Sunday Hopium - Off To The DNC/ASDC Meetings This Week, Some Things I Continue To Wrestle With
If you live in the city of Miami please vote early for Eileen Higgins today!
Happy Sunday all. I will be spending most of the coming week in Los Angeles at the DNC/Dem State Chairs meetings so not sure what my posting schedule will be. Excited to be moderating a panel on Wednesday looking back at our successful 2025 election with party leaders on the front lines of our most important wins. It’s going to be a great opportunity to check in with folks from across the country, see old friends, and spread some Hopium. I look forward to sending along a few reports from what I’m learning there…..
If you live in the city of Miami today is the last day of early voting in Tuesday’s mayoral run-off - so please get out there and vote for Eileen Higgins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Recommend this new NBC News report on focus groups they conducted with 14 2024 Trump voters in NJ and VA who voted for Sherrill and Spanberger this past November. It’s full of interesting insights.
I was quoted this week in an USA Today article about what Aftyn Behn’s strong showing means for the 2026 midterms. Some excerpts:
“It’s a sign of just how far the Republican Party has fallen and how much trouble they’re in, not only in this election, but as we head into the midterms next year,” Democratic campaign strategist Simon Rosenberg said. “This is a weakened and struggling political party.”
And….
Rosenberg said a 10-point electoral shift in the national landscape in favor of Democrats could not only flip the House to Democratic control, but also open a path for Democrats to regain control of the Senate, which previously seemed a longshot. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 seat advantage in the Senate.
“This Tennessee race being competitive is confirmation that Republicans are now playing defense while we’re playing offense,” Rosenberg said. “We’re playing on their side of the field in a way that makes it far more likely that the House is going to flip and the Senate will be competitive next year.”
There are two things we discussed this week that I continue to wrestle with, and plan on returning to and exploring further with all of you in the coming days:
1) That we must do a better job at explaining to the public what Trumpism really represents, and make threats to democracy/corruption/the selling out of the West/trampling of our rights and liberties equal in importance to affordability and health care in our narrative
2) The ideas in this passage from Wednesday’s post, When We Fight Trump We Can Win - 2025’s Most Important Lesson:
……Trumpism is in retreat now for it is rotten to the core, and when aggressively challenged it keeps crumbling.
So we must challenge it more and open up additional fronts. Our leaders simply must recognize where we are now, and seize the moment. We have to become more ambitious, creative and courageous now, and get out of our defensive crouch from earlier this year. Trumpism is on the run and we are being given a real opportunity now to significantly weaken it and the regime. We need to seize it.
Here is how we see our December opportunities:
Win the TN-7 and Miami elections
Forcefully challenge Trump’s malevolent agenda - his deepening alliance with Putin, his ridiculous illegal, war in Caribbean, his escalating corruption, his ongoing cover up of the Epstein crimes, his assault on our health care, and his terrible tariffs
Make Trump defend his corrupt, dangerous, lawless advisors - Hegseth, Noem, Witkoff, Bondi, Kennedy, Vought, Sacks
But one area where there needs to be a very serious internal discussion in the family is what are we going to ask for in the budget negotiations beyond desired levels of funding for critical programs. Should we be requiring
the resignation of malevolent and lawless Cabinet secretaries and advisors
the ending of the tariffs
full support of Ukraine and our European allies
the roll back of the ICE expansion
provisions that reign in/expose their corruption and lawlessness, including forcing Treasury to release all the Epstein related financial records they have
the canceling of the illegal building of the gilded ballroom and the restoration of the East Wing
what else?
In addition I think it is time now to create a bicameral Congressional team that files criminal referrals to DOJ on every act of the regime’s lawbreaking, so that we are 1) documenting the crimes for future accountability 2) reminding everyone in the corrupt regime that they someday may face dark legal or reputational consequence for what they’ve done.
……….
We’ve had a some terrific conversations and presentations here these last few weeks. In case you missed them be sure to check out:
Dr. Rob Shapiro on how Trump has made affordability worse; Stuart Stevens on Trump putting Russia first; Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghiat on understanding how strongmen like Trump work
Eileen Higgins who is running to flip the city of Miami blue for the first time since the 1990s
My weekly big picture video and written analysis, Trump Is Failing, The Regime Is Cracking, And Democrats Have To Keep Fighting Hard
And please take the time to meet and get to know our four intrepid candidates in our Winning The House series:
Christina Bohannan (IA-01), Mayor Paige Cognetti (PA-8), Jo Mendoza (AZ-06), Janelle Stelson ( PA-10)
Now, It’s Time To Get To Work People!
I’m excited to report that his week we’ve hit *three* of our fundraising goals:
$50,000 for Rep. Aftyn Behn
$25,000 for Eileen Higgins
$250,000 for the Hopium House 7
Great work everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Closing 2025 Strong
Eileen Higgins For Mayor Of Miami (Dec 9 run off) - $27,500 raised, $25,000 goal | Learn More and Volunteer | Enjoy my our conversation with Eileen Higgins (the period for donating has ended, up to the campaign and volunteers now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Winning The Midterms - Support Our 2026 Candidates
Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $57k raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my conversation with Gov. Cooper
Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $101k raised, $250,000 goal, - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Enjoy my inspiring conversation with Senator Ossoff
Hopium Winning The House Campaign (2026) - $32,000 raised, $50,000 goal - Donate to all four endorsed House challengers with one click | Learn More | Enjoy our new conversations with Christina Bohannan (IA-01), Mayor Paige Cognetti (PA-08), Jo Mendoza (AZ-06), and Janelle Stelson (PA-10)
Hopium House 7 - Our Top House Incumbents Running For Re-Election (2026) - $250k raised, $250,000 goal - Donate | Learn More, Volunteer | Watch My Interviews With Our Intrepid Incumbents | Keeping these newly elected Members in Congress is the first step in winning the House in 2026
Expanding The Senate and Electoral College Maps (2026-2032)
Hopium’s Audacious Expansion Fund - $219,000 raised, $250,000 goal - Join our new campaign to expand our map by investing in the Democratic Parties of Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Maine, and Texas | Donate to all five state parties in a single contribution | Many thanks to two generous Hopium community members who have audaciously donated $10,000 to each of our five state parties!
In a new essay I talk about how one of the ways we win the 2026 midterms is by providing early support to our candidates and parties to allow them to staff up now, be loud now, define the terms of the debate now, before the inevitable onslaught on AI slop, Russian disinfo, and Trumpian lies funded through bribes and corruption wash across the land. The midterms could be won or lost in these next few months - not in the fall of 2026 - and we need be fighting now with everything we got.
Defending America, Winning The Big Arguments With Trump, Making Hopium Stronger - We have three recommended actions today:
1 - Call Your Senators and Member Of The House And Demand They Act Upon Our Five-Part Agenda - We need to be loud people, very, very loud and make the case for our now five part agenda:
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; demand Congress rebuke/issue a no confidence vote on his current efforts to force Ukraine to surrender
Congress must stand forcefully for rule of law in the Caribbean - these illegal strikes must end; no war can be waged without Congressional approval; there must accountability for those who have broken the law
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; ending the use of the military on our streets and the unlawful occupation of our cities; stopping the unprecedented corruption; and by forcing the Administration to finally comply with Congress, end the rancid cover up, and release all of the Epstein files
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
2 - Celebrate America, Our Constitution, Our 250th Birthday By Bringing Our Resolutions Project To Your Community - Next year, on July 4th, America celebrates it’s 250th birthday. We need to make this holiday, a celebration of our Declaration Of Independence from a mad king, our day, and not allow it to become his.
One way we can do this is by bringing our Resolutions Project to your community or state. Imagine if by July 4th of next year a large number of towns, counties and states had passed formal resolutions, in the spirit of our Declaration of Independence, defending our Constitution and condemning the “injuries,” “abuses,” and “usurpations” of our mad king. For as our Founders wrote in the Declaration:
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
So far Hopium members have introduced or passed resolutions in 85 communities in 23 states. In the coming days we will be convening to discuss how to bring this campaign to more places and start planning to Own The Fourth next year.
3 - Make Hopium Stronger - There are several ways you can help make our community stronger:
Take advantage of the 10% discount through 12/31, become a paid Hopium subscriber for the all important 2026 election year
Invite your friends, bring in new subscribers, earn rewards
Buy holiday gift or group subscriptions for colleagues, friends, and family
Hit “like” on our posts and videos. This will encourage the algorithm to push our work to more people on the Substack app
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!
Keep working hard all. I am proud, oh so proud, to be in this fight with all of you - Simon
A few things come to mind. ( Thank you again, Simon for all you do).
. Supreme Court reform. There needs to be a bipartisan outside ethics board created as a watchdog, like an IG. There also needs to be an open avenue for We,
the People, to complain directly to SCOTUS .
2. No pay for members of Congress during a shutdown.
3. Majority party should not be able to use a shutdown as a hostage taking mechanism. Previous year's budget should be in effect if Congress can't pass a budget. If we had that, ACA subsidies would be intact at least for another year.
Cabinet Secretaries Should be fined for ignoring Congressional subpoenas and for disrespectful, time-wasting behavior.
Members of Congress who skip votes too often should lose their voting privileges for a period of time.
Cabinet Secretaries should not be able to exclude media outlets from regular coverage, like Hegseth has done.
If Cabinet Secretaries are abusing their perks, like Patel taking his girlfriend on a government jet and making the FBI be his Lyft drivers, deduct it from the department's budget, not taxpayers' money. Let the Secretaries deal with an internal mutiny.
Members of Congress should have to spend their first term with insurance on the ACA, not from Congress. Make them live in the real world for a few years.
That's all for now.
Sukey Pett
Two of our TX Bexar County Democratic organizations sponsored an event featuring our TX Democratic Chairman, Kendall Scudder.
We had an enthusiastic crowd hear this young and passionate newly elected chair!
He mentioned how grateful he is to be part of the Hopium expanded state parties with the financial support!
He’s slowly adding staff as funding allows.
He said that there are candidates in all state and federal offices for the 2026 primary.