"We Know That America's Greatness Is Not In Her Past, But It's In Her Future"

Friends, this is going be a very exciting week!/31 days until early in person voting begins!

Happy Monday all. It’s going to be a great week! I am traveling to and settling into Chicago today so a lighter than usual post…

We know that America’s greatness is not in her past, but it’s in her future

This quote from DNC Chair Jaime Harrison from an event last night in Chicago is a powerful way to start and frame the week ahead. I also liked this image of Harris-Walz “Joy and Hope” which was cast onto Trump Tower in Chicago last night:

Yesterday I wrote about the good battleground state polls from the New York Times and a new ABC/WaPo poll showing Harris up over Trump by 6 points with likely voters. This morning a new CBS News poll has Harris up 3, 51%-48%, in a poll that has been running a few points more Republican than many this cycle. All of the data these past few weeks has been very encouraging.

For more on my current take on things watch the two video presentations I released late last week, below. The bottom line on this moment of great hope and promise - we enter this week in a stronger position than the Rs, with loads of momentum and an understanding that if we work really hard we can have the election we all want to have this year.

Here are the two videos:

• Harris Takes The Lead - My latest deep dive on the 2024 election and why I would much rather be us than them

• With Democrats, Things Get Better - my data-filled reflection on the greatness and goodness of the Democratic Party

The Democratic Party on display this week has been a consequential and successful American political party for many generations now, the most successful center-left party in the developed world. We have won more votes in 7 of the past 8 Presidential elections, the best popular vote run of an American political party in US history. We’ve averaged 51% of the vote in the last 4 Presidential elections, our best showing since FDR’s 4 elections in the 1930s and 1940s. Our last three Presidents, including the one we will hear from tonight, have overseen growing economies, rising wages, lower deficits and have left America far better than they found it. In the last two years, we’ve defied history as a party in power and rather than losing ground we’ve gained ground in elections of all kinds all across the country. Through new tech and old fashioned patriotism and love of country we are building the most powerful grassroots army our party has ever seen. The torch that is being passed tonight is being received by an extraordinarily capable rising generation of Democrats, experienced, inspiring, and ready to lead - starting of course with Vice President Harris and Governor Walz.

The Democratic Party we will see this week is strong, stronger than it has been in all my many years in politics. We are going to be very proud and inspired by what we see this week.

We know that America’s greatness is not in her past, but it’s in her future

This is going to be an exciting week all. Prep your favorite TV chair. Make your favorite meal. Invite some friends over. Grab some good wine. Get ready to honor our President, Joe Biden, our American Cincinnatus. Perhaps make a few donations, sign up for a few phonebank shifts and write some postcards. For here at Hopium, we do more and worry less. Hopium is hope with a plan. We don’t just hope our elections will turn out well, we do the work to make it so. And so while we will be doing a lot of watching and celebrating this week, we also need to keep working, keep doing. Early voting starts in 31 days and we have an election to go win, a country to save, and a future to secure, together.

Supporting Our Hopium-Backed Candidates and State Parties, Winning The House, Voting on Day 1 - Our next Winning The House Thursday phonebanking and postcarding Thursday will be for Josh Riley on Thursday, August 29th. We had a great turnout for Will Rollins on Thursday. I hope you will plan spending your Thursday nights with us in the home stretch!

On Saturday I offered an in-depth post on the strategy behind our candidate and state party endorsements, including our Presidential battleground “check” and “checkmate” strategy. 31 days to go before early in voting begins and we just need to leave it all out there on the playing field, together:

• Harris-Walz!!!!!! - $858,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Merch | The Harris-Walz YouTube Channel - Let’s keep working it people!

• Winning The House - $858,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More. Watch our recent discussion with Leader Hakeem Jeffries. To go deeper catch one of our interviews with our great candidates - Janelle Bynum (OR-5), George Whitesides (CA-27), Kirsten Engel (AZ-06) Will Rollins (CA-41), Laura Gillen (NY-04), Rudy Salas (CA-22), Josh Riley (NY-19), Tony Vargas (NE-02) and Adam Gray (CA-13).

• North Carolina - $394,000 raised, $500,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NC Dem Chair Anderson Clayton

• Arizona/Ruben Gallego - $328,000 raised, $400,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with Ruben Gallego

• Nebraska/Blue Dot - $146,000 raised, $150,000 goal- Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NE Dem Chair Jane Kleeb

Here are ways you can do even more:

• Commit to Vote on Day 1 and get everyone you know to join you. Early voting begins in three states on September 20th - just 31 days away!

• Help grow the Hopium community. Use this link to encourage others sign others up to be a Hopium subscriber during our Democratic Convention subscriptions sale (10% off through August 22nd!). You can gift a subscription to a friend or student here and get group rates too. If you have changed credit cards or moved you can you update your payment information or check your renewal status follow these instructions from Substack. Let’s keep our community growing the Hopium flowing!

Keep working hard all. Proud to be in this fight with all of you - Simon