Happy Thursday all. Sorry for being a little late today. I had written an entirely different post about the ugliness of Trump but felt it was just wasn’t ready yet so I had to start all over. I’m also working on a few projects that I look forward to sharing with you in the coming days. So I am bit busier than usual - it is that time of year! The good news is we have lots of encouraging stuff to go over today and a great event tonight at 730pm ET. Our candidate Josh Riley will be joining right at 730pm ET to kick things off. Join us if you can. These nights are full of good cheer, good works and great community!
So, let’s get to it. Here is what I wrote on Tuesday about the state of the race:
Happy Tuesday all. Things feel good. National, battleground state and Senate polling are good. Things are close, but I’d much rather be us than them. As we here at Hopium had longed hoped Democrats are closing the election out embracing love of country, patriotism, and good ole fashioned American optimism. Our party is unified, excited, and the torch has been passed to a dynamic new set of Democrats who are ready to lead. Trump, meanwhile is Trump. A rapist, fraudster, traitor, felon. An extremist, racist, and oligarch’s best friend. These endorsements from Kennedy and Gabbard, leaders of the Putinist wing of the GOP, feel desperate, weird, Star Wars-bar stuff. His visit to Arlington elementary yesterday was a deep insult to all who’ve served. And of course chicken Don is already looking for ways to get out of the September 10th debate, for cutting and running when times get tough is what the orange one does.
I went on both CNN and MSNBC last night to talk the state of the race and why I am so optimistic. My segment with Lawrence O’Donnell is above. It covers some of the same ground we cover in my new 2024 election presentation, but when it is with the great Lawrence is always better and more interesting.
We’ve had a lot of polling this week and taken together it is all showing the same thing - the election has seen a 6-7 point shift towards the Democrats, and Harris now has a 3-4 point lead in national polling. We are tied or lead in all seven battleground states and are closer to 270 than Trump now. All seven states are clearly in play, and we are competing hard in all seven. As things are still close in the battlegrounds we still have a lot of work to do to have 2024 become the election we all want it to be. Don’t forget to tune into the Harris-Walz rally tonight in Savannah, GA at 530pm ET. I am sure it is going to be a joyous and uplifting event, as they all are…..must see TV!
Here is what Fox News’ polling unit released last night:
This polling, and new polls today from USA Today showing Harris up 5, 48%-43%, and Ipsos/Reuters showing her up 4, 45%-41%, is making it impossible for Trump to continue say, as he does at the beginning of every interview, that he is leading in the polls. And this matters. For as we’ve discussed, the entire brand architecture of the Trump campaign is built upon him being ahead in the polls and being strong, and his opponent trailing in the polls and being weak. It is in essence all they ever had and they don’t have it any more. We are leading in the polls and Kamala Harris strong and Donald Trump is weak. And this is contributing significantly to what has been many weeks of ongoing Trumpian madness and “narcissistic injury.” The dude melted down a few weeks ago and just keeps melting down every day. We are at a point now given his public statements and madtruthing, his crashing and desecrating of Arlington National Cemetery, his rallying of his fellow Putinists, his indictment by the government of the United States of America for some of the most serious crimes against our democracy in history, the question of whether he needs to step aside - for he is so clearly unwell, delusional and a threat to America - MUST BECOME a major part of our discourse in the coming days. One of out two candidates for President in the most powerful country in the history of the world has lost his shit and it is way past time to say so.
Look at this new remarkable data from Gallup. Democrats are fired up, ready to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As I discuss in both my video from yesterday and in the Last Word clip above this energy and intensity is perhaps the biggest story of the election now. For it is giving us the tools - the money, the volunteers, the biggest political machine we’ve ever seen, advertising/loudness - to close out these final two months stronger than the struggling Rs. We are ahead today, and we are likely to be able to close much stronger than them. Let me show you a bit more data. Here is some new data on current Presidential ad reservations in a few battlegrounds:
This is what we are seeing in the Senate races:
This is all as of today, and things will change in the coming days. But imagine what our spending advantage in these Senate races is going to do to help Harris in AZ, MI, NV, WI. Yes we will have to add more in MT and OH, and I assume we will be match Hogan in MD too. But the bottom line on this data is that we are likely to outspend the Rs everywhere in the final months because of all of you, and we know are going to outwork them for they have nothing like the grassroots army all of you have helped build for us over these past few years.
It’s why I am going to be talking more about Voting on Day 1 and winning in the election in the early vote, in October. In 2022 due to incredible Dem intensity in the battlegrounds we ran up the score in the early vote and built insurmountable leads that Rs could match on Election Day. We prevented the red wave from coming in 2022 in the early vote not on Election Day. We need to do the same thing this time, everywhere. We need to channel all this passion, this intensity, this love of country, this disgust of the orange one and explode the early vote. There is no better way that you can help us win and give them the middle finger than by voting on early, on Day 1, and getting everyone you know to do the same. If the news in these early states is again and again about Dems showing up in huge numbers imagine what it will do the media narrative about the election - that we are strong and they are weak. That we are winning and they are losing. That we love our country and our democracy and they can play their games and keep shoveling all their BS but we are kicking their ass and sending MAGA into the dustbin of history where it belongs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let’s close strong and win this thing in October everyone.
In our Thursday night Winning The House sessions we are contacting prime Dems and encouraging them to vote on Day 1. We shooting to raise the consciousness of folks in these critical House seats about the need to vote early, something particularly important in districts where we had turnout problems in 2022.
So we are back at it tonight at 730pm ET for a night of work for a great House candidate from New York, Josh Riley. You can register for our event here, and note when doing so you can now select which breakout room you want to join. We have trainings for both activities live each evening, and for those who are more experienced you can a select a breakout room without training and just get to work. Visit here to learn more about ordering postcards for these events. Each week we will be reaching our to core Democratic voters and encouraging them to Vote on Day 1 and letting them know when early in person and mail/drop box voting begins in their states.
Most weeks we will hear directly from the candidate at the beginning of our session, just a few minutes after 730pm so plan on joining us on time each week. At the end of each session, after we’ve done our work, I will be providing a 10 minute overview of the current national political landscape. I will also be joining each breakout room and saying hello and thank you to everyone. So in addition to helping out on Thursdays you will be getting live political updates from the ground and from Washington, DC.
To prep for tonight watch my interview with Josh. You can learn more about him, donate or volunteer too. If you want to make a single donation to all 11 of our courageous candidates working to flip the House this November you can do that here. In just a few months the Hopium community has raised almost $1m for these great candidates in the districts most likely to turn from red to blue.
We could use a few more phonebankers tonight so if can give us a shift I would be really grateful.
In the spirit of not letting up, “doing something” as Michelle Obama said and leaving it all on the playing field as Gov Walz has encouraged, I again make my pitch for the candidates and state parties we’ve been working for this year. A week ago Saturday I offered an in-depth post on the strategy behind our candidate and state party endorsements, including our Presidential battleground “check” and “checkmate” strategy. 21 days to go before early in voting begins everybody - time to get to work!
Harris-Walz!!!!!! - $894,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Merch | The Harris-Walz YouTube Channel - Let’s make this a big week people!
Winning The House - $922,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More. Watch our recent discussion with Leader Hakeem Jeffries. To go deeper catch one of our interviews with our great candidates - Janelle Bynum (OR-5), George Whitesides (CA-27), Kirsten Engel (AZ-06) Will Rollins (CA-41), Laura Gillen (NY-04), Rudy Salas (CA-22), Josh Riley (NY-19), Tony Vargas (NE-02) and Adam Gray (CA-13).
North Carolina - $409,000 raised, $500,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NC Dem Chair Anderson Clayton
Arizona/Ruben Gallego - $335,000 raised, $400,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with Ruben Gallego
Nebraska/Blue Dot - $152,000 raised, $175,000 goal- Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NE Dem Chair Jane Kleeb
Here are ways you can do even more:
Commit to Vote on Day 1 and get everyone you know to join you. Early voting begins in three states on September 20th - just 22 days away!
Watch my With Dems presentation on the greatness and goodness of the Democratic Party and this six minute video on the incredible stakes in this election.
Help grow the Hopium community. Use this link to encourage others sign others up. You can gift a subscription to a friend or student here and get group rates too. If you have changed credit cards or moved you can you update your payment information or check your renewal status follow these instructions from Substack. Let’s keep our community growing the Hopium flowing!
Keep working hard all. Proud to be in this fight with all of you and see many of you tonight! Simon
I Would Much Rather Be Us Than Them, Voting On Day 1, Being Guided By Love Of Country, Join Us For Tonight's Winning The House Thursday!