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Greetings all. Our good friend Stuart Stevens joined the community today. Excited to share a recording here on Apple Podcasts. These discussions with Stuart are always among the most informative and thoughtful conversations we have here at Hopium, and this one doesn't disappoint. Keep working hard everyone - Simon

Greetings all. A lot of remarkable things happened in this election. None may be more significant than our extraordinary triumph in Texas. Our good friend Kendall Scudder, the state party chair of Texas, dropped by on Friday for a live discussion of the historic wins. "I think ‘26 is going to be remembered the year of the Texas Democrat. And I know that sounds egocentric for me to say it, but genuinely, you know, when this election started, we were all reeling after the 24 election. People felt so defeated and had been kicked in the teeth. I mean, just trying to figure out what are we even going to do here? Texas Democrats stood up. We fought back. My delegation became political refugees and ran off and with great personal sacrifice. And we taught this country how to fight." "This Hopium crew –– y'all were so helpful to us when we were standing up against the world's only trillionaire by ourselves. I am just so grateful because this win was y'all's, and I'm just proud to be on y'all's team. So I want to say that first. Thank you for everything. It was a huge night." Congratulations and keep working hard everyone - Simon

Greetings all. Our good friend Tom Bonier dropped by yesterday to talk about some of the data we are seeing from this historic and remarkable election. The main takeaway is that 2026 was the best election for the Democratic Party - general or midterm - since 1974. The last three times we hit 52% or more in a midterm - 1990, 2008, 2018 - we went on to win the next presidential election and take the presidency away from Republicans. Our gains across the country were broad and deep, and simply Democrats have much more power today, and MAGA far less. Find my written analysis and keep working hard everyone - Simon

Happy Thursday all. The proud, plucky patriots of our remarkable community at Hopium Chronicles gathered last night for our weekly look at our grand battle against MAGA and for freedom and democracy, here and everywhere. It was a lively, joyous affair, as you would have expected. Sharing a recording here on Apple Podcasts. Keep working hard everyone - Simon

Greetings everyone. Our good friend Tom Bonier dropped by Friday afternoon for a live, in-depth discussion of what we are seeing in the early vote, late polling, and escalating chaos from Trump with four days to go. Sharing a recording here on Apple Podcasts. Keep working hard all - Simon

Greetings all. Scheduled to release Friday afternoon is a recording from the live conversation we held last week with dear friend of the community, Dr. Rob Shapiro. This is a long and comprehensive discussion about the economy, where it is headed, and how Democrats should be approaching it when we return to power next year. Rob and I also spend time talking about how a Democratic Congress should be thinking about dealing with a wounded, rejected lame duck in the White House. In that regard I view this episode as a companion to my latest discussion with Rep. Adam Smith, the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee. In that conversation we talk not about the 2026 election but what comes next –– how Democrats should be thinking about our national security policy next year, the wars, and about how to approach dealing with Trump. "Look, his mental capacity is deteriorating. His emotional coherence is deteriorating. And that makes him, on the one hand, more volatile and unpredictable, and on the other hand, perhaps easier to manage. The Democrats, we take both houses of Congress and we have divided government. We do not have unified government. We have to deal with him. And our charge is to do as much as we can for the American people. Even if Donald Trump gets to share in part, you know, gets to share in the benefits, the political benefits of that. The country knows who he is. The country knows what the Republican Party has become. And the country will know that Democrats were driving this. But, you know, a lot of politicians see politics as war. He's someone who has seen governing as war. We cannot fall into that and do the same." - Dr. Robert Shapiro Find my written analysis for more and keep working hard everyone - Simon

Friends, on Thursday I was excited to welcome back Christina Hines, who gave us a closing report on her spirited race to flip MI-10, what has become one of the most contested House elections anywhere in the country. As you will hear in the episode Christina is a formidable candidate with a strong chance to win. “Voters here have a choice. Their choice is between Trump's guy, the guy that said that there's not a single thing that he can think of that he disagrees with Donald Trump on, wants to be Trump's ally in Congress, or they can pick the SVU prosecutor and the Macomb County mom that knows what it's like to have to go to the grocery store and pay an arm and a leg, who feels the squeeze at the pump, and you know, that is the message. They can pick the person that's going to make the change or they can pick the same guy that's been supporting Trump this whole time.” You can support Christina today by giving to our core ⁠Winning The House Fund⁠ or by making a contribution to her campaign directly. To learn more head to ⁠Christina’s website⁠ where you can also sign up to ⁠volunteer⁠. Enjoy today’s update from Christina Hines, another one of the inspiring candidates leaving it all out there on the playing field for us this cycle. Share this interview with others, throw a contribution her way, and keep working hard all. We have a country to save, and elections like this one in MI-10 to win next week, together! - Simon

Greetings all. We are five days out. To make the big blue wave that is emerging bigger we need to keep driving the early vote. Find my written analysis today for more, as last night, our community of proud, plucky patriots at Hopium Chronicles gathered for our weekly look at how we are doing in the grand battle against MAGA and for freedom and democracy, our final gathering before Election Day. Sharing my opening remarks here on Spotify today. Keep working hard everyone - Simon

Greetings all. I'm excited to share a special conversation we had yesterday afternoon which offers a deep dive on what has become one of the most important stories in the 2026 election - an undeniable and enormous surge of Hispanic/Latino voters voting all across the country right now. First we heard from Johnny Garcia, who is running to flip one of those newly redrawn districts (TX-35) in Texas blue this November. Johnny gives us an update on his South Texas race, which was once considered one of the toughest House pick ups in Texas this year but the district has been moved to “Toss Up” by Cook Political, and a newly released Republican poll has Garcia leading. In our discussion, Johnny, who is a great candidate, talked about the betrayal so many South Texas families feel, and how motivated people are to make things better. The early vote in his district has been huge, as it has been all over the state. With our support he can win this critical race and further embarrass Trump and the Rs for what is looking far more like a “dummymander” than a “gerrymander” in Texas. Following Johnny I hosted an extended conversation with two dear friends, CNN commentator Maria Cardona and journalist and former Univision anchor Leon Krauze. We cover a lot of ground in the spirited and timely conversation but our main focus was on what has become on one of the most consequential stories in American politics today - the huge surge of Latinos voters we are seeing in TX-35, throughout Texas, and all across the nation. Friends, I strongly recommend finding my full written analysis shared yesterday, please enjoy this episode, and keep working hard everyone. Adelante - Simon

Greetings everyone. Excited to share a new discussion held Friday with Nancy Lacore, another one of the proven servant-leaders fighting hard to flip a red House district blue. Running in what she’s made a very competitive open seat race, Nancy Lacore is a remarkable candidate and someone who will make a true difference in Congress in a time of great challenge for the country. We need more leaders like her in Washington and simply we need to be doing everything we can to help her win in SC-1. “The story really is my background of service. 35 years in the Navy, ultimately served as a three-star Admiral, Chief of Navy Reserve, led almost 60,000 sailors. So I have a track record of integrity, delivering results, and taking care of people. And I think that is what people are looking for right now. You know, they're tired of what they're seeing at the highest level of government.” “We're really focused on just talking to voters at this point. We spent a lot of time over the past several months with persuasion –– doors, talking to people who might not be inclined to vote for a Democrat. And we saw great results there. Whether it was on the phone or at the doors, we were seeing about a 25% conversion rate. So, people who initially were not interested in voting for a Democrat, 25% of them came around by the end of the conversation, were willing to vote for me. And again, this goes back to, I think, that nonpartisan leadership where I'm focused on taking care of people.” Friends, enjoy the update from Nancy Lacore, another one of our inspiring candidates leaving it all out there on the playing field for us this cycle. Share this interview with others, throw a contribution her way, and keep working hard all. We have a country to save, and elections like this one to win this November, together! - Simon

Greetings all. Very excited to share an interview held today with U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hamilton who joined us from his campaign bus just after finishing a campaign event in Pratt, Kansas. "I love the congregation. I just never imagined doing this at 62. But I found the last year and a half, I was so distraught by what was happening in our country, the ways I felt like our Constitution was being assaulted, the rights of people, so many things happening. The antithesis of what I preached and taught all of these years, and I felt like somebody's got to do something. And my wife finally said to me last January, maybe it's you. You've led this nonprofit, in secular terms, a nonprofit organization in Kansas with 450 employees and a $34 million budget. You built it from scratch. You know, you have a voice of reason. You inspire people. You have thought deep thoughts about what it means to be human and how we are supposed to live towards one another, love our neighbors.” “Our early voting looks really strong and it's really strong across the state. In the areas where we know we're strongest, we're outperforming 2:1 Republicans. I’ll just say this – 20-40% of people at every campaign stop I make are Republicans. We've had two former Republican governors who have endorsed. We've got former Kansas legislature leaders in our state endorsing. I just came off the stop in Pratt, again, which is one of the reddest parts of our state. And people had their buttons on – Republicans for Hamilton. In Kansas, only 25% of our state are Democrats. So you cannot win this state without winning Republicans. And we're seeing them.” Friends, enjoy our discussion, find my written analysis for links and to learn more about Rev. Hamilton, please consider giving to this remarkable candidate today, and keep working hard everyone. For we have a country to save, and elections like this one in Kansas to win, together! - Simon

Greetings all. Our good friend John Della Volpe, Director of Polling at the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics, dropped by for a live session today to talk about the findings of the fall ⁠Harvard IOP Youth Poll⁠. One takeaway is this – betrayed and abandoned by Trump and the Republicans, young people have for now swung back toward the Democrats. "Republicans are far less enthusiastic than Democrats. 54% and 51% of Democrats in the previous cycles said they were likely to turn out at this stage. And say it's 50%. It's about the same ballpark within the margin of error. For young Republicans, it went from 43% to 34%. Where there was once a five-point partisan gap, it's now a 16-point partisan gap, where Democrats are essentially 50% more likely to turn out in the midterms in the next couple of days and weeks." "Simon, you know, I think if a couple of years ago I was going to tell you, after 2024 that in the next midterm, Democrats would be winning young men by 26 points, I think you take that. I think if I told you that Democrats would be winning non-college young people by 28 points, you’d take that. I think you’d take a 70-point margin for African Americans, a 35-point margin for the most elastic cohort within younger voters, of course, Hispanic, Latino voters. You can see this in our polling, and I think we can see this in some of the other secondary data sets that you and Tom [Bonier] and others are looking at these days." While all this data should leave us encouraged about what is going to happen in the election I will say, as a dad of three Gen Z kids, it is also a sobering reminder of how much work we have to do to make things better for the American people, put things right in this great country, and give young people in these United States the future they all deserve - Simon

Greetings all. This week I was excited to welcome back Elaine Luria, another of our candidates of virtue and character in a very strong position to flip a red House district blue this cycle. Former Congresswoman Luria is running to retake the seat in VA-2 which she held for two terms. "Hampton Roads has the largest Navy base in the world, major installations from every service. 40% of our economy is directly or indirectly tied to the Navy and DOD, and we build all of the aircraft carriers and half the submarines here in Hampton Roads. So those are issues that are vitally important, not only to our national security, but to the livelihood of people here across this region. Not only those who serve in uniform, but those who work in the civilian workforce to both build and repair our ships, our aircraft. And these issues affect this region directly." "We have a representative in this district –– she's a veteran herself, but she's voted to cut veterans benefits by 22%. We have the highest concentration of veterans in the country, yet we have the most undermanned VA hospital. And so those are some of the issues, both on the national security side as well as for our veterans and our military families that are so important. So I look forward to going back to Congress, serving again in those key roles, working on those important issues." "For all those folks out there supporting competitive races like this one, the final stretch is so important. The resources at the end that we need to reach those last voters that can be the deciding vote in a key race like this." Friends, enjoy this update from Elaine, and let’s continue to do what we can to help bring her back to the halls of Congress in January. Share our conversation with others, consider throwing a contribution her way, and keep working hard everyone. We have a country to save, and elections like this one in VA-2 to win, together! - Simon

Greetings everyone. Got a special episode here today, as I’m excited to introduce you all to Justice Anita Earls. In 2024, our community at Hopium Chronicles helped re-elect Allison Riggs to the court. This year we need to rally for Justice Earls by contributing to our ⁠Winning North Carolina Fund⁠, which splits a contribution evenly among Roy Cooper for U.S. Senate, the North Carolina Democratic Party and its powerhouse chair Anderson Clayton, and this inspiring leader, Justice Earls. The winds are blowing our way in North Carolina this year, but we need to make sure Justice Earls has enough money in these closing days to keep her name in front of late-breaking voters so we don’t have what’s called drop off - when people vote for Roy Cooper and others higher up on the ballot and leave the Supreme Court race blank. "I am currently the Senior Associate Justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court. I was first elected in 2018. We have a seven-member court. We are all elected statewide, and we are elected in partisan elections. Prior to being elected, I was a civil rights attorney for 30 years, litigating voting rights cases, employment discrimination, school desegregation. All sorts of types of claims and working with communities to try to get us closer to equal justice under the law. That's been my goal. That's my the reason why I'm on the court – an understanding that our state constitution is a very important source of protecting our rights, and that the federal courts were stepping away from from that role. So things like overturning Roe v. Wade, saying they won't address partisan gerrymandering, most recently making it extremely difficult to enforce the Voting Rights Act. These were all ways that the U.S. Supreme Court has left it to the states to protect our rights." Keep working hard all - Simon

Greetings all. We are twelve days out. To make the big blue wave that is emerging bigger we need to keep driving the early vote. Our community of proud, plucky patriots at Hopium Chronicles gathered last night for our weekly look at how we are doing in the grand battle against MAGA and for freedom and democracy. Sharing my opening remarks here today. Find my written analysis and keep working hard everyone - Simon