Greetings all. Early, in-person voting begins today in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Virginia. Mail ballots have also been sent in Idaho, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. So, peeps, that means voting has begun in six states now!
Please use our daily chat to report on when you have voted, and what you are doing to drive the early vote in your communities. Send photos of your activities, of your I Voted sticker, and anything else around the act of voting and getting people to vote to community@hopiumchronicles.com. Let’s celebrate our democracy, our freedoms, the hard work we are all doing, and the vital act of voting here, in our socials, everywhere. Let’s flood social media with citizens doing their part, creating both social pressure and a permission structure for others to follow. It’s time for proud, plucky patriots all across this country to do their thing. It’s go time everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
**More Trumpian Deterioration, Decay, Desperation, and Decline - **There was a significant vibe shift in national political coverage this week as the reality of the many manifest failures of Trumpism and the deteriorating GOP electoral battlefield became impossible to ignore. We’ve seen further confirmation of encouraging dynamic today:
Gas and diesel prices have soared across the US this week:
Trump hit a new low in the Civiqs daily tracking poll today, crashing out at 33%-61%. Yes he is still dropping, losing altitude as things in the US and around the world get worse:
Yesterday we reported on the shocker high quality Siena poll in Texas showing Talarico up 6 and Hinojosa up 4. Late yesterday we got another shocker poll, this one from Alaska. The lead pollster here, Fabrizio, is Trump’s pollster. Peltola leads by 5 in the initial ballot test and wins by 6 taking everyone through the ranked choice process. This result is consistent with Peltola’s very strong showing in the recent all-party primary where she bested Sullivan 49%-41%. Incumbents trailing like this so late in the cycle rarely win.
We’ve started seeing the generic ballot open up in polling this past week, particularly in those looking at likely voters. We’ve now had three polls this week with the generic ballot in double digit/big blue wave territory:
In Texas both John Cornyn and Karl Rove have publicly condemned Bo French, a Republican candidate for Railroad Commissioner, and said they will not be voting for him. From ABC:
Outgoing Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said Thursday that he would not vote for Bo French for Texas railroad commissioner following the candidate’s “racist comments,” which have drawn intense pushback from lawmakers.
“He’s an embarrassment to the Republican Party, and he’s going to drag the whole ticket down because of his racist comments,” Cornyn told the Washington Examiner of French, who is running to be Texas’ rail commissioner, a statewide position that regulates the state’s oil and natural gas production.
Cornyn said he was unsure whether he would vote for Democratic candidate Jon Rosenthal: “I may just leave it blank.”
Rove went as far to say he was going to vote for his Democratic opponent, creating a potent permission structure for other Texas Republicans to vote for Democrats this fall:
Watch this remarkable new ad from deeply endangered and clearly panicking Republican Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salaza (FL-27). Watch this - it’s an incredible, loud Cuban-American middle finger to Trump and Stephen Miller:
Everywhere you look there are signs of Trumpian decay and decline…..
An Exciting Update On The State Parties’ New Battlefield Project - As many of you have stepped up to support this vital project, I wanted to share links to the remarkable coverage we’ve received in recent days. Just look at this - story after story about Democrats standing up for their democracy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The New York Times—The poll-watching fight taking shape ahead of the midtermsThe Washington Post—Democrats’ strategy for countering Trump’s interference in the midtermsTIME—How Democrats Are Mobilizing to Counter Potential Election Interference Amid Trump ConcernsNPR—Democrats to send volunteers to polls this November to prevent voter intimidationThe Associated Press—Democrats and activist groups plan to push back if Trump tries to interfere in midterm electionsNBC News—Democrats mobilize unprecedented defense against election disruptionThe Guardian—Democratic poll monitors to prevent Republican election interferenceU.S. News & World Report—What Is the Democrats’ New Battlefield Project?National Journal—Democrats prepare for Election Day disruptions
Great work everyone! With our help this important project is off to a great start!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But of course our work today is not done, for it is time now…..
Two big things you can do in addition to supporting our intrepid candidates:
Become an
Early Vote Championin your networks, communities, and organizations.Sign up to become a
Democracy Protectortoo. Our next training is next Wednesday at 8pm ET.
*A note - you will notice a change in our “Funds” below. Based on intel I’ve gotten from the party committees and others in the fight we’ve updated our core recommendations and consolidated our funds. The new prioritization you see is based on a clearer understanding of the closing battlefield based as we track the performance of our candidates and where Republicans have chosen to stand and fight. *
*Simply our core Winning The House fund is where your money and volunteer time is best spent in these closing weeks. If we win these twelve heavily contested and expensive races the House flips, period. If we win our core six Senate races the Senate is almost certain to flip too. Our third fund is now about increasing the size of our House majority, also a vital and important undertaking. *
*Based on the remarkable amount of money flowing through the site right now I’ve also set new, ambitious goals for our funds, one that given current rates of giving I think we can reach by Election Day. Thank you all for stepping up for our candidates folks - it’s a BFD as Joe Biden would say! *
*So take a look at our new recommendation and let’s go out and win this thing, together! *
**Our Winning The House - Stake In The Ground Fund **- Donate | $1,296,100 raised, $2,000,000 goal (new stretch goal) | This is our #1 fund, updated now with new intel to include the twelve most competitive races where money and volunteers is most needed (largely due to the expense of the district, and understanding now where Republicans have decided to spend and contest). If we win these twelve races the House flips - period.
Our * Stake In The Ground Fund* now includes Jamie Ager (NC-11), Rebecca Bennett (NJ-7), Christina Bohannan (IA-01), Paige Cognetti (PA-08), Cait Conley (NY-17), Sarah Trone Garriott (IA-03), Jo Mendoza (AZ-06), Christina Hines (MI-10), Brian Poindexter (OH-7), Bobby Pulido (TX-15), Manny Rutinel (CO-8), and Randy Villegas (CA-22). You can meet all there remarkable candidates by
Our Winning The Senate Fund - $954,100 raised, $1,500,000 goal - Donate | This fund splits a single donation to our six candidates must likely to flip a Senate seat this November - Sherrod Brown (OH), Roy Cooper (NC), Troy Jackson (ME), Mary Peltola (AK), James Talarico (TX), and Josh Turek (IA). These are the majority makers in the Senate this cycle.
You can watch our interviews with each of these exciting candidates and/or contribute directly to any of them here. Our fundraising total includes money we’ve raised directly for each of the six candidates.
**Our New Growing Our House Majority Fund *- Donate | $460,100 raised, $1,000,000 goal | We’ve combined our Second and Third Waves Funds and added some candidates from our OG Winning The House Fund in a new fund we are calling * Growing The House Majority. The idea is simple. We win the House with the first fund. We grow our majority with this one.
This fund now splits a contribution evenly among 18 candidates - Bob Brooks (PA-07), Rebecca Cooke (WI-03), Elaine Luria (VA-02), Sean McCann (MI-04), Johnny Garcia (TX-35), Bob Harvie (PA-01), Lindsay James (IA-02), Jake Johnson (MN-01), Jessica Killin (CO-5), Nancy Lacore (SC-01), Chaz Molder (TN-05), Jonathan Nez (AZ-02), Dr. Richard Pan (CA-06), Denise Powell (NE-02), Dr. Amish Shah (AZ-01), Janelle Stelson (PA-10), Shannon Taylor (VA-01), and Marni von Wilpert (CA-48). You can watch interviews and learn more about these great candidates here.
**Our Wining The States Series **- Due to space limitations for today we’ve moved our state “Winning” series to this new page. Head there to make state specific investments in Alaska, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin!
Note that in any of our campaigns that aggregate donations you can tailor your contribution to a chosen subset of the candidates or even a single candidate by clicking on the “customize amounts” link just above the “$25, $50….” part of the ActBlue page.
Support The State Parties’ Election Protection Program - Donate | $62,100 raised, $100,000 new stretch goal | We’ve launched a new, targeted fundraising campaign to help get the new election protection program of the State Democratic Parties, one this community helped develop, off the ground.
Help Hopium Close Strong - We’ve launched a new fundraising drive for Hopium to allow us to expand our programming in these final critical days of the 2026 election and free up a bit of my time to support the State Parties’ Election Protection program. Our goal is to raise an initial $50,000 this week and perhaps even $100,000 over the coming weeks. It will allow me to add some additional capacity here and make sure the vital State Party program is successful.
There are a few ways you can support Hopium today:
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Become A Paid Subscriber, Upgrade To Founding Member*,
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Donate Directly To Hopium* - You can do that
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Mail A Check To Hopium HQ* - Send a check of any amount to 5185 MacArthur Blvd, NW, #600, Washington, DC 20016. Checks should be made out to “Hopium Chronicles by Simon Rosenberg.” Donations to Hopium Chronicles are neither tax-deductible nor tax-exempt.
Finally, self-report all the good trouble you are making each day in our paid subscriber chat below…..
Keep working hard all. We have a country to save, and elections to win all across the country, together! - Simon
