Tonight, in Bucks County PA we have a big event in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
It is the consideration of “Resolution for July 4, 2026, in Support of Democracy And Calling for a Return to the Constitutional Principles That Are the Foundation of this Republic” by the Yardley Borough Council. The Board of this historic riverside town in the Philadelphia metro area will meet in the spirit of our Founders to “let facts be spoken to a candid world.” You can watch online at 7:30 pm ET tonight at https://www.youtube.com/@yardleyborough8413
"[P]eople in farm country are hurting due to Trump’s policies – the tariffs, failed war, health care cuts – and there are voters open to hearing from us now who have been tough for us to reach in previous cycles. It is an opportunity our party must understand, and seize, together."
Amen! There was once a time when farmers and much of rural America voted for the Democratic Party. We have a golden opportunity to win many of those voters back. It’s high time!
Here is a great article about the plight of Colorado farmers, who primarily are in the Republican (conservative) Western Slope and Eastern Plains Congressional Districts of the state:
Thanks for the packed update, Simon. Yours is a truly impressive column. I'm excited about the birth of "Economic Democracy" progressivism.
My horse in the CA gov's race is former Congresswoman Katie Porter from Orange County, CA. She is uniquely brilliant and courageous. She was one of the top student's of bankruptcy law professor Elizabeth Warren's classes at Harvard Law. I encourage our community to look into Ms Perry's record in law and Congress, and come to her support ....
Katie Porter was the first (and still only) Democrat who ever represented me in the House of Representatives. So she has a special place in my heart. But I will vote for whichever Democrat is in the lead when I vote.
Ballots go out on May 4, for those following along from other states.
Unless Mahan gets a big bump from the forum tomorrow, I hope he has the sense to drop out before May along with Villarigosa and Thurmond.
Mahan is the recently elected mayor of San Jose, where I lived until last Fall. He seemed more the darling of the business community than pro-resident. Affordable housing is top issue in silicon valley, and I didnt see him doing much on that front.
GOTV is the best strategy to insure a Dem is in the General.
Praying for good new in VA, Today, I am remembering things that bring me joy, like working as a team with my dogs, in obedience, agility and as a therapy team. So my calls today are to my house rep advocating for the AKC
to support passage of the House Rules Committee Print of Title XII of the Farm Bill,
Respectfully ask them to oppose any amendments that seek to reinsert onerous provisions from the Greyhound Protection Act (HR 5017) or that will restrict or ban traditional dog training methods and competition, responsible breeding and ownership of dogs.
Tomorrow I will return to my regular calls for Hopium.
Watched the interviews with Chaz Molder and Sarah Trone Garriott yesterday. Even if those are supposed to be red districts, I wouldn't want to be their Republican opponents. They are terrific!
Simon met last night with the Tennessee Democratic Party. He said, as he does above, that this year is a year of opportunity for us and people are open to hearing from us who have not been in the past. In particular, there is real distress in the agricultural and farm communities across the country. The battlefield has moved about 8-12 points towards us, depending on locations and candidates, but the movement is pretty universal.
Simon said Tennessee Democrats need to develop a multi-year plan to claw back power, as other states near us have done, including Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. He encourages us to get leaders from other states to speak to us about how they did it. Simon said you have to imagine it, and then make a plan to make it so, or it won't happen.
The big Democratic strategy is a New Birth of Freedom. Republicans have made it clear who they're for, and we have to be warriors for everyone else. The foundational value of the Democratic Party is freedom. It is not a choice between affordability and freedom. History is calling us. We have to reclaim patriotism. Love of country should be one of our guiding principles.
Simon recently interviewed Chaz Mulder, a candidate for Tennessee House District 5 and said Chaz is very good.
Simon reported we have to go where people in our communities are, and just show up. Don't underestimate the power of just showing up. National Democrats are trying to help state parties be louder and contest more speaces.
It is hard, but we don't have the luxury of not getting along with each other, Simon stated. Autocrats seek to have their opponents split. We have to be pluralistic in diversity and race, but also ideologically. We always have to have a seat at our table for people. We should be open and inviting vigorous debate.
Simon stated he found our work in the Tennessee Democratic Party interesting. We get to build something new. Based on his interviews with Democratic leaders and candidates across the country, Simon is a lot more excited about what's coming.
Mark-thanks for the TN Dem Party update and your mention that Simon met with them! That gives me lots more hope for our State & federal election outcomes in Nov. I live in Memphis. Where are you located?
I wish I had know about the zoom call. Thanks again for the scoop, Mark!! Reach out to me if there are other TN online gatherings and it’s an open group.
Thanks Simon for the CA polling update. Good to see Betty Yee drop out, and looking forward to the debate. Agree that it’s unlikely Bianco beats all of the Dem candidates.
Did one last VA phonebank last night (guess who was a surprise guest? 😀), and it was a good night overall. Lot of enthusiasm, some understandable election fatigue. Favorite call was a short one: “Which side is good for Democrats?”
“Yes.”
“Okay got it.”
Fingers crossed VA brings this home and hands the loser another big loss.
It would be great if every local democratic party had an info session about AI use in the upcoming election so that voters could be prepared and informed. For example, it was only after the 2024 election that we found out that Elon Musk was funding popup ads on streaming services targeted toward younger voters (ones who don't pay extra for ad-free content). Tactics like this along with AI are newer approaches that us older voters might not be as aware of. I'm not a disinformation scholar myself, but we could start compiling lists of people who are in the know on these kinds of things. I especially like Joohn Choe on Facebook, who regularly does deep dives into right-wing AI and other disinfo campaigns in his posts.
YES! Like I said, I'm presenting to a local Dem group on that topic this evening. But this demands WAY more attention, and we all need to get up to speed.
Very concerned that the DNC is not addressing this. Simon, can you speak to this?
I’m a Californian . I wish I felt as optimistic about the outcome as Simon seems to. We are not out of the woods in averting a huge tragedy - 2 Repubs on the November ballot and no Dem. In a state where Dems outnumber Repubs by 20%. No need to recite the horrible repercussions of that outcome. The important message right now to CA Dem voters is the need to be strategic and pragmatic with our vote. Specifically, ballots will arrive early May and we’ve been schooled to vote early. Don’t! Wait until as close to the election as possible, keep track of polls (and be discerning which polls you pay attention to - NYTimes polltracker is helpful with this), and vote for the Dem candidate who’s leading. With what appear to be three front runners (Steyer, Becerra and Porter) and many others on the ballot (names will still be there whether they’ve dropped out or not), there’s distinct possibility of confusion and discouragement among Dem voters - resulting in the vote splitting too many ways for a Dem to be in the top two for November. While it’s hard not to have a candidate most people are genuinely enthusiastic about, the truth is any one of them is way better than a maga governor. They all share our fundamental beliefs. Please consider passing this message on.
You are not out of the woods but at this point, given how things have changed, it is highly, highly unlikely. Representation otherwise is not consistent with the data or how these things break. That there is a Trump-endorsed candidate on the ballot will drive people to start making up their mind to thwart them. It is now up to the new top 3 field to work to get the endorsements of those lower down and still in the race and help accelerate consolidation. I want to be clear that things have changed in the past 10 days - the Trump endorsement and the new field, post Swalwell. Party ID in the poll is 56% D, 30% R which suggests the R candidates have very little room for growth; and it is likely that as the Trump endorsement becomes known Bianco will fade and Hilton will grow, making the top two R scenario impossible.
Very appreciative of your response, Simon, and reassurance - such as it can be - of the likely scenario. The most important part of my comment is that we can't take the outcome for granted (not that you're suggesting we do). That means being pragmatic and strategic - which leads to the recommendation (shared by other activists I work with) to wait until close to June 2 to vote, keep track of polls, and then vote for whomever is polling highest if the outcome doesn't seem completely assured. I hope you think that's a reasonable strategy! Thanks again.
I hope Californians tune into the Governor's debate, people seem uninterested. I think it's a bit of burn out between the Newsom Recall and the Prop 50 elections over the past few years. Tom Steyer came into our town last week and hundreds showed up, but the room only held 100 people so 200+ were turned away. I myself like Becerra, yet I still see polling showing the 3 top Dems splitting the vote between Steyer, Becerra and Porter. Hopefully one of them will rank higher than Bianco and we can definitely beat Hilton in the fall. Californians tend to not get too involved in primaries, so I hope they see the urgency here. Please rally your Californian friends and family to watch the debates and get involved! This is an important election, even though we are not a swing state by any means, there are 10 millions Republicans in California, yet Dems outnumber them 3 :1. Good luck Virginia!!
Christopher Webb on Bluesky posted "New polling shows Republicans still leading, with Hilton out front, but on the Democratic side, Becerra is making a real move and now tied with Steyer at 13%, the biggest jump we’ve seen." I bet the lower-ranked candidates will start dropping out and those numbers will go up for the democrats.
The interviews have been greatly inspiring to watch. I've never paid so much attention to so many candidates, but I've been extremely impressed. The knuckledraggers the GOP are running, who I would guess have no idea how to campaign and have depended on gerrymandered districts, whose only message is how big and strong Trump is (we can see what his BMI must be), are not equipped to beat these candidates. I think we are going to flip a lot of these seats.
I'm taking a mini break from political activity, mainly because I have a work trip next week and I have many things to do to prepare. But I'll check in when I have time.
You are the one, Simon, who keeps us grounded and knowledgeable (I think I am misspelling that) about these candidates and polls. Much gratitude.
Tonight, in Bucks County PA we have a big event in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
It is the consideration of “Resolution for July 4, 2026, in Support of Democracy And Calling for a Return to the Constitutional Principles That Are the Foundation of this Republic” by the Yardley Borough Council. The Board of this historic riverside town in the Philadelphia metro area will meet in the spirit of our Founders to “let facts be spoken to a candid world.” You can watch online at 7:30 pm ET tonight at https://www.youtube.com/@yardleyborough8413
Details from Craig Peters are in the resolution chat. https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/hopium-resolutions-project-discussion/comment/242209549
That’s wonderful news! Your resolution is spreading as though it were a life-saving "epidemic" – which it is.
Thanks , Deborah. Is it open to the public ? So we can attend in person ? I and friends live close to yardley, pa.
Yes!
Location: Yardley Borough Hall, 56 S. Main Street, Yardley, PA 19067 (upstairs)
Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2026.
Time: 7:30 PM.
Details: Meetings are open to the public.
Here is the agenda. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/60b7e8ee5002de3d34999fcc/t/69e2768f009c3501fde6c177/1776449167443/Agenda+4-21-2026.pdf
Thank you!
So cool!!
Amazing!
This is fantastic! Keep 'em coming!!!
"[P]eople in farm country are hurting due to Trump’s policies – the tariffs, failed war, health care cuts – and there are voters open to hearing from us now who have been tough for us to reach in previous cycles. It is an opportunity our party must understand, and seize, together."
Amen! There was once a time when farmers and much of rural America voted for the Democratic Party. We have a golden opportunity to win many of those voters back. It’s high time!
Here is a great article about the plight of Colorado farmers, who primarily are in the Republican (conservative) Western Slope and Eastern Plains Congressional Districts of the state:
https://www.denverpost.com/2026/04/19/colorado-farms-crops-drought-water/?share
A very informative article. Thank you for sharing!
Mayor Pete was bringing it to Oklahoma City!
Check the gift link to the NY Times article on AI fakes influencers. The link actually connects to The Guardian.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/business/media/artificial-intelligence-trump-social-media.html?unlocked_article_code=1.clA.wH-j.RCN1Cw5AZXKT&smid=nytcore-ios-share
I created an archived page capture so you can read it that way: https://archive.ph/uZ61N
I have added the proper NYT gift link back into the post. Sorry about that!
Thanks for the packed update, Simon. Yours is a truly impressive column. I'm excited about the birth of "Economic Democracy" progressivism.
My horse in the CA gov's race is former Congresswoman Katie Porter from Orange County, CA. She is uniquely brilliant and courageous. She was one of the top student's of bankruptcy law professor Elizabeth Warren's classes at Harvard Law. I encourage our community to look into Ms Perry's record in law and Congress, and come to her support ....
Katie Porter was the first (and still only) Democrat who ever represented me in the House of Representatives. So she has a special place in my heart. But I will vote for whichever Democrat is in the lead when I vote.
Ballots go out on May 4, for those following along from other states.
I understand your reasoning, Jenny. Any among Baceira, Styer or Katie Porter would make an excellent replacement of Gavin Newsome
Unless Mahan gets a big bump from the forum tomorrow, I hope he has the sense to drop out before May along with Villarigosa and Thurmond.
Mahan is the recently elected mayor of San Jose, where I lived until last Fall. He seemed more the darling of the business community than pro-resident. Affordable housing is top issue in silicon valley, and I didnt see him doing much on that front.
GOTV is the best strategy to insure a Dem is in the General.
Hi Simon and team...Heads up
the AI wars gift link goes to the Guardian.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/business/media/artificial-intelligence-trump-social-media.html?unlocked_article_code=1.clA.wH-j.RCN1Cw5AZXKT&smid=nytcore-ios-share
Thanks Ann!!
I was happy to see the NYT gift link because I thought that the article might contain an answer to my question, where do they get the AI generated images of people. However, the link took me to an article in The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/20/trump-tariffs-refund-claims.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/business/media/artificial-intelligence-trump-social-media.html?unlocked_article_code=1.clA.wH-j.RCN1Cw5AZXKT&smid=nytcore-ios-share
Ann, thank you for sharing. I learned so much from this article.
Praying for good new in VA, Today, I am remembering things that bring me joy, like working as a team with my dogs, in obedience, agility and as a therapy team. So my calls today are to my house rep advocating for the AKC
to support passage of the House Rules Committee Print of Title XII of the Farm Bill,
Respectfully ask them to oppose any amendments that seek to reinsert onerous provisions from the Greyhound Protection Act (HR 5017) or that will restrict or ban traditional dog training methods and competition, responsible breeding and ownership of dogs.
Tomorrow I will return to my regular calls for Hopium.
Watched the interviews with Chaz Molder and Sarah Trone Garriott yesterday. Even if those are supposed to be red districts, I wouldn't want to be their Republican opponents. They are terrific!
they are great candidates!
Like Viktor Orbán, Zach Nunn will first be *JD-vanced*. (The Vatican too knows something about this!)
Prediction: And then in November, Zach Nunn will be *garriotted*!
Simon met last night with the Tennessee Democratic Party. He said, as he does above, that this year is a year of opportunity for us and people are open to hearing from us who have not been in the past. In particular, there is real distress in the agricultural and farm communities across the country. The battlefield has moved about 8-12 points towards us, depending on locations and candidates, but the movement is pretty universal.
Simon said Tennessee Democrats need to develop a multi-year plan to claw back power, as other states near us have done, including Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. He encourages us to get leaders from other states to speak to us about how they did it. Simon said you have to imagine it, and then make a plan to make it so, or it won't happen.
The big Democratic strategy is a New Birth of Freedom. Republicans have made it clear who they're for, and we have to be warriors for everyone else. The foundational value of the Democratic Party is freedom. It is not a choice between affordability and freedom. History is calling us. We have to reclaim patriotism. Love of country should be one of our guiding principles.
Simon recently interviewed Chaz Mulder, a candidate for Tennessee House District 5 and said Chaz is very good.
Simon reported we have to go where people in our communities are, and just show up. Don't underestimate the power of just showing up. National Democrats are trying to help state parties be louder and contest more speaces.
It is hard, but we don't have the luxury of not getting along with each other, Simon stated. Autocrats seek to have their opponents split. We have to be pluralistic in diversity and race, but also ideologically. We always have to have a seat at our table for people. We should be open and inviting vigorous debate.
Simon stated he found our work in the Tennessee Democratic Party interesting. We get to build something new. Based on his interviews with Democratic leaders and candidates across the country, Simon is a lot more excited about what's coming.
Mark-thanks for the TN Dem Party update and your mention that Simon met with them! That gives me lots more hope for our State & federal election outcomes in Nov. I live in Memphis. Where are you located?
I am in Knoxville. There were at least two other Hopium subscribers on the Zoom, so they should identify themselves!
I wish I had know about the zoom call. Thanks again for the scoop, Mark!! Reach out to me if there are other TN online gatherings and it’s an open group.
Thanks Simon for the CA polling update. Good to see Betty Yee drop out, and looking forward to the debate. Agree that it’s unlikely Bianco beats all of the Dem candidates.
Did one last VA phonebank last night (guess who was a surprise guest? 😀), and it was a good night overall. Lot of enthusiasm, some understandable election fatigue. Favorite call was a short one: “Which side is good for Democrats?”
“Yes.”
“Okay got it.”
Fingers crossed VA brings this home and hands the loser another big loss.
It would be great if every local democratic party had an info session about AI use in the upcoming election so that voters could be prepared and informed. For example, it was only after the 2024 election that we found out that Elon Musk was funding popup ads on streaming services targeted toward younger voters (ones who don't pay extra for ad-free content). Tactics like this along with AI are newer approaches that us older voters might not be as aware of. I'm not a disinformation scholar myself, but we could start compiling lists of people who are in the know on these kinds of things. I especially like Joohn Choe on Facebook, who regularly does deep dives into right-wing AI and other disinfo campaigns in his posts.
YES! Like I said, I'm presenting to a local Dem group on that topic this evening. But this demands WAY more attention, and we all need to get up to speed.
Very concerned that the DNC is not addressing this. Simon, can you speak to this?
I was so glad to see you doing this!
I’m a Californian . I wish I felt as optimistic about the outcome as Simon seems to. We are not out of the woods in averting a huge tragedy - 2 Repubs on the November ballot and no Dem. In a state where Dems outnumber Repubs by 20%. No need to recite the horrible repercussions of that outcome. The important message right now to CA Dem voters is the need to be strategic and pragmatic with our vote. Specifically, ballots will arrive early May and we’ve been schooled to vote early. Don’t! Wait until as close to the election as possible, keep track of polls (and be discerning which polls you pay attention to - NYTimes polltracker is helpful with this), and vote for the Dem candidate who’s leading. With what appear to be three front runners (Steyer, Becerra and Porter) and many others on the ballot (names will still be there whether they’ve dropped out or not), there’s distinct possibility of confusion and discouragement among Dem voters - resulting in the vote splitting too many ways for a Dem to be in the top two for November. While it’s hard not to have a candidate most people are genuinely enthusiastic about, the truth is any one of them is way better than a maga governor. They all share our fundamental beliefs. Please consider passing this message on.
You are not out of the woods but at this point, given how things have changed, it is highly, highly unlikely. Representation otherwise is not consistent with the data or how these things break. That there is a Trump-endorsed candidate on the ballot will drive people to start making up their mind to thwart them. It is now up to the new top 3 field to work to get the endorsements of those lower down and still in the race and help accelerate consolidation. I want to be clear that things have changed in the past 10 days - the Trump endorsement and the new field, post Swalwell. Party ID in the poll is 56% D, 30% R which suggests the R candidates have very little room for growth; and it is likely that as the Trump endorsement becomes known Bianco will fade and Hilton will grow, making the top two R scenario impossible.
As I say all this might not happen but what I've outlined here is the likely scenario.
Very appreciative of your response, Simon, and reassurance - such as it can be - of the likely scenario. The most important part of my comment is that we can't take the outcome for granted (not that you're suggesting we do). That means being pragmatic and strategic - which leads to the recommendation (shared by other activists I work with) to wait until close to June 2 to vote, keep track of polls, and then vote for whomever is polling highest if the outcome doesn't seem completely assured. I hope you think that's a reasonable strategy! Thanks again.
I hope Californians tune into the Governor's debate, people seem uninterested. I think it's a bit of burn out between the Newsom Recall and the Prop 50 elections over the past few years. Tom Steyer came into our town last week and hundreds showed up, but the room only held 100 people so 200+ were turned away. I myself like Becerra, yet I still see polling showing the 3 top Dems splitting the vote between Steyer, Becerra and Porter. Hopefully one of them will rank higher than Bianco and we can definitely beat Hilton in the fall. Californians tend to not get too involved in primaries, so I hope they see the urgency here. Please rally your Californian friends and family to watch the debates and get involved! This is an important election, even though we are not a swing state by any means, there are 10 millions Republicans in California, yet Dems outnumber them 3 :1. Good luck Virginia!!
Christopher Webb on Bluesky posted "New polling shows Republicans still leading, with Hilton out front, but on the Democratic side, Becerra is making a real move and now tied with Steyer at 13%, the biggest jump we’ve seen." I bet the lower-ranked candidates will start dropping out and those numbers will go up for the democrats.
The interviews have been greatly inspiring to watch. I've never paid so much attention to so many candidates, but I've been extremely impressed. The knuckledraggers the GOP are running, who I would guess have no idea how to campaign and have depended on gerrymandered districts, whose only message is how big and strong Trump is (we can see what his BMI must be), are not equipped to beat these candidates. I think we are going to flip a lot of these seats.
I'm taking a mini break from political activity, mainly because I have a work trip next week and I have many things to do to prepare. But I'll check in when I have time.
I always have faith in you Simon. I agree with your statistics. We shall wait and see as it gets closer.