Good Sunday all. Excited to bring you a new conversation with Charlie Dingman, the Chair of the Maine Democratic Party. A recording and transcript are above.
Maine is one of the most important battleground states of the cycle. Susan Collins is up for re-election, and is vulnerable. The Congressional seat we hold there (ME-02) is the most Republican district Dems hold in the country. With current Governor Janet Mills being termed out the Governorship is now wide open, and Dems only have a two seat margin in the Maine State House. This November there is a critical ballot initiative placed by the GOP that will make it much harder to vote in Maine next year that we need to defeat. Here is the question Republicans have put on the Maine statewide ballot next month:
QUESTION 1: “Do you want to change Maine election laws to eliminate two days of absentee voting, prohibit requests for absentee ballots by phone or family members, end ongoing absentee voter status for seniors and people with disabilities, ban prepaid postage on absentee ballot return envelopes, limit the number of drop boxes, require voters to show certain photo ID before voting, and make other changes to our elections?”
Um, that would be one big f-ing NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This brings us to my wonderful discussion with Charlie Dingman, the new Maine Chair, who certainly has taken on a big job in a critical cycle. Charlie gives us the lay of the land, and talks about the building the most ambitious political program Maine Dems have ever put together. He thanks the Hopium community for the investment we’ve already made there, and confirms they’ve already put our monies to work. He also got big news this week as popular two term Governor Janet Mills jumped into the Senate race against the perpetually concerned Susan Collins.
The Maine Democratic Party is one of the five state parties we’re targeting in our new Audacious Expansion Fund, with the others being Alaska, Florida, Iowa and Texas. The idea is to make these early investments in party infrastructure that make it more likely we can be competitive and win in these states in 2026 and beyond. If we are to flip the Senate next year we will need to win at least two of the Senate races in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, and Texas. IA, ME, and TX have competitive Democratic primaries for Senate, while Alaska’s field is still not settled. So our strategic investments help these state parties build out an operation that will be in place for when they have general election candidates next year and make it more likely we can be competitive there.
We are investing in Florida for three reasons 1) to help prepare in case the Governor’s race becomes competitive next year 2) as the national map is changing Dems must put either FL or TX in play by the 2032 Presidential election 3) as we discussed with Leon Krauze yesterday and Senator Ruben Gallego a few weeks ago, Trump’s targeting of Hispanic/Latino families is giving us an opportunity to make gains in places like Florida and Texas that would have been hard to imagine a year ago.
This conversation is a great from the front-lines window into the strategic state party building project of Ken Martin’s new, far more ambitious DNC. Chair Dingmam explains how what they are trying to build in Maine is both necessary and unprecedented, something that you’ve heard from all the other chairs we’ve interviewed in recent weeks - Alaska Chair Eric Croft, Florida Chair Nikki Fried, Iowa Chair Rita Hart and Texas Chair Kendall Scudder. We are investing in these five start parties for they all have ambitious plans to invest into, and while winning in these places will be hard, it is not impossible. And it only becomes possible with the kind of strategic investments we are making through this program and the unprecedented support coming from the DNC. That’s why we are calling it the Audacious Expansion Fund. For our ambition is audacious - but necessary.
We’ve raised $54,000 so far for our Audacious fund - thank you to everyone who has donated so far. I’m excited to announce that two Hopium community members have audaciously pledged $50,000 to our five states, bringing us to $154,000, or $30,000+ per party in just a few weeks. Our goal is to get to $250,000 by the end of the year, or $50,000 for each party. In the three smaller states - Alaska, Iowa, Maine - $50,000 is about ten percent of their 2025 budget. So yes, it is a lot of money, and a deeply meaningful investment in red states and red places where we simply must learn how to win. You can donate to these five states and join others in becoming audacious and ambitious here; and watch my interview with Chair Dingham. It will put a little extra pep in your step today!
Enjoy This Video From House Oversight Committee Dems - Yes, Democrats are learning how to play in the new info space:
More Bad Polling For Trump. The Country Is Unhappy With Him And His Regime - Given Trump’s unpopularity, and that more Americans blame him and the Rs for the shutdown, there was always a chance that an extended shutdown could further damage his standing with the public. As I shared on Friday, most of the independent polls out this week showed him losing ground. This morning the Civiqs daily tracking poll, which had already dropped 2 points this week, dropped another 2, moving from 42%-54% earlier in the week to now 40%-56%. This is not just the worst result for Trump in this poll this year, it also by far and away his worst week.
Here’s what we saw this week. Ugly, ugly stuff for the ugliest leader in our history. To be clear Trump is now regularly polling below where Biden was when he dropped out of the Presidential race after his disastrous debate performance:
Ipsos/Reuters 40%-58% (-18) - 1 point drop
Economist/YouGov 39%-56% (-17) - 3 point drop
CBS 42%-58% (-16) - 4 point drop
Civiqs 40%-56% (-16) - 4 point drop this week
The University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey also continues to hover around the lowest reading in the past 65 years:
The American people at not happy with their leader. Nor should they be.
A Note About My Conversation With Leon Krauze Yesterday, And My Praise For María Corina Machado - Yesterday’s conversation, one I believe is among the most important we’ve ever had here at Hopium, sparked some intense debate on our site yesterday. It’s understandable given the complexity of the geopolitics of Venezuela, and Trump’s saber rattling and lawless killing of men in small boats in the Caribbean. As our debate unfolded yesterday I shared the following message with our community:
I will say that I did not anticipate some of the negative reaction to Machado today from folks in this community. Perhaps it is my many years of working on Hispanic politics here in the US, and our policy towards Latin America that blinded me to how some would react to her politics and her desperate effort to build an international coalition to overcome Putin’s backing of Maduro and oust the regime. So I will just say three things 1) please listen or watch my interview with Leon. His family has been one of the most important forces fighting for freedom and democracy in Latin America for generations. His understanding of what is happening in Venezuela isn’t matched by many in the US. 2) Leon departed the anchor chair at Univision due to the network’s move to the right and embrace of Trump. 3) To expect Machado to spurn Trump’s offers of support due to his politics I think is naive, or perhaps coming at it from an American not a Venezuelan perspective. She has one job - get rid of the dictator, restore democracy. If Trump wants to help she will take it. I just don’t think you can view what is happening there either from American eyes or through our own left-right prism. People working for freedom and democracy in Latin America, something we would understand as liberalism, often had to fight both authoritarians on the left and the right; and unlike here, the hard left in Latin America was enthusiastically backed by Russia (Cuban Missile Crisis e.g.). Note that Putin and his influence operations have been working overtime to degrade her. Why?
So my advice - don’t be so quick to judgement. Learn. Try to come to greater understandings. Engage respectfully. Resist denigrating people. It’s what we do here. That people came to an immediate judgement about her based on a few Facebook posts or Tweets is disappointing to me. Read what the Nobel Committee said. Take your time to form an opinion. This one is complicated, for sure. But there just isn’t a reason to rush to judgement here, or immediately assume that after all our time together that I got something so important so wrong.
Keep fighting everyone and thanks for all that you do - Simon
We are a community of doers here at Hopium, but we are also a community of learners. We are aware that we live in a deeply poisoned information environment, one of half-baked hot takes, MAGA bad faith, and foreign hostile government influence operations. Creating a place to escape all that, to have respectful debates where we can learn from one another and grow stronger, smarter, and more effective together, is the central reason I founded Hopium.
As these are fraught and difficult times let us commit each day to not only be fierce in our advocacy for a better day, but to operate with grace and dignity, love of country and love of one another. For here is what I wrote in my very first Hopium post:
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
Hope you will watch my conversation with Leon if you haven’t gotten to it yet. It’s timely, informative, and powerful. And remember you can find our all discussions under the Podcast tab on the Hopium site and on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify too.
Now, Let’s Get To Work Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!
I want to thank everyone who has given in recent days. We saw a big uptick in giving before the critical q3 filing deadline. Note that we’ve hit $200,000 raised now for our 7 House incumbents and Abigail Spanberger, and $100,000 for Mikie Sherrill. Thank you all!
Winning The Fall - Support Our November, 2025 Candidates and Yes On 50
Mikie Sherrill NJ Gov (2025) - $250,000 goal, $109k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my new interview with Rep. Sherrill | Read my new post about Sherrill’s sturdy polling lead | Sherrill leads by 8 in new Fox poll
Abigail Spanberger VA Gov (2025) - $250,000 goal, $209k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Abigail Spanberger
Yes on 50 (CA) - $50,000 goal - Donate | Learn more, volunteer | Sign Up For CA Dem Party Daily Phonebanks | Watch my new interview with Gov. Gavin Newsom
Hopium members in CA/NJ/PA/VA - please vote on Day 1, or as early as you can, either by mail or in-person. When you vote early your names comes off the campaign GOTV rolls allowing them to move on to lower propensity voters, which increases D turnout and makes it more likely we win. Voting early = another way to help us win.
Please vote early and encourage everyone you know to join you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Winning The Midterms - Support Our 2026 Candidates
Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $43,000 raised- Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Gov. Cooper
Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $82k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my inspiring new interview with Senator Ossoff
Hopium House 7 (2026) - $250,000 goal, $217k raised - Donate | Learn More, Volunteer | Watch My Interviews With Our Intrepid Incumbents
Expanding The Map - Support Our Audacious Expansion Fund (2026-2032)
Hopium’s Audacious Expansion Fund - $250,000 goal, $54,000 raised - Join our new campaign to invest in the Democratic Parties of Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Maine, and Texas | Donate To All Five State Parties | Watch my interviews with Alaska Chair Eric Croft, Florida Chair Nikki Fried, Iowa Chair Rita Hart and Texas Chair Kendall Scudder
Our updated fundraising goals are now for the end of the year, December 31st, except for the 2025 races, which are now for Election Day, 2025.
Defending America, Winning The Big Argument With Trump - We have two recommended actions today:
1 - Call Your Senators and Member Of The House And Demand They Act Upon Our Four-Part Agenda - We need to be loud people, very, very loud and make the case for our our emerging four part agenda. Demand that your Senators and House Member work to keep the government open and
Roll back Trump’s terrible, illegal tariffs that are re-igniting inflation, driving up prices, shifting the tax burden from the wealthy to working people, hurting small businesses and farmers, reviving tyrannical “taxation without representation,” and alienating governments and people throughout the world
Defend our democracy, rule of law, and our liberties by blocking the expansion of ICE, restoring due process for immigrants across the country, vigorously defending the 1st Amendment, warring against his outrageous targeting of his domestic political opponents, and ending the use of the military on our streets and the unlawful occupation of our cities
Fight Trump’s war on science, higher education and our public health; reverse - not delay - the cuts to the ACA and Medicaid; support and co-sponsor Rep. Haley Stevens’ effort to Impeach and remove Robert Kennedy
Stand with Ukraine and our European allies, and far more forcefully challenge Trump’s traitorous efforts to sell out the US and the West to Russia and China
2 - Bring “Resolutions Of Condemnation” To Your Community - Inspired by the tactics of our Founders learn about how Hopium members are advancing “Resolutions of Condemnation” in their communities across the country and consider bringing this initiative to your state, country or city/town. Be sure to check out our new discussion with Deborah Potter and Rachel Poliner who have passed resolutions in New Mexico and Boston, and offer advice on how to get a resolution passed in your own community.
Remarkably, members of this community have passed or are advancing 85 (!!!!) resolution projects in 23 states + DC. Can we get to all 50 states by the fall election?
Finally, please self-report your activities to our daily paid subscriber chat. These reports help inspire all of us to do more and fight harder! Been impressive to see how many of you remain involved in local, in person protests of all kinds in your communities. Great to see!
Keep working hard all, and remember Hopium is hope with a plan. We don’t just hope tomorrow will be better than today. We do the work to make it so - Simon
