Morning all. The people of Hungary chose wisely. The people of Serbia and Brazil also chose wisely. May the people of Israel choose wisely today, and let the American people continue to choose wisely in these final seven days of the 2026 Election.
I sat down with Greg Sargent of The New Republic late yesterday afternoon to talk about Trump’s closing struggles, our opportunities, and what we are seeing in the early vote. You can find our discussion here, and also catch me talking in recent days to Jen Rubin and Norm Eisen over at The Contrarian and with Alex Wagner for her Substack, How The Hell.
With just seven days to go I remain very bullish on our chances this year. Trump is ending the campaign in places like Mississippi and South Carolina, fighting to hold on to Senate seats that one ever imagined would be in play this cycle. The Senate GOP SuperPAC just announced buys in these four states:
Trump and his regime continue to produce a deeply negative vibe each day, as the media is full of stories of their corruption, the failed war, the crap economy, their infighting and chaos, and his rancid ramblings from his rallies. As Greg and I discuss the early vote looks promising, as Democrats are running ahead of 2024 at this point by 11 points:
turnout is outpacing 2022, and the electorate that has voted so far is much younger and less white than our last midterm. Here’s this morning’s update on the demos we are tracking. This is very encouraging stuff:
But as we enter this final week we must keep this data from the 2024 Exit Polls in mind. We won September and October in 2024 but lost the final week of the election:
And while we lead in all these critical Senate races, and Rs are acting panicked and scared, all these Senate races are close, and we need to learn from 2024 by winning this final week and closing strong. A new poll of Michigan has El-Sayed up 3 today, and another in Maine has Troy Jackson up 2 - things are close! Yes, we can win all these Senate races and have the election we all want to have but we need to keep the pedal to the metal, brothers and sisters, keep driving the early vote, run up the score, and win this thing in October. No letting up!
In our discussion with Leon Krauze and Maria Cardona this afternoon we will be talking about the implications of the restoration of Dem margins with young and Hispanic voters, margins that we see in recent polling, and the clear intensity both groups are bringing to the election right now. For the last time we saw a structural shift of young people and Hispanics to the Democratic Party was in 2006 and 2008, and look what it did - it produced our best national popular vote run of the post WWII era, and a majority of the vote over the last five elections, even including 2024:
The restoration of our pre-2024 margins with young people and Hispanics is an essential piece in making us the majority party again, as is our deep drive into red places and red states throughout the country. More on all this with Leon and Maria at 230pm today, and in the days ahead. We will also be taking a look at what we are seeing with Black voters in the South later this this week. For in states like Louisiana and South Carolina we are seeing a very elevated and encouraging black voter turnout so far, and Republicans are clearly worried by what they are seeing.
A few other things we are tracking today…..
Signaling that a new era of accountability is coming House Judiciary Democrats released a 50 page report yesterday about Trump and Epstein. Here’s more from MS Now:
House Judiciary Committee Democrats on Monday released an unsigned staff report laying out what they call “the case against Donald Trump emerging in the Epstein Files and DOJ’s desperate efforts to cover it up,” with those Democrats now calling for an independent special counsel to investigate the president as well as what they describe as Attorney General Todd Blanche’s conflicts of interest and the Justice Department’s reluctance to share relevant evidence with state and foreign law enforcement.
“The women who survived Epstein deserve to be heard,” the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said in a statement. “Congress must have the complete files required by law, and an independent special counsel must investigate Epstein’s co-conspirators and DOJ’s cover-up and ensure that state and foreign prosecutors have the evidence they need to pursue justice.”
The more than 50-page report alleges that Trump was “an active participant in Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of young women in the mid-to-late 1990s.”
In Brazil Trumpist Flávio Bolsonaro has functionally conceded the election while the Supreme Court ordered him to surrender his passport and barred him from leaving the country due to an ongoing corruption investigation. He may soon be joining his father in jail.
The NYT has a fascinating article about the importance of a raucous social media campaign to Lula’s surprise win.
Trump has announced that he will defying a Federal judge’s orders and proceed with stealing public land to build him and his friends a fancy golf course in DC.
The UN officially declares Putin, Trump’s buddy, a war criminal (via The AP):
Russia committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine by intentionally attacking energy infrastructure, leaving millions of people without electricity and heat in freezing temperatures, a U.N.-backed inquiry reported Monday.
The inquiry also found evidence that Russia recruited men from 29 countries into its armed forces “through deception or coercion” to fight in Ukraine in violation of international law. The men, age 18 to 60, “came mostly from vulnerable and marginalized communities, with a poor economic background and a low education level,” it said.
Yes, my friends, it is that time now, time to….
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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’ people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Winning Alaska - Donate | $31,400 raised, $150,000 goal | Our Winning Alaska Fund 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. ** Help Mary Peltola and the Alaska Dems fight back against Trump’s ridiculous attempt to steal this Senate seat!**
Winning Iowa - Donate | $86,500 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 | $111,100 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 Ohio - Donate | $297,100 raised, $300,000 new stretch 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. Help Dr. Acton fight back against these vile attacks!
Winning Texas (New) - Donate | $11,200 raised, $150,000 goal | Our Winning Texas campaign splits a contribution evenly among Gina Hinojosa, James Talarico, and the Texas Democratic Party and its impressive chair, Kendall Scudder.
**Growing Our House Majority Fund **- Donate | $664,100 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).
**Winning Georgia ***- *Donate | $67,100 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 North Carolina - Donate | $87,100 raised, $150,000 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 Wisconsin - Donate | $46,500 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 | $712,400 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!
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Keep working hard all. For we have a country to save, and elections to win all across the country this November, together! - Simon
