Hopium Adds 5 More House Candidates To Our Endorsed List - Pan (CA-6), Rutinel (CO-8), Shah (AZ-1), Villegas (CA-22) and von Wilpert (CA-48)

We are now backing 24 candidates for the House. Our job now is to help as many of them win as possible

A note - as of press time today the AP has not called AZ-1 for Dr. Amish Shah, though he holds a large lead with very few votes left to count. I also want to acknowledge that the original email post was sent today before the final edits were in place. Everything has been updated now in this on-line version. Sorry about that everyone…….

Greetings all. Today we are adding five more candidates to our Second Wave Fund - Dr. Richard Pan (CA-6), Manny Rutinel (CO-8), Dr. Amish Shah (AZ-1), Marni von Wilpert (CA-48), and Randy Villegas (CA-22). Our Second Wave fund was set up to support candidates who emerged after their primaries, later in the cycle, who need a bit more help than the established candidates we’ve been working hard for since last year.

Here’s how our two House campaigns look now:

Our Winning The House Campaign - $997,100 raised, $1,000,000 goal - Donate | 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).

Winning The House - The Second Wave Fund - $182,100 raised, $500,000 goal (new stretch goal) - Donate | Rebecca Bennett (NJ-07), Bob Brooks (PA-07), Cait Conley (NY-17), Johnny Garcia (TX-35), Bob Harvie (PA-01), Dr. Richard Pan (CA-06), Denise Powell (NE-02), Bobby Pulido (TX-15), Manny Rutinel (CO-8), Dr. Amish Shah (AZ-01), Randy Villegas (CA-22), and Marni von Wilpert (CA-48).

A donation to either Fund splits the contribution equally among all twelve candidates.

And let’s be clear - this is the general election battlefield. Whether we win the majority, and how large the majority is, will come down to how many of these candidates win their races. As we only need to flip three seats net to regain the House we are in control of our own destiny here - if we rally for these twenty four candidates, help them win, the majority is ours. It will come down to these twenty four races, and perhaps a few more. But this is it peeps! These are the twenty four courageous patriots who are going to win us back the majority!

Clockwise from upper left - Dr. Richard Pan, Manny Rutinel, Dr. Amish Shah, Marni von Wilpert, Randy Villegas

Now, let’s meet our five new candidates (thanks to the DCCC for the writeups and photos):

Richard Pan (CA-06)

Dr. Richard Pan is a pediatrician, educator, and former State Legislator who has spent his career fighting for the health and safety of California families. He’s taken on some of the state’s toughest challenges — expanding access to affordable health care, lowering prescription drug costs, protecting children during public health crises, and supporting first responders and public safety. A proven fighter, Dr. Pan stood up to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and anti-vaccine extremists’ attacks to protect children and public health, and he will take on those same powerful interests in Washington. In a district made bluer by Proposition 50, Dr. Pan is uniquely positioned to take the case to “MAGA champion” Kevin Kiley, as he tries to hide his extreme record from voters. While Kiley chases political opportunism, Dr. Pan is focused on delivering results for Sacramento families.

Manny Rutinel (CO-08)

Manny Rutinel understands the challenges working Coloradans are facing. As a teen, Manny worked at McDonald’s, tutored kids, and even sold his blood plasma to help pay the bills after the bank foreclosed on his family home. And after putting himself through college, Manny joined the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and went on to graduate from Yale Law School. Manny is running for Congress to fight for working families, create good jobs, and improve Coloradans’ health care. The son of a single mom who immigrated from Latin America, Manny’s powerful story resonates with CO-08, an R+0, working class, 40% Latino district that is souring on Gabe Evans and Donald Trump.

Dr. Amish Shah (AZ-01)

Dr. Shah resoundingly won three straight elections for the Arizona State House of Representatives in 2018, 2020, and 2022. In his five years at the State Legislature, Dr. Shah focused on increasing teacher pay, supporting small businesses, and improving public health and safety. He had more bills signed into law than any Arizona Democrat in the last decade. He is now running for United States Congress in Arizona’s First Congressional District, one of the top pick-up opportunities for Democrats in the entire country.

Dr. Shah is an emergency room physician who is committed to lowering healthcare costs and standing up to Big Pharma to end the price gouging of essential medications like insulin. He believes that politicians should stay out of personal medical decisions, and he will work tirelessly to ensure that women have the freedom to make choices about their own bodies.

Shah, who has already represented key parts of Arizona’s First Congressional District in Maricopa County as a State Representative, has a track record of being an independent voice working across party lines to put Arizona families first while standing up to extremist attacks on abortion and voting rights. In Congress, he’ll work to lower costs for hardworking Arizonans, protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, fight for abortion rights, and keep families safe.

Amish enjoys playing basketball, flying small airplanes, and embarking on adventurous travel. He speaks conversational Spanish and is fluent in Gujarati. He has three adopted cats named Hillary, Miss Meowerson, and Cousin Oliver.

Randy Villegas (CA-22)

The son of Mexican immigrants, Randy Villegas is a Central Valley native, auto repair shop owner, and educator who has spent his life fighting for his community. He attended Bakersfield public schools and grew up in a working-class family that relied on Medi-Cal and WIC to make ends meet – the same programs now under threat because of David Valadao’s votes to gut health care and SNAP. Through hard work and education, Randy worked his way out of poverty and went on to serve students and families on his local school board. Randy is a working-class leader fighting to ensure Valley families have the representation they deserve – someone who will work to lower costs, increase access to affordable health care and medicine, and ensure government works for working people, not special interests and billionaires. In this increasingly competitive Trump +2 seat, Valadao has made himself more vulnerable by turning his back on the Valley, gutting the very health care programs Randy grew up on, and putting party politics ahead of his constituents.

Marni von Wilpert (CA-48)

Marni von Wilpert is a public servant, former prosecutor, and San Diego City Councilmember who has spent her career taking on powerful interests and winning for working people. The daughter of a U.S. Army veteran, Marni served in the Peace Corps during the AIDS epidemic, went on to found a legal clinic to combat discrimination, and later helped write the PRO Act to strengthen workers’ rights. As a Deputy City Attorney and civil prosecutor, she took on opioid manufacturers and price-gouging corporations ripping off consumers. And after flipping one of San Diego’s most conservative council seats, Marni proved she can build the broad coalition needed to win tough races and deliver results on affordability and public safety. After Proposition 50, this newly competitive district is central to regaining the House majority. Marni is exactly the kind of fighter needed to beat MAGA extremist Jim Desmond, who has done nothing but dismiss rising costs and embrace the worst of Donald Trump and Republicans’ agenda that is increasingly out of step with CA-48 voters.

Thanks for all that you’ve done to help our candidates this cycle succeed. I know many of you are out there working it ever day, and together we’ve raised $4m this cycle for the most important candidates and state parties in the battleground. While we have all worked hard, our most important work lies before us. Let’s get these intrepid twenty-four elected, and Election Night will be a very good one, indeed! - Simon