Morning all. Happy Saturday. Got a few things for you this morning:
Wonderful Candidate And State Party Interviews - We’ve had some great reports from the battleground states and races in recent days. No better way to get a sense of what’s happening out there then to hear from those on the front lines themselves. I promise watching a few of these discussions this weekend will lift you up and make you feel better about our party, our country, and our future.
Here’s what we got for you this morning:
Josh Turek, our Senate candidate in Iowa,Roy Cooperrunning hard in North Carolina, andAG Aaron Fordrunning for Governor in NevadaEric Croft, Alaska Dem ChairHouse Candidates -
Jamie Ager(NC-11),Bob Brooks(PA-7),Paige Cognetti(PA-8),Cait Conley(NY-17),Christina Hines(MI-10),Jake Johnson(MN-1),Brian Poindexter(OH-7)My weekly talk -
Betrayed By Trump And His Allies The American People Have Put Their Faith Back In Us - And Now We Must Deliver
Another way to dive into the battlegrounds is to watch check this week’s Ad and Video Roundups to see the ads that are flying across the country right now.
Looking ahead Stuart Stevens joins us live on Monday at 230pm ET, Sarah Trone Garriott (IA-3) joins us Tuesday, Devon Murphy-Anderson of the Maine Democratic Party drops by on Wednesday, and Janelle Stelson (PA-10) is coming by on Thursday.
The 2026 Election kicks into high gear this week with early in person voting starting in eight states - Arizona, Indiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Wyoming - while other states like California start sending out their mail ballots. As we are now close to 1m people having voted in the 2026 Election I’m going to start my every two year early vote analysis using our friend Tom Bonier’s remarkable TargetEarly tool. Here is how the national early vote in 2026 compares so far to 2018 and 2022 on this same day in all three years. Yes, my friends, it’s encouraging but also very early!
What this data tells is not how someone voted but what their party affiliation is given their registration and what is called “modeled party” - which can infer your party affiliation based on your vote history for those states without party registration. I will have more on this in the coming days and perhaps will bring Tom back to help you understand how this all works but get ready peeps - the early vote is about to start coming hot and heavy, giving us an opportunity to run up the score and win these midterms in October - not in November!
Trump has now dropped to -28 in the FiftyPlusOne job approval tracker for this first time this cycle. It’s just a stunning level of repudiation and rejection for the old, addled, painted, corrupt, malicious - and REALLY UNPOPULAR - orange guy:
Further confirming what a year of opportunity this has become for us the NYT dropped five encouraging battleground Senate polls this morning:
The Times also included this helpful chart to remind us that while this data is very encouraging at the end of the day all these races are close, Republicans have a lot more money than we do, and we just have to keep working hard:
Yesterday the Senate GOP SuperPAC paused its ads in North Carolina, essentially conceding the state to Roy Cooper. To understand how worried they are about defending these other states in pausing North Carolina they are hanging Michael Whatley, a former Chair of the RNC itself, out to dry. Abandoning a former RNC Chair a month before Election Day in a state Trump won just two years ago is a clear confirmation how bad things have gotten for the GOP.
The poll result from Kansas, and reports that the GOP SuperPAC is going to start spending there, means we need to start taking Kansas seriously here at Hopium. I know many of you have advocated for us to rally behind Adam Hamilton and I will be doing a deeper dive on this race now and will report back soon.
Yesterday Trump got a very bad jobs report. The economy produced very few jobs last month, and wages barely grew. This morning the country wakes up to a 30 year mortgage now clocking in at almost at annual 7.3% rate. Ugly, ugly stuff for the American people:
Yesterday we also discussed Trump’s escalating attempts to cheat in the 2026 Election. Today we learned that the monies for one of his current avenues of cheating, stealing money from tax payers to run political ads to bolster his image with voters, is coming from Congressional appropriated funds for
border security upgrades, efforts to combat drug trafficking and
memorials for officers killed in the line of duty, according to federal spending records.
The NYT also has more reporting on this horrific and illegal abuse of power:
President Trump personally instructed his budget director to use taxpayer money for TV ads praising him and his presidency, setting in motion a $20 million contract that used funds from the Department of Homeland Security, according to people familiar with the matter.
The ads have run across cable and network television — on Fox News, CNN and MS Now, with football games on Fox and with national newscasts on CBS, ABC and NBC, including “Meet the Press,” which Mr. Trump is known to watch.
Mr. Trump was eager to see the laudatory ads on the air and told Russell T. Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, to come up with the money from within the government, the people said. Mark Paoletta, the budget office’s counsel, and Will Scharf, the White House counsel, both said it would be legal to use D.H.S. funds. The president and Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, both spoke with Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary, about the ads.
On Sept. 20, U.S. Customs and Border Protection — which falls under D.H.S. — awarded the contract to LMD, a Maryland marketing firm, federal records show.
Jawdropping stuff, even for Trump. But further signs of how desperate they’ve become, and what a year of opportunity it has become for us……
Which is why it’s that time everyone. Time to……
Three things you can do in addition to supporting our intrepid candidates and state parties:
Become an
Early Vote Championin your networks, communities, and organizations.Sign up to become a
Democracy Protectortoo. Our next training is this Wednesday, Oct 7th at 10pm ET.Email photos of your electoral work or physical act of voting to community@hopiumchronicles.com or via links on our daily chat. We want to start showcasing them here on Hopium.
**Our Winning The House - Stake In The Ground Fund **- Donate | $1,548,100 raised, $2,000,000 goal (new stretch goal) | Watch interviews with all twelve candidates |This is our #1 fund, updated now with new intel to include the twelve most competitive races where money and volunteers are most needed (largely due to the expense of the district, and understanding now where Republicans have decided to stand and fight).
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).
If we win these twelve races the House flips - period. So let’s get on with the flippin’!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our Winning The Senate Fund - Donate | $1,295,100 raised, $1,500,000 goal | Watch interviews with all six Senate flippers | 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, and we need with everything we got to win all six.
**Our New Growing Our House Majority Fund **- Donate | $596,100 raised, $1,000,000 goal | Watch interviews with all eighteen candidates | 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 our first House 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).
A reminder that the maximum that a donor can contribute to any Federal candidate for the general election is $3,500, however that money is donated.
Support The State Parties’ Election Protection Program - Donate | $89,300 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.
Winning Alaska (New) - Donate | $10,700 raised, $150,000 goal | Our Winning Alaska campaign splits a contribution evenly among Mary Peltola for Senate, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for governor, and the Alaska Democratic Party and its great Chair, Eric Croft.
**Winning Georgia ***- *Donate | $45,100 raised, $150,000 goal | Our Winning Georgia campaign splits a contribution three ways among Senator Jon Ossoff, gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms, and the Georgia Democratic Party and it’s great Chair, Charlie Bailey.
Winning Iowa - Donate | $59,100 raised, $150,000 goal | Our Winning Iowa campaign splits a contribution three ways among Josh Turek for Senate, our gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand, and to the Iowa Democratic Party and it’s great Chair, Rita Hart.
**Winning Maine **- Donate | $93,100 raised, $150,000 goal | Our Winning Maine campaign splits a contribution evenly among Troy Jackson for Senate, Hannah Pingree for Governor, and the Maine Democratic Party and its battle-tested Chair, Charlie Dingman.
Winning North Carolina - Donate | $73,100 raised, $200,000 goal | Our Winning North Carolina campaign splits a contribution evenly among Roy Cooper for Senate, Anita Earls for the state Supreme Court, and the NC Democratic Party and it’s ass-kicking chair, Anderson Clayton.
Winning Ohio - Donate | $214,100 raised, $250,000 goal | Our Winning Ohio campaign splits contributions evenly among Sherrod Brown, the Acton-Pepper ticket, and the Ohio Democratic Party and its terrific Chair, Kathleen Clyde.
Winning Wisconsin - Donate | $30,100 raised, $150,000 goal - Our Winning Wisconsin campaign splits contributions evenly among David Crowley for Governor and the Wisconsin Democratic Party (and its terrific Chair Devin Remiker) and it’s legislative victory fund. Our community has invested heavily in getting helping Wisconsin Democrats flip both state legislative chambers and finally get a trifecta. Now we must finish the job!
Hopium’s Audacious Expansion Fund - Donate | $686,100 raised, $750,000 goal | Join our campaign that has helped expand our map by investing in the Democratic Parties of Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Maine, and Texas, all now central battlegrounds in the 2026 election | Contribute to all five state parties with one contribution split evenly among these five critical battlegrounds | Catch interviews with the five intrepid state chairs leading their troops into battle this year - will get you fired up!
Friends, we’ve hit out $100,000 goal for home stretch funds for Hopium and our work. So grateful, so thankful to all of you who have contributed.!!! I am retiring the fund for now and will get back to working hard for our candidates and party committees!
Finally, self-report all the good trouble you are making each day in our paid subscriber chat below.
Keep working hard all. For we have a country to save, and elections to win all across the country, together! - Simon
