine Democratic Party’s most significant supporters this cycle.
Our two Senate candidates in Michigan had an hour long debate on Tuesday. Here’s a recording of the debate and news coverage both before and after. The debate itself starts at about minute 30:
Here’s a brief campaign update from Iowa’s Josh Turek. What a great candidate he is!
We’ve just learned that Trump is will not sign the bi-partisan Housing bill sitting on his desk but will let it become law tonight without his signature. This absurd decision denies his party and their incumbents a clear political win - the level of idiocy this represents is hard to put into words:
Meanwhile our rapacious and desperate leader took another malicious step yesterday to weaken our nation’s elections infrastructure:
I will have more on this development in the coming days.
This morning the Washington Post is reporting that eyewitnesses to DHS’s killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo say he did not ram the officers:
The three men who were arrested during an immigration operation that resulted in the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo said a federal officer fired at them almost immediately after exiting his vehicle and that at no point did the driver veer in his direction.
The migrants are disputing key elements of the Department of Homeland Security’s account of what transpired during a chaotic traffic stop in a predominantly Mexican American neighborhood in Houston on Tuesday. They spoke from immigration detention with attorney Hugo Balderas-Ibarra, who shared their written and oral accounts with The Washington Post.
We have also learned that Salgado Araujo wasn’t even the man DHS was looking for.
And yes, my friends, it is that time again for we need to be doing everything we can to take power away from these terrible people……
Yes, It’s Time To Get To Work People!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Winning The House
Hopium’s Winning The House Campaign - $960,100 raised, $1,000,000 goal - Donate to all twelve of our endorsed House challengers with a single contribution split twelve ways | Get to know Jamie Ager (NC-11), Christina Bohannan (IA-01), Paige Cognetti (PA-08), Rebecca Cooke (WI-03), Elaine Luria (VA-02), Sean McCann (MI-04), Jo Mendoza (AZ-06), Chaz Molder (TN-05), Jonathan Nez (AZ-02), Janelle Stelson (PA-10), Shannon Taylor (VA-01), and Sarah Trone Garriott (IA-03) by watching our recently recorded Hopium interviews.
Friends if these twelve win, the House will flip, no matter redistricting madness the Rs execute in the coming days. So eyes on the prize here everyone!
Winning The House - The Second Wave Fund - $169,100 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | We’ve launched a second House fund, one targeting candidates who’ve recently emerged from primaries or running in new districts. Our initial crew is Rebecca Bennett (NJ-07), Bob Brooks (PA-07), Cait Conley (NY-17), Johnny Garcia (TX-35), Bob Harvie (PA-01), Denise Powell (NE-02), and Bobby Pulido (TX-15).
A donation to the Second Wave Fund is split evenly among these seven, and more as other worthy candidates emerge from their primaries. Our total above includes money we’ve raised for directly for each candidate. You can watch interviews with all of seven of these intrepid leaders here. We are off to a great start here everyone!
Winning The Senate/Expanding The Map - Investing And Winning In Key Expansion States
Our New Winning The Senate Fund - $474,100 raised, $1,000,000 goal - Donate | This new fund splits a single donation to our five candidates must likely to flip a Senate seat this November - Sherrod Brown (OH), Roy Cooper (NC), Mary Peltola (AK), James Talarico (TX), and Josh Turek (IA). The $474,000 figure is what we’ve raised for these five so far, as you see will below (and a very modest amount for Platner is included in this total).
You can also contribute to their individual campaigns or our expansion state bundles here:
Roy Cooper For NC Senate - $129,100 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn more through my new discussion with Gov. Cooper
Mary Peltola For Alaska Senate - $114,100 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn more through my uplifting conversation with Mary Peltola as she fights to turn Alaska blue
James Talarico For Texas - $102,500 raised, $250,000 - Donate | Learn more from my inspiring interview with Rep. Talarico as he fights to turn Texas blue
Josh Turek For Iowa Senate - $34,100 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn more and volunteer | Watch my wonderful new interview with Josh Turek
Winning Iowa - $16,200 raised, $100,000 goal - We’ve also set up a new Winning Iowa campaign that splits a contribution three ways - to Josh Turek for Senate, to our gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand, and to the Iowa Democratic Party and its great chair, Rita Hart
Winning Ohio - $173,100 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 turn this critical 2026 battleground blue
Hopium’s Audacious Expansion Fund - $621,100 raised, $1,000,000 goal (new stretch goal) - Join our campaign that has helped expand our map by investing in the Democratic Parties of Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Maine, and Texas, all now central battlegrounds in the 2026 election | Contribute to all five state parties with one contribution split evenly among these five critical battlegrounds | Catch interviews with the five intrepid state chairs leading their troops into battle this year - will get you fired up!
Senate Holds
Jon Ossoff For GA Senate - $202,100 raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn more through my uplifting conversation with Senator Ossoff
Note that we have now changed our ActBlue default settings so that your contact information is only shared with a campaign if you give your affirmative permission. Many of you have asked for this and it is now our standard operating procedure.
Some Things To Call Congress About This Week
Yes to making American oligarchs pay for Trump’s failed Iran war - not every day Americans
Yes to the Ukraine Support Act, get it passed through the Senate and to the President’s desk
No to the ballroom, the Arch, the gilded statues, the slush fund, the corruption, self-enrichment……
Hell no to Todd Blanche as Attorney General, and yes to very tough questioning of the new DNI nominee, Jay Clayton
Hell hell no to the new OMB regs that will destroy government-funded science in America. Join the new Stand Up For Science campaign to Stop Vought. Save Science today.
See the Hopium Agenda Project for what we can and should be fighting for now, and our Resolutions Project for ways to more forcefully condemn Trump’s unprecedented corruption and betrayal of the country.
Make Hopium Stronger, Bigger, Better - And Keep It Paywall Free For All
We are shooting for 500 new annual paid subscribers by August 1st, and are now at 302 - getting there! Thank you all! It’s 10% off an annual subscription through the end of July, and you can follow the link below for group and gift subscriptions too!
Please use the paid subscriber chat to self-report the good trouble you make each day.
Keep working hard everyone. We have a country to save, and elections all across this great country to win, together! - Simon
self report: Today I started a project to help spread the word about Hopium’s candidates. I will be sending a series of emails to friends and family. Each email will highlight 2 or 3 Hopium chosen candidates with a photo, a very brief bio (two - three sentences) and links to Simon’s interview and the candidate's web site. The idea is to offer a short, simple, manageable amount of info. The candidates in my first email are Paige Cognetti, Johnny Garcia and Denise Powell.
A friend who organizes a large group of postcarders just sent my first email to her group. She immediately got several very positive and appreciative replies. So many people don't know anything about the surge of wonderful people stepping up to run for elected office. I certainly wouldn't if I didn't read Hopium!
I’m hoping that smaller bites of info with a maximum of 2-3 candidates at a time will encourage people to open at least one of the interviews every week. And of course I'll also encourage people to spread the word and forward the emails
Thanks, Simon! Good news on the governor front! Controlling those states will be especially important come 2028.
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen about Trump's continued destruction of DC and to say that he's not in touch with reality and must be removed from office. I'm writing postcards to Ohio voters today.