Happy Wednesday all, and a happy Wednesday it is! Got a few things for you today:
Harris and Walz Soar - It’s a new day people. We have our ticket now. The Vice President knows where she wants to take the campaign and country, and has found the right partner in this fight. They have a clear message. The words flowed easy. They looked great together. The crowd was large and raucous. Our party is unified. We are not going back, my friends. We are going forward.
And when we fight, we win!
I’ve included the video of their launch event yesterday (above) if you didn’t get to watch it last night. It’s important you try to watch and listen when you have the time. No words can capture the emotion, the power, the the grit, the joy of what happened last night. It was a seminal moment in this election and perhaps in American history. Take the time to watch and listen. The words they used, the arguments they made will be what we all use in our sprint to Election Day.
In his wonderful remarks Governor Walz talked about the importance of working from joy. This is something I wrote about on Monday, and something that I think is very important now for those of us who’ve been doing more and worrying less these last few years. Here’s what I wrote:
It is possible that in the coming weeks we will need to seek our motivation not from worry and fear but from something far more powerful - from joy, from strength, from confidence, from winning. I’ve always rejected the idea that you want to act as if you are a few points down in an election. When you are down in an election you lose people, volunteers, money. People want to know their work and money can help a campaign or cause be successful. Today, right now it is just true that we have had a remarkable few weeks, are ahead in the polls and are more likely to win. There will be bumps, good days and bad days, but we need to allow ourselves to go there - to understand that the Democratic Party is strong, that we are a center-left country, that we have governed the country well when in power, that Biden and Harris have left us far better off, that are we now leading in this election and have a very serious shot at winning the Presidency, keeping the Senate, flipping the House and electing the first woman to be President of the United States in all our history. That rather than being scary, Trump is pathetic, weak, desperate and a stone cold fucking loser.
We need to allow ourselves to go to the place that that we are strong and they are weak. That we are unified and they are divided. That we are virtuous and they are dangerous. That we want to move the country forward and they want to take us back. That we have Harris and they have Trump. That we are winning and they are losing. We need to allow ourselves to go to these places for it is simply where things are now and we need to be loud and proud about it all, however uncomfortable it feels.
Friends, while this election is close today and we have an awful lot of work to do we are not playing to catch up or to prevent a red wave from happening - we are playing to win. And there is never a time in any sport or campaign where it is bad to be ahead. It is just an unalloyed good. And I believe, deeply that joy and hope are more powerful than hate and fear. The up-swell we are all feeling comes from that sense of power, of winning of yes we can. Early voting begins in five weeks. The final day of voting, Election Day, is in just three months. It’s show time people. Let us harness this newfound joy and optimism - hopium even - and work harder than we’ve ever worked on anything, together, to go win this thing - and send Trump and MAGA into the dustbin of history where they so clearly belong. As Vice President Harris said the other day the baton hasn’t been passed to her. It’s been passed to us.
Meanwhile, the other guy, after his disastrous public events last week has been taken off the campaign trail:
And here is what this man who is so deeply unfit and profoundly unwell posted yesterday. They are the ravings of a madman.
it is time now for us to be talking, seriously, about whether the Republican nominee for President has gone mad, truly mad, and whether his campaign has taken him off the trail for they know and are doing everything they can to hide it.
It’s outrageous the Republicans have rallied behind this rapist, fraudster, traitor and felon, this very sick man. This great country and it’s very good people are so much better than this. It’s why we need to put our heads down all and go out and win this thing everybody.
We Have 3 Events This Week
Wed, 7pm ET - Monthly Hopium Paid Subscriber Get Together (invite sent via email)
Thur, 730pm ET - Hopium Winning The House Thursday For Kirsten Engel (AZ-06) - See below
Fri, 1pm ET - Monthly Hopium Founding Member Get Together (invite sent via email)
If you are not yet a paid subscriber and want to join either of you events you can upgrade to a paid subscriber here. It’s an exciting week for our politics!
Working From Joy, Our Candidates and State Parties, Hopoum Winning The House Thursdays - With all these good vibes swirling around this is a very good time to be reaching people. So donating and volunteering is particularly important right now.
We’ve made some significant improvements to our Hopium Winning The House Thursdays. Tomorrow night we will be calling and postcarding for Kirstin Engel in AZ-06 from 730pm to 9pm ET. You can register here. During the Zoom you will meet the candidate and have your choice of breakout rooms - phonebank to friendly Dems or write them up to 10 postcards. When you register note that you can choose your breakout room, which includes live training for either activity. Folks choosing the postcarding breakout rooms will receive ten addresses in advance so you can get right to work after I welcome everyone and we hear from Kirstin.
We had almost 300 people join us last week for Janelle Bynum - can we hit 400 this week for Kirstin Engel in all important Arizona? I sure hope so. Please sign up today and I look forward to seeing folks tomorrow night!
Postcard Writers - You can use any colorful, upbeat postcard you want. If you would like to purchase postcards, we have special VOTE DAY 1 cards available through the Markers for Democracy Postcard ProShop, click here. You will need to set up an account in order to use this store. Please note that it could take a week for your order to arrive.
If you are looking for other ways to help us win this November, please consider supporting one of our Hopium backed candidates or state parties. Our ambitious fundraising goals are for the last day of the Democratic Convention, August 22nd. It’s show time people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Harris-Walz!!!!!! - $822,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Merch | Learn More. Let’s keep working it people!
Winning The House - $781,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More. We’ve also raised more then $62,000 into the individual House campaigns (you can either give to all 11 or each one individually). Be sure to watch my recent interview with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries who came by to thank the Hopium community and give us an update on our efforts to flip the House this November
North Carolina - $357,000 raised today, $400,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NC Dem Chair Anderson Clayton
Arizona/Ruben Gallego - $312,000 raised today, $350,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with Ruben Gallego
Nebraska/Blue Dot - $130,000 raised today, $150,000 goal- Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NE Dem Chair Jane Kleeb
Here’s how you can do even more:
Volunteer for the Harris-Walz campaign - Join the hundreds of thousands of people who have volunteered in recent weeks!
Watch our Winning The House interviews with Janelle Bynum (OR-5), George Whitesides (CA-27), Kirsten Engel (AZ-06) Will Rollins (CA-41), Laura Gillen (NY-04), Rudy Salas (CA-22) and Josh Riley (NY-19). Great candidates all!
Commit to Vote on Day 1 and get everyone you know to join you. Early voting begins in a few states on September 20th, less than 2 months away!
Watch my With Dems presentation on the greatness and goodness of the Democratic Party, this six minute video on the incredible stakes in this election.
Enjoy this video message from Nebraska State Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb thanking the Hopium community for our investment in winning the “blue dot” (or now that we have a Nebraska native on the ticket perhaps two “blue dots):
Help Hopium Get to 100,000! - Finally, please help me spread Hopium and grow this plucky community. Use this link to sign others up to be a Hopium subscriber. Note that options for group and gift subscriptions are available to those who want to bring friends and colleagues into the Hopium community. Click on the group and gift tabs here to learn more. To update your payment information or check your renewal status follow these instructions from Substack.
Keep working hard all. Proud to be in this fight with all of you - Simon
Harris and Walz Soar, Trump Melts Down, Winning The House Thursdays, Working From Joy