Sunday Hopium - The Importance Of Voting Early, Closing Strong And Winning The November Elections, Some Reminders Of Why We Need To Fight With Everything We Got

We enter the final week of the 2025 elections with sturdy leads in CA, NJ, and VA - need to keep working hard everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Morning all. Early in person voting is happening now in many state and local elections across the country. If you can please vote early, as early as you can, however you vote - in person, dropbox, or mail. Don’t wait until Election Day. Each night our campaigns get a list of everyone who voted that day (not how they voted but that they voted) and then take you off their GOTV rolls. This means no more calls, door knocks, last minute mail, and it allows the campaigns to focus their resources on lower propensity voters, which then increases overall turnout for our candidates (this is especially true in low turnout off year elections).

Voting early makes more votes for our candidates, and makes it more likely we win. So vote early and encourage everyone you know to join you. It’s another way you can help us close strong and win these November elections.

A huge thank you to all of you have voted early and/or are working on races at home or our most important November elections. Need to leave it all out there on the playing field in this critical closing days…..

As I showed on Friday Sherrill and Spanberger enter the home stretch with sturdy leads. Prop 50 is up 62%-38% (+24) in a new CBS poll of California:

Trump’s approval rating in the latest FiftyPlusOne average is 41.7%-54.3% (-13). Governor Newsom’s approval rating in California is 53%-47% (+6):

Some of you have asked about polling in other states and the truth is we just don’t have a lot of polling right now beyond CA, NJ, VA and New York City, where Mamdani continues to have comfortable leads in all recent public polls.

As Trump becomes the first American leader to leave the country during a government funding lapse (shutdown) and the cowardly Speaker recklessly keeps the House from attending to its Constitutional responsibilities, sharing a few reminders of the clear, material harm Trump and the Republicans are doing to the country, and why we need to work as hard as we can to win these November elections…….

Trump has raised prices on the American people, on purpose, illegally implemented “taxation without representation,” has hurt farmers and small businesses across the country, and is working furiously to shift the tax burden from the oligarchs to all of us:

New government data confirms that Trump’s cuts to the ACA will cause premiums to rise by an average of 30% for tens of millions of middle and working class Americans:

Premiums for the most popular types of plans sold on the federal health insurance marketplace Healthcare.gov will spike on average by 30 percent next year, according to final rates approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and shown in documents reviewed by The Washington Post.

The higher prices — affecting up to 17 million Americans who buy coverage on the federal marketplace — reflect the largest annual premium increases by far in recent years. The higher premiums, along with the likely expiration of pandemic-era subsidies, mean millions of people will see their health insurance payments double or even triple in 2026.

In additional to not funding the government, as required by law, Trump has monstrously decided to NOT use an emergency fund to pay for November food assistance for 42 million Americans. Tens of millions of Americans are about to go into severe crisis due to our “more for me, less for all of you” corrupt and malevolent leader:

The Trump administration won’t tap emergency funds to pay for federal food benefits, imperiling benefits starting Nov. 1 for nearly 42 million Americans who rely on the nation’s largest anti-hunger program, according to a memo obtained by POLITICO.

USDA said in the memo that it won’t tap a contingency fund or other nutrition programs to cover the cost of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which is set to run out of federal funds at the end of the month.

The contingency fund for SNAP currently holds roughly $5 billion, which would not cover the full $9 billion the administration would need to fund November benefits. Even if the administration did partially tap those funds, it would take weeks to dole out the money on a pro rata basis — meaning most low-income Americans would miss their November food benefits anyway.

In order to make the deadline, the Trump administration would have needed to start preparing for partial payments weeks ago, which it has not done.

White House and Trump administration officials warned earlier this week they were unlikely to shift funds around to avert SNAP lapsing for 40 million low-income Americans in November — instead blaming Democrats for the pending lapse.

Congressional Democrats and anti-hunger groups have urged the Trump administration to keep SNAP benefits flowing into November, some even arguing that the federal government is legally required to tap other funds to pay for the program. But senior officials have told POLITICO that using those other funds wouldn’t leave money for future emergencies and other major food aid programs.

The latest estimates of deaths caused by Trump’s illegal and immoral cancelling of aid to the world’s poorest people is now approaching 600,000, including almost 400,000 children:

No attempt was made to preserve elements of the East Wing of the White House, including portions that date back to Thomas Jefferson’s Presidency in 1805. The rubble from Trump’s desecration of perhaps the most important building in the world has been carted off to a nearby public golf course:

Then there are the terror squads in our cities. Here is how one Illinois community responded to ICE. Make sure your sound is all the way up for this one. It’s incredible.

Remarkable courage from every day Americans. It’s how we will prevail in this extraordinary struggle against Trump’s unprecedented sabotage, plunder, and betrayal.

If you are looking for a meaty discussion to dive into this Sunday we have a few good new ones for you:

• Stuart Stevens on his trip to Ukraine

• Adelita Grijalva on her battle to take her rightful place in the House

• Rep. Janelle Bynum on fighting Trump’s targeting of Portland and our our cities

• Journalist and historian Garrett Graff on his reasons for hope

• My weekly talk and in depth written analysis, Will Congressional Republicans Stick With Trump?

Now, friends, we have some elections to go win, so……

Let’s Get To Work People!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Winning The Fall - Support Our November, 2025 Candidates and Yes On 50

• Mikie Sherrill NJ Gov (2025) - $123k raised, $250,000 goal, - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my new interview with Rep. Sherrill

• Abigail Spanberger VA Gov (2025) - $218k raised, $250,000 goal, - 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

Winning The Midterms - Support Our 2026 Candidates

• Roy Cooper for NC Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $47k raised- Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my interview with Gov. Cooper

• Jon Ossoff GA Senate (2026) - $250,000 goal, $87k raised - Donate | Learn More | Volunteer | Watch my inspiring new interview with Senator Ossoff

• Hopium House 7 (2026) - $250,000 goal, $223k 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, $171,000 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, Maine Chair Charlie Dingman, and Texas Chair Kendall Scudder | Many thanks to two generous Hopium community members who have audaciously donated $10,000 to our five state parties!

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.

Hopium members in CA/NJ/PA/VA or wherever you have elections on November 4th - 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.

Defending America, Winning The Big Arguments 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:

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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. They offer practical 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 end of the year?

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! Please include reports of voting early and consider sending photos of your completed ballot or or your “I’ve voted” sticker to community@hopiumchronicles.com.

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