Do More, Worry Less - Let's Win NY-3, North Carolina and the Presidency, Together
NY-3 Is Feb 13th, and Folks Are Voting Already - Donate, Volunteer Today!
Friends,
The general election is here and it’s time to get to work.
Political Briefing Tonight at 8pm EST - A reminder that we have our monthly get together tonight at 8pm EST. We will kick it off by hearing from Tom Suozzi, I will offer my thoughts on 2024 and then we will take some questions. Register here, and a video of our event will be available here for those who can’t make it live tonight. Looking forward to getting together tonight and welcome new subscribers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On To The General - In recent weeks I’ve written about how I think President Biden will win in 2024; how much better off we are today; how the Democratic Party is strong, and winning elections all across the country; and how Donald Trump is the most unfit man to ever run for the Presidency.
I’ve also talked about how I want to approach this year with a growth, expansion, taking stuff away from them mindset. It’s what we did in 2022, gaining ground over 2020 in AZ, CO, GA, MI, MN, NH, PA, picking up a Senate seat, 2 governorships, 4 state legislative chambers and keeping the House close enough to make it far more likely we flip it this time. It’s also what we’ve done together here at Hopium since we began last March, as we
Heard from the WI Dem Chair Ben Wikler, and then worked to flip a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat by winning 56% of the vote, take ideological control over the chamber and are now working to end arguably the worst gerrymander in America.
Heard from Donna Deegan, and helped her flip Jacksonville, the largest city in Florida and one of the largest Republican held cities in the US. Coming just as Ron DeSantis was beginning his ill-fated Presidential campaign, this big win against a close DeSantis ally in DeSantis’ home region was a huge symbolic victory, and a sign that the Florida Democratic Party comeback had begun.
Heard from David Pepper, and helped him and the good people of Ohio win their abortion ballot initiative with 57% of the vote in November, restore fundamental rights that has been taken away and end their six week abortion ban.
Along with our friends at Network NOVA heard from Virginia Assembly campaign chair Delegate Dan Helmer, and worked to keep the Virginia Senate and flip the House. Together, we took away the Virginia Assembly, and took away Glenn Youngkin’s hopes of turning the 15 week abortion ban into a political safe haven for national Republicans on abortion. In January we are able to see the further fruits of our labor when Democratic leader Delegate Don Scott was elected the first black Speaker in the history of the home of the Confederacy.
Heard from Tom Keen, and helped him flip a critical Florida state house seat on the morning after Trump and DeSantis finished 1-2 in Iowa and in the early days of their 2024 legislative session. It was another critical step forward in regaining lost ground in Florida, one of our most important expansion opportunities in the coming years.
We’ve been focusing here on growth, expansion and taking stuff away from them because I think MAGA’s escalating extremism is giving us profound opportunities for demographic and geographic expansion this cycle that we simply must seize. I made this argument to all of you in my very first post here at Hopium last March, Get to 55: Growing Our Coalition, The Youth Opportunity, writing:
One of the projects I’m planning to work on over the next few years a group of us are calling “Get to 55.” The idea is to create a big conversation in Democratic and pro-democracy circles about how to grow the current Democratic coalition from Biden’s 51.4% in 2020 to 55% in 2024 and keep it there for a while. It may be the only way we’re going to get the Republicans to abandon MAGA and become a more traditional center-right party. Getting to 55% will be good for Democrats of course, but it will also be good for the country and the long-term future of the Republican Party itself.
And as we hoped and fought for 2023 ended up being a year of remarkable growth and expansion all across the country. We just keep winning, and they keep struggling. We have to take a moment to acknowledge how unusual it is that the party in power has gained ground in these last two election years, as for most of modern American history the party in the White House loses elections all across the country in the midterm and off years. We’ve gained, expanded and taken staff away from them in both 2022 and 2023. We’ve defied history and helped save the country from MAGA, Congratulations everyone - we’ve done a lot of good, together, here in this first year of Hopium. This work we do really matters.
This dynamic of heightened Dem performance and GOP/MAGA struggle has now carried over into the early days of 2024. Tom Keen flipped his House seat last week and Trump’s wins in both IA and NH were far less impressive then he hoped. Democratic wins, Republican struggle in 2022, 2023 and now in early 2024. It’s a central reason as we head into the general I would much rather be us than them.
Now on to the rest of 2024. In this recent memo I sketched out my thinking about how I want to our work together this year, focusing on four tiers of work:
Winning the Presidency, Getting to 55/crushing MAGA, with a special focus on flipping North Carolina and expanding our Electoral College map
Taking back the US House by endorsing and working to flip 6-10 seats across the US. While our target list will be announced in late February, we are starting this effort by working to flip NY-3 with Tom Suozzi on Feb 13th
Possible targeted projects in FL and TX, both Presidential expansion and Senate pick up states in 2024
Other opportunities as they present themselves (like Tom Keen’s race)
So, what can you do today to get going and to help us keep winning and taking stuff away from them? There are three things you can do right now, this morning:
Help Joe Beat Trump - First, donate to and join the Biden campaign. This is job 1. Start getting the campaign emails, start thinking about how you are going to help beyond making a modest donation today. Work to become an info warrior for him and the Democratic Party, and as they ramp up commit to volunteer in all the ways we know how. We have at least 7 states to win - AZ, GA, MI, NC, NV, PA, WI in 2024. You can donate and join the Biden campaign by using this link right now.
Win North Carolina - Next, help us flip North Carolina, expand Biden’s map, and take this critical state away from MAGA. This link will bring you to my recent interview with the dynamic new NC Democratic Party chair, Anderson Clayton, and provides ways to donate and volunteer.
Win NY-3 - Finally, we need to take NY-3 away from them on February 13th. Voting has already begun, and Tom Suozzi joins us tonight live at 8pm. Register for our live event with Tom tonight here, and donate and volunteer by clicking on the links below. All hands on deck here. Polling looks good but we have to keep working hard to bring this home.
Donate - Learn More - Get Updates - Canvass - Make Calls - Write Postcards
Friends, the Hopium community has already done remarkable things together over the past year. But our most important work is ahead of us now, and we need to get going. This is the most important election I’ve even been a part of, and I am really excited to be in this fight with all of you. So please take an action today - donate to Joe Biden, let’s flip North Carolina, let’s elect Tom Suozzi in NY-3 - and let’s get to work to get to 55 and win big this year.
Remember, my friends, Hopium is hope with a plan. We don’t just hope 2024 is going to be a good election. We do the work, together, to make it so - Simon
Significant data point from last night's NH Democratic primary (and thanks to Kyle Griffin from MSNBC for highlighting): President Biden won more votes as a write-in candidate than Barack Obama did when he ran for re-election in the 2012 NH primary. And in 2012, Obama ran unopposed and his name was actually on the ballot! Hard to fathom how the media can turn such a blind eye to the strength of Biden and the Democratic Party's grassroots support.
Good morning, my hard-working, hope-filled fellows! I'd rather hang out with y'all than work, but I'm going to go donate again to Tom Suozzi because sending the magats to that great slab of carrion in the sky is my raison d'être! But then, back to my job!