Morning all. First up, a programming note. In the home stretch we will now be sending you a week day Ad and Video Roundup at 1215pm ET and hosting a live event with a battleground candidate or party leader around 115pm too. We’ve added this new programming to give you powerful new windows into the election in these final critical five plus weeks.
For your weekend listening and viewing pleasure you can review all the ads and videos of the week by heading to Friday’s Roundup:
and be sure to catch the following candidate interviews if you missed them: Bob Brooks (PA-7), Jamie Ager (NC-11), Christina Hines (MI-10), Jake Johnson (MN-01), Roy Cooper (NC-Sen), and Brian Poindexter (OH-07).
My weekly talk, Trump Has Been A Spectacular Failure. Voters Are Angry. The Wave Is Getting Big. Our Job Is To Make It Bigger, is a comprehensive 2026 Election overview well worth your time if you haven’t caught it yet.
Here’s what we have scheduled for the upcoming week so far, with events being added everyday:
Mon, Sept. 28, 2:30pm-**Paige Cognetti (PA-8)**Tue, Sept. 29, 1pm-Cait Conley (NY-17)
You can check our upcoming schedule on our Events page, and you can find all of our interviews and podcasts on the Hopium site under the Podcast tab and on our YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify channels. too.
In what has been a week of very bad polling (here, here) for Trump and the Republicans yesterday their in house journal, the Wall Street Journal, delivered brutal new data: an eight point drop since their last poll (continued erosion, deterioration) and this remarkable snapshot from their polling dating back to 1990:
The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index updated its September findings with this searing summary yesterday:
Consumer sentiment ticked down less than four index points in September, reaching the lowest reading in four months and down 15% from January 2026. Views of current and year-ahead expected personal finances both weakened about 10% this month, with concerns over high prices continuing to climb. Buying conditions for durables improved a bit, in part due to a perception that completing such purchases now would help consumers avoid higher prices in the future. The short-run outlook for business conditions plunged amid renewed worries that elevated fuel prices and re-escalating trade disputes could pass through to the economy as a whole. Overall, interviews reveal broad agreement across the political spectrum that the outlook for the economy has weakened since the beginning of the year. After particularly large declines in sentiment this month, Republican sentiment is now 20% lower than January 2026; Democrats are down 13% over the same period.
Here’s how CNN covered the report:
Yes, my friends, every day in every way it is just true that Trump is a titanic f*ck up.
The desperate effort by Republicans to “red wave” the battleground Senate races continues. Here’s an update on this illicit effort:
As part of the state parties’ New Battlefield Project - that this community has helped stand up - I did a briefing this week for the comms directors of the state parties on the history of these illicit “red wave” efforts, what we are seeing this cycle, and offered some ideas on how to counter it all. The most important point - polling and prediction markets are now a contested part of the comms/info space, and like any other part of the contested info space we must fight it out and win. Here’s a good example - Mary Peltola’s campaign leaning into her lead, showing her strong, winning, and in command:
In related news the state of New York sued prediction market Polymarket for operating as an “unregulated gambling” company. Here’s a bit more from the AP:
NEW YORK (AP) — New York sued the prediction market Polymarket on Thursday, arguing the platform is an unlicensed gambling operation and calling for a judge to block the company from operating in the state.
The lawsuit is the latest legal challenge from a state moving to rein in popular and now-ubiquitous betting apps that allow people to place wagers on most anything, including sports, weather, elections and technology.
Prediction market platforms have argued states do not have the authority to govern them because they are regulated at the federal level by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
New York officials filed Thursday’s lawsuit against Polymarket in state court and want the company to face fines and be forced to pay restitution to users because the platform did not get a gaming license from the state. The state has previously sued other platforms such as Kalshi, Coinbase and Gemini using a similar argument.
“By running an unlicensed gambling operation, Polymarket has done more than just knowingly violate state law, they have put New Yorkers at risk, especially those underage who are most vulnerable to problem gaming,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement.
Incredibly, despite general election early voting having already begun, the Supreme Court continues to make rulings impacting the election itself. I share two articles from Democracy Docket for more, and I promise to return to the SAVE ruling in coming days:
In SAVE ruling, Supreme Court signals path to weaken key protection against last-minute purgesIn a win for voters, Supreme Court blocks Missouri’s gerrymandered map for midterms
Let’s end today with a reminder of the what a lousy loser who loses Trump has become, and what an opportunity he has given us:
Happy Saturday all, and yes, it is now 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, Sept 30th at 8pm 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 | $1,367,100 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 are 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 - $1,064,100 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 | $498,100 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 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!
Support The State Parties’ Election Protection Program - Donate | $70,100 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.
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
