The special election?

If we win the 7th - we'll be winning lots more elsewhere.

That'll really, really sweet!

Link to tweet

This race IS within reach!!

Background

In the Oct primary, 45.7% of the vote went to the Democratic field. That's under a 7 point margin. (From Ballotpedia Oct 7 primary D total 31,002, R total 36,854)

An uphill battle, but in special elections it is ALL about turnout.

Democrats are fired up.

Republicans, not so much.

And Epps is a Trump-endorsed asshole.

It's only been a month since the primary, but a hell of a lot has happened to sink the felon and fire-up Democrats. Bulldozing the White House, the Trump Shutdown, Willfully starving children, MTG, Senate vote against Tariffs.

A Democratic win in this race would:


1) Teach the Republicans that gerrymandering does not always work (The republican gerrymander was struck down by a lower court. TN supreme court reversed. That map has been in effect since Jan 2023)

2) Demonstrate that, as he becomes more wildly unpopular, Trump's endorsement may do more harm than good.


In 2024, Mark Green was the incumbent, having taken office 2019. He won with 58.5 percent. Based on voting in the Oct primary, absent the incumbent advantage, things look a lot closer.

Add to that the late-breaking surge in voting/same day registrations we just saw and this could really be a competitive race.

Demographics
Median age: 35.6 (On the young side. Median age nationwide is 39)
70% White, 15% Black, 4% "Other", 2% Native American, and 8% identifying as two or more races

Democrats had a very competitive 4-way primary race - with each candidate getting within 23-28%

Republicans has almost a dozen candidate - but it wasn't a competitive race. The winner has more than double the support of the runner-up (and that runner-up had more votes than any democrat).

...it is not an overstatement to say special elections can be determined on turnout efforts, even more so than other elections. And regardless of outcome, working hard to win over every vote for Democrats possible, even in deep red areas, is all part of rebuilding this party.

No more uncontested races. No more fly over states. And if unwilling to invest resources in that race, perhaps invest in building strong party infrastructures in five state Democratic Parties - Alaska, Iowa, Florida, Maine, and Texas - that are expansion opportunities for us next year and into the future.

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hopiumexpansionfund

The goal is $250,000, with almost 92,000 raised to date.

There is also a fantastic interview with Alaska's chair at the link. Simon has other great interviews the "audacious expansion" state chairs, as well as NC's, where the Hopium community has also made substantial investments

🤞. Hope she can do this! Come on Tennessee!

....I hope the Democratic energy we saw in our recent elections can overcome the deep, wide, and toxic misogyny in that state. It has in some others.

An Epstein denier