Friends,
Sending along a recording of our March get together from last night, above. I open with a 20 minute overview of the current national political landscape, take some questions, and then we get an update on North Carolina, 2024’s most important expansion state, from the great Anderson Clayton herself. Hope you will watch and share with others you think might be interested. Lots of energy last night, and it was great to see everyone!
As I’ve been writing this week I feel good about where we are right now. Joe Biden is a good President, the country is better off and we have a strong case for re-election. The Democratic Party is strong, unified, and winning elections all across the country. And they have Trump - disgraced, diminished, delusional degraded and dangerous - a far weaker candidate than he was in 2020. In every way imaginable, as we begin the general election, I would much rather be us than them.
I explore all these points further in these recent posts and analyses:
There’s Only One American Party Good At This Capitalism Thing
The President Is Clearly Fighting For Us. Now We Need To Go Fight For Him.
At the end of our get together last night night NC Dem Party Chair Anderson Clayton updated us on her work to turn North Carolina blue. She talked about her early work to build out her field operations; how our investments there have allowed to hire 2 additional organizers; how the GOP nominee for Governor Mark Robinson may be the most outrageous MAGA extremist in the country; and how early polls this week show our candidate for Governor, Josh Stein, leading. If we do the work we can and should win in North Carolina this year. Thanks to everyone in the Hopium community who has supported Anderson and her critical 2024 work. She is a great chair and a vital new, national leader for our party.
Yesterday I sat down with one of the smartest and most capable journalists in Washington, Greg Sargent, for an indepth discussion of the 2024 election for his new podcast for The New Republic. He called our talk “The Serious Case For Not Freaking Out About Trump’s Scary Poll Numbers.” It’s worth a listen. And be sure to check out Greg’s new daily political podcast. It has quickly become one of the best in the business.
Also released this morning is a new interview I did with Debbie Cox Bultan and Ryan Coonerty for their NewDEAL Leaders “An Honorable Profession” podcast. Titled “Simon Says We Are Going To Win,” it too is a great discussion and worth your time in the coming days.
Friends, whatever you think about where we are right now, remember one thing - the general election has just started. 95% of the general election is ahead of us. We are in the early, early days and of course we have a lot of work ahead of us. But doing the work is what we do, and it’s time to get going and go win this thing for Joe Biden, for the country, for our kids and grandkids and for democracies throughout the world. It’s time to get to work, and I remain really proud to be in this fight with all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Students For Biden-Harris Call Tonight, Share With Your Networks - Students for Biden-Harris has their first national organizing call tonight at 7pm with special guest Rep. Maxwell Frost. Hope you will share this link with your networks and encourage young folks you know to attend, get involved. Here we go people!
Great New Jill Biden, Christina Aquilera Video on Reproductive Freedom - Friends, the early social media and digital work coming from the Biden campaign has been terrific. Here’s another example:
Let’s Do More, Worry Less - Here at Hopium we strive to channel all this worry and anxiety we have about our current moment into concrete action - do more, worry less - as we say here. Here are a few things you do today, right now:
Donate to and join the Biden-Harris campaign - This is very important. The general election has begun and it’s time to get on board the Biden-Harris train. Please donate whatever amount you can - $5, $10 - just to get started.
Our community has already raised over $155,000 for Biden Harris - thank you!
Make an early investment in North Carolina - North Carolina is our most important 2024 expansion state. Please donate today. For more on why I think North Carolina is so important watch my interview with Anderson Clayton, the dynamic new NC Democratic Party Chair.
Our community has already raised over $104,000 for this critical battleground - thank you all!
Help Ruben Gallego Win Arizona - Last week I endorsed Ruben Gallego in his race to become the next Senator in Arizona. The polls are encouraging there, and this is a very critical 2024 battleground state - must win Biden-Harris state, must win Senate, two House pick up opportunities (and maybe the state house too). Because Senator Sinema stayed in for so long, Ruben is a bit behind where he should be financially and organizationally, and needs our help today. Please donate today, and I will be posting some volunteer opportunities in the coming days. We have already raised over $54,000 for Ruben - thank you all!
Spread Hopium - Encourage people in your networks to become a Hopium subscriber. Our goal is to get to 50,000 subscribers by March 31st (we’re at 48,000 today!). With your help, we can hit our goal, grow our community, and bring the upbeat, data-filled analysis here to more and more people. You can also become a paid subscriber which helps us grow here.
Hopium Chronicles Turns 1 This Month - I launched this thing a year ago with this welcome post, and my get to 55 memo. I’m so proud of what we’ve done together, the community we’ve built. Here’s what I wrote last March:
Though I’ve been in politics for a long time, my journey fighting the “red wave” over the past year changed my understanding of the work that needs to get done to defeat MAGA, tell our inspiring story more effectively, and ensure that freedom and democracy prevail.
Basically I came to understand that our politics was changing and I had to change with it. It led me to conclude that my old organization, NDN, which I founded back in 1996, was no longer the right vehicle for me. It did a lot of good over a long period of time, and we built a remarkable community there. As I discuss in my recent interview with Ron Brownstein in the Atlantic, I feel like we are entering a new political era in America, one that requires new strategies and approaches. NDN was built for a different era, and it had a different mission. I needed to do something new, organize my work in new ways. So here I am. With all of you.
I am calling it Hopium Chronicles because I want this to be a journey guided by hope and optimism, of belief in ourselves, in love of country and a clear understanding of the nature of the conflict we are in. I have become convinced that part of Greater MAGA’s strategy is to intentionally poison our discourse with negative sentiment every day. They want us to feel bad about America, our democracy, our leaders, our institutions, our success, each other, ourselves. We cannot let them do that any more. While they talk American down every day, we need to talk it up. While they spread lies, we respond with truth and data. Hopium is a rejection of the darkness they are trying to spread. It is a way of standing up for our great country and its remarkable people. It is the key to how we win.
Listen to this happy Hopium birthday message from Governor Gavin Newsom, and if you want to mark this important date by becoming a paid subscriber you can do so here. Your financial support allows me to do this work, our community to grow and it keeps the Hopium flowing! Thank you to all of you who have been of this spirited experiment so far. We’ve done a lot of good together but as all know, our most important work lies ahead.
Keep fighting hard all. I am proud to be in this fight with all of you - Simon
My March 2024 Election Overview With Special Guest Anderson Clayton - "I Would Much Rather Be Us Than Them"