66 Comments
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MariElena's avatar

Simon Rosenberg, you work very hard every day. I believe that your hard work will be rewarded on Tuesday.

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Simon Rosenberg's avatar

Thank you! Takes a village!

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Laura Gottsman's avatar

Poking the Bear was a big mistake!

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Anne Bear's avatar

Agreed!!!

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Madam Geoffrin's avatar

We went to the Obama rally in Newark. It was very disorganized-disappointingly so-but once we got inside it was electric and downright fun. Ken Martin and Phil Murphy were amazing! The crowd poured love onto Mikie and she returned it 10-fold; she was great. And Obama? Well, he did not disappoint.

Sick with nerves this morning so dragging myself out for one more day of canvassing-thanks to my husband who hasn’t taken his foot off the pedal.

Steven Fulop is the narcissist my peers warned me about. The only social media post about the governor’s race I have seen since the primary was today. He posted about the AtlasIntel poll and tickled the idea of an upset. I regret voting for him in the primary.

Does anyone know if State Navigator is legit? They are giving Mikie a 90% chance of winning.

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Simon Rosenberg's avatar

MG time to worry about the polls is over now. Just heads down and keep working!

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Aspenwood's avatar

You are inspiring, Madam! Thank you so much

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Madam Geoffrin's avatar

Thank you.

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Carolyn from IL's avatar

If you know anyone who lives in Pennsylvania, please urge them to VOTE YES to retain all judges in the judicial retention election. But especially to retain the 3 SUPREME COURT JUSTICES, who might be on the back side of the ballot. (This very important election could determine the outcome of potential challenges to election results in 2026 and 2028.)

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Beth Kephart's avatar

On it here.

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MrsCQ's avatar
15hEdited

Any update on how these races are doing? Here is a CBS News article about the races. It doesn't state who is ahead but does say Democrats and Allies are on course to outspend Republicans 4-1. It also explains the somewhat complicated way the justices are seated or appointed.

https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/pennsylvania-supreme-court-retention-election/

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Carolyn from IL's avatar

So glad to hear that Democratic-aligned groups are outspending Rs in this election. This is good news, considering that there was very little awareness of the Nov. 4th judicial retention election among PA voters, as recently as a couple months ago.

It's also important that Ds are focusing attention on the importance of this race because Rs have almost closed the gap in voter registration in Pennsylvania. https://www.abc27.com/pennsylvania-politics/republicans-gaining-ground-in-pennsylvania-in-this-important-measure/

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MrsCQ's avatar

I completely agree. I was concerned because I couldn't find much information about these races. I probably wasn't searching the "Internets" properly. Thank you.

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MrsCQ's avatar

Thank you for the link. Voter registration trends are concerning. Hopefully, we are turning things around these days. It is crazy to me that so many people, anyone frankly, would vote against their own interests. I have a family member that does that every election.

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Chris Dwyer's avatar

GOP Senator [John Curtis-UT] Urges Mike Johnson To Swear In Arizona Democrat After Weeks-Long Delay

Sebastian Murdock

Fri, October 31, 2025 at 6:08 PM EDT

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/gop-senator-urges-mike-johnson-220857629.html

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Fisher's avatar

that emerson poll for nj is just about the only one the local media is touting. what a drag the journalism profession, which i was once part of, has become. let's hope we have a winner in mikie sherill by 10 pm tuesday.

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Simon Rosenberg's avatar

The media bias that exists now is to overstate Republican strengths and to understate ours. It’s a central reason I founded Hopium.

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Fisher's avatar

to be fair, wnyc the local npr affiliate did cite the fox poll showing her at +7 while noting "other" polls were tighter; they stated a win by mikie would show disapproval of trump while a win by jack would show trump support even in a blue state; i do not believe the latter to be true; people here have the highest property taxes in the country and many will vote for the devil himself to get lower taxes; in fact, murphy made some real progress with his anchor program rebates and stay in nj programs, the first real benefits i can remember. another outlet called ciatarelli 'unusually competitive '; this is also false, as r 's have been very successful winning the governor's mansion in the last 40 years. so, this is the narrative that we are faced with, that you are well aware of, but a lot of the public still isn't. my job is to point people in the right direction, and i regularly show them data right from this site.

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Simon Rosenberg's avatar

The pysops here is by claiming the polls are "tightening" it makes our candidate weak and theirs strong, and a message they want to close on for late-deciding voters. What Trump did in 2024, what they tried to do in 2022. It's why we have to challenge their cherry picking polls and creating a false impression in the election.

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Carol R's avatar
18hEdited

Last night hundreds of us turned out in a section of New Haven with many immigrant families for an amazing and joyous 3 miles celebration parade in honor of Dia de los Muertos. We wove through the streets seeing as many as we could! The community came out strongly in support and celebration of our diversity. Costumes were amazing, police were so supportive and protective and so many families with elderly and small children came out in their porches to dance along and wave to the music! it’s hard to describe the utter joy for all of us. A strong reminder to all that we are in this together and we support those with sensitive immigration status. We were honored to be included and proud to stand with our immigrant friends and neighbors in this strong show of support.

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Rachel Poliner's avatar

What a lovely story! I'm choked up.

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Lisa Iannucci's avatar

Many relatives in New Haven area - my great-grandfather settled there and it's where my grandpa grew up. Still have second cousins around. Thanks for sharing this!

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Simon Rosenberg's avatar

Amazing story. Thanks for sharing it Carol.....

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Gadget 49's avatar

Thank you Simon. You truly give hope with specific action plans. I get discouraged and come here to f ind something specific to do to help others.

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Mark's avatar

Just to let you know -- there is currently a special Congressional election going on in Tennessee, with the general election on December 2. State representative Aftyn Behn, the Democrat, has a better than a snowball's chance in June of winning, which is a vast improvement on the normal situation in Tennesseee and in that district.

The district was one of three the Republicans made (in 2021, I believe) when they gerrymandered (cracked?) Nashville into three Republican districts. The Republican has taken the district by more than 20 points in the ensuing campaigns. He is now quitting to pursue some kind of undisclosed money-making scene somewhere in the world, resulting in the special election.

There were active primaries in both parties. The vote totals in the primary were 31,000 in the Democratic primary, and 38,000 in the Republican primary -- far closer than the district has ever been.

Rep. Behn is a progressive community organizer, who I would not necessarily thought to have been ideal for the district. She is young, smart, and attractive, however, and a very hard worker. She won a four way primary, and has shown a surprising ability to work across party lines in the legislature.

It is a turnout based special election. In the current environment, maybe? The result will almost certainly show a significant improvement over past elections in the district. If Rep. Behn was able to pull off the upset, of course, the effect would be cataclysmic.

Here is the link to Rep. Behn's website: https://www.aftynforcongress.com

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SW's avatar

Thanks for this update

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Simon Rosenberg's avatar

Need to see polling here. I am not yet recommending this race.

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Mark's avatar

I'm not necessarily suggesting you should recommend the race, although I think people should know about it.

This is the only polling I have seen, which was clearly taken for the Democrat:

https://cms.stateaffairs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Hotline-TN07-Poll.pdf

"On the initial 6-way ballot, Republican Matt Van Epps has 51% of the vote, with Aftyn winning 41% and the independent candidates splitting 7%. When those voters are pushed to choose between Van Epps and Behn, the race stands at 52% Matt Van Epps and 44% Aftyn Behn."

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Judy McNichols's avatar

Tennessee is 'home' even though I haven't lived there in quite some time. It's past the time for the state to return to common sense when West TN and Middle TN were majority Democratic; East TN has been primarily Republican since the Civil War.

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KBH's avatar

As if we needed any MORE incentive to work our butts off--consider this story by a woman in D.C. whose "crime" was trying to film outside a detention facility so family members of those inside might know where they were. She was handcuffed and thrown in the back of an unmarked SUV with absolutely no explanation of a valid reason or whether she was being arrested or charged with a crime. Fortunately, multiple grand juries refused to indict her for a felony. So, the Clown Car of Revenge changed course and charged her with a misdemeanor. But, thankfully, a jury of her peers (12 citizens who haven't lost their minds or become drunk on power) acquitted her. Yet she lost three months of her life while all this played out; feared losing her job and the new apartment she'd just moved into before this happened. This is where we are now. But needn't be forever if we continue working.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/i-m-the-woman-acquitted-for-assaulting-an-fbi-agent-here-s-my-story/ar-AA1PETC0?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=6907647ed50a45549d803a524ab17b4f&ei=25

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Lisa Iannucci's avatar

Woot! Counting down the hours to seeing Sens. Booker & Gallego today at the Jersey Shore!

Yesterday, knocked doors for a couple hours - many had already voted, some did not know the early vote location and said they would vote today! Every vote counts, friends!

Spending some time text banking to get those vote by mail ballots returned.

My friends who were in Newark said it was amazing. Of course it was, bc BHO!!!

Keep going!

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Fisher's avatar

taking some older folks for early voting today. why not get a few more in the bank.

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Lisa Iannucci's avatar

thank you! I finished my packet from yesterday after the rally - it was too nice not to be outside!

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David Salzillo's avatar

Hello everyone,

Check out my latest post on the government shutdown: https://davidsalzillo.substack.com/p/how-will-you-die-slow-like-a-snail.

If you like this post, please consider sharing and subscribing (for free or paid). As always, though, any feedback from this community would be greatly appreciated.

"In the name of democracy, let us all unite!"

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Karen Edge's avatar

Thank you, Simon, and the Hopium community for working so hard every day to save our country

The energy, dedication, and perseverance of all you folks is inspiring and helps me to stay focused on each task at hand, one day at a time.

The last few weeks have been focused on phone banking in Virginia, and garnering signatures from voters to reject the super-gerrymandered Missouri map pushed on us by Trump and his sycophants in our state capitol. I attended the hearing in Jefferson City in August. One person spoke in favor of the map, over 50 spoke against it. The Republican super-majority legislature could not have cared less. They dodged our questions, with lame excuses why the map was "good" for Missourians. Many Missourians are against their power grab, so we have a real chance of stopping the implementation of this newest map for the 2026 midterms.

I am coordinating a local food bank drive. I have heard with the SNAP benefits expiring this weekend, the demand at the local food banks has already tripled. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, the community needs to pull together to care for each other!

Peace and grace to you all in the coming days!

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Simon Rosenberg's avatar

Thank you Karen!

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Nora's avatar

Obama at the Spanberger rally: “If you can’t visit a doctor, don’t worry, he will save you a dance.”

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Kat's avatar

Started delivering groceries for our local food bank in the Bay Area Friday as a gig for the foreseeable future. So rewarding.

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Susan D's avatar

A voting reminder: 866-our-vote is a national non-partisan hotline (in several languages) of trained lawyers who you should call or text if one encounters difficulty voting at the polls or voter intimidation, or needs help with basic information about polling location or hours, what you need to bring (in certain states), checking registration status, voting by mail and drop boxes, ETC. Any question or problem re voting.

As important they have teams of people to report problems (broken machines, for example) in real time to local officials and have been instrumental in getting information to teams that can advocate for polls staying open, etc.

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