Harris-Walz - Here We Go People!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Happy Tuesday all. Another milestone has been reached in Vice President Harris’ historic and exciting campaign - today Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota joins the ticket!

To celebrate this huge moment please consider donating to Harris-Walz, volunteering or buying some new merch today!

Claire McCaskill did a great job talking about Walz on MSNBC this morning. "He is the guy JD Vance pretends to be."

Here is what the campaign put out just now:

In an exciting week for Democrats, Kamala Harris has chosen Tim Walz as her running mate – cementing the Democratic ticket as one that will fight for our fundamental freedoms, protect our democracy, and beat Donald Trump and JD Vance’s MAGA agenda. 

Vice President Harris’ long career in public service has given her unmatched political instincts, and we trust that her choice of Governor Tim Walz will further excite voters and build on the incredible momentum we have seen since her campaign launched. In the last 12 days alone, volunteers have placed 2.3 million phone calls, knocked 172,000 doors, and sent nearly 2.9 million text messages to voters in battleground states.

As Harris and Walz embark on a blitz of rallies in seven states in five days, Donald Trump is scheduled to appear at only one event this week. After choosing JD Vance as an embarrassingly out-of-touch, downright weird running mate with abysmal approval ratings, the failing Trump campaign is lagging in fundraising and infrastructure, proving that Trump is no match for the excitement of the Harris-Walz ticket.

In choosing Governor Walz, Harris continues to lead the most pro-reproductive freedom campaign in history. Walz is a champion for access to abortion who will help rally the majority across the country: 

• Gov. Walz has been instrumental in making Minnesota a safe haven for reproductive freedom in the midwest. The day after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Gov. Walz and Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan issued an executive order that allows their administration to use all legal discretion to decline to extradite people who are charged under other states’ laws that criminalize providing, seeking, or obtaining an abortion.

• In April 2023, Gov. Walz signed three bills into law protecting people seeking or providing abortions in Minnesota, banning the practice of conversion therapy, and protecting people seeking or providing gender-affirming health care in Minnesota.

• Earlier this year, Gov. Walz joined Vice President Harris when she became the first vice president or president to visit an abortion provider while visiting a Planned Parenthood in St. Paul, MN. 

This week, we should continue to amplify Vice President Kamala Harris’ unrivaled qualifications, uplift her as the unifying party leader she is, and throw our full force behind the Harris-Walz ticket as the duo that is going to beat Donald Trump and JD Vance. 

• Vice President Harris is a proven leader with the experience to lead our nation and hold  Donald Trump accountable. In her own words, “I took on predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type.”

• Vice President Harris’ decades-long career in public service, her leadership working side-by-side with President Biden getting things done for the American people and restoring America’s standing on the international stage, and her unrivaled strength on the top voting issue of reproductive freedom on the campaign trail position her to meet this moment. 

• A lifelong midwesterner, Governor Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard at the young age of 17, and retired 24 years later as Command Sergeant Major. Before retiring, Walz served overseas with his battalion in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He is the highest ranking enlisted soldier ever to serve in Congress, having served Minnesota for twelve years before being elected Governor. 

• As Governor, Walz has championed issues that matter most to Americans, including passing historic gun safety legislation including universal background checks and a red flag law that allows law enforcement to intervene when someone is at high risk of injuring themselves or others with a firearm. 

• A champion of the care economy & families, he also signed legislation that increased protections for seniors in assisted living facilities, passed a historic bill securing paid family and medical leave for all Minnesotans, and expanded access to child care and pre-K. 

• As a former public school teacher and high school coach, Walz has made supporting public schools a top priority. Every child in Minnesota should be able to attend a world-class school and have the opportunity to succeed – no matter their zip code.

• Donald Trump is running scared because he knows that the Harris-Walz ticket epitomizes the next generation of leadership that voters across the country are hungry for, in sharp contrast to the old, dark and draconian worldview he wants to force on Americans. 

…….

We enter this next, exciting phase of the Harris-Walz campaign with momentum, far better candidates, much more money, a huge organizational advantage and a lead in national polling. I wrote about our new, bluer election yesterday and talked about it with Lawrence O’Donnell last night:

Here is what G. Elliot Morris of 538 posted this morning, and this is all before what is likely to be a VP pick/Convention bump:

Let’s put our heads down everyone and go win this thing, together. Exciting times for all of us!

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) - registration info will be available on Wednesday’s post - let’s make this one rock!

• 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. Going to be a big week for our politics!

While we are working hard Trump appears to be taking the week off:

Fired Up, Ready To Go - Let’s Go Win This Thing, Together - Our next Hopium Winning The House grassroots event is this Thursday at 730pm ET. We’ll be making calls and writing postcards for Kirsten Engel running in Arizona’s 6th District. We’re attempting to streamline and improve these events so they are easier for all involved and we can get more work done. So mark down the time, plan on joining us and look for the new registration links on tomorrow. And thanks again to everyone who came to our inaugural event for Janelle Bynum last Thursday - it was a lot of fun and a great success.

If you are looking for other ways to help us win this November, please consider supporting one of our Hopium back candidates or state parties. Our fundraising goals are for the last day of the Democratic Convention, August 22nd. It’s show time people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Harris-Walz!!!!!! - $800,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Merch | Learn More. Let’s make this a big day people!

• Winning The House - $774,000 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 - $311,000 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 and my latest take on the 2024 election recorded on Monday, July 29th

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