photo credit: rollcall.com

You won’t want to miss Simon Rosenberg’s most recent interview with IDP Chair Rita Hart. Here is a link to Simon’s previous August 2025 interview with Chair Hart.

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Posted on YouTube February 17, 2026:

“Excited to share a new interview with Rita Hart, the hardworking Chair of the Iowa Democratic Party. Our interview kicks off a series of check ins we’ll be doing with the candidates and state parties which our community at Hopium Chronicles is supporting this year. https://www.hopiumchronicles.com

In this new discussion the Chair gives us an update on a state where we have real opportunities in competitive races – the incumbent Republican Governor, Kim Reynolds is the most unpopular in the country; Trump’s tariffs and mass deportation policies are doing enormous damage to Iowa’s farm economy; polling shows that both the Gubernatorial and Senate races are competitive in a +13 Trump state; 3 of the DCCC’s 44 targeted “districts in play” – districts we are working to flip – are in Iowa (IA-1, IA-2, IA-3).

What should make all of us optimistic about our opportunity in Iowa this year is their remarkable performances in six state legislative special elections so far. In these six specials our candidates over-performed 2024 by an average of 22 points, winning four races, flipping two state Senate seats to end the GOP super majority, and electing the first Latina to the state House and Black woman to the State Senate. It’s arguably the best performance of any state party in the country over the past year in state legislative special elections.

Iowa is one of those states we must target to have a shot at flipping the Senate this year. If we hold on to GA (Ossoff), MI, MN, and NH we start at 47 Senate seats. If we flip ME and NC (Cooper) we get to 49. To get to 51 we will need to win 2 of Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Texas. Between our community’s Audacious Expansion Fund and our Senate endorsements Hopium is currently raising and supporting Democratic efforts in all 7 of these expansion states – Alaska, Iowa, Florida, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas. https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/

So friends, watch this wonderful interview with a terrific leader of a state party in one of most important battleground states this cycle, and learn how this money we are raising for the state parties is being put to use. Keep working hard everyone and thanks for all that you do for your country, each and every day.

– Simon