My thoughts on 2026 and 2028.
In this email, I’m going to ask you to help me get ready for 2028 by becoming a paid subscriber. I’m not being coy about my plans – this isn’t a campaign announcement. If you’ve been reading my posts, you know I’ve been in the fight for 2026, and I’ll keep doing that.
As important as 2026 is, though, major questions are waiting for us on the other side of the mid-terms. Voters want to hear new and compelling ideas that have nothing to do with Trump, and they will finally get to have that conversation in a presidential campaign for the first time in 16 years. So what are we offering?
Pennsylvania will be the proving ground for any answer to that question. We hold the key to the White House, and Fetterman’s seat may decide control of the Senate. Our (Republican) Attorney General will be up for reelection in 2028, and whether he has the courage to stand up for us against Trump’s meddling — even while he courts Trump’s voters — may be the biggest question no one is talking about yet.
With your help, this Substack can become a meaningful place to prepare for 2028. I’ve never charged for my posts before, but I’m going to start offering paid subscriptions in addition to the free posts (see the link at the bottom to sign up for paid). Here’s why:
If I were preparing for the trial of my life as a prosecutor, I’d gather every piece of evidence imaginable. The “evidence” we need for 2028 consists of things like polls, on-the-ground interviews, and conversations with experts, to name a few.
High-quality video production and strategic advice can turn that evidence into a political argument that breaks through. With your help, I can put this together and share it with you.
Others do similar work, but very few are on the ground, in a pivotal state, sustaining a conversation directly with voters. This is a unique mission.
One concrete example: When people tell me Democrats need something new, I tell them about my idea to build government-owned power plants (mostly nuclear) and then force the AI companies to buy power from them. We’d create good-paying jobs, bring down energy prices, reduce our carbon output, and on top of all that, the American people would gain leverage against the most powerful corporations in history. (We could always shut off their power.) People react well in person, but I’d love to study and test this idea more systematically.
A final thought: I had an office in my first congressional campaign in Washington, PA, directly across from where JFK spoke during the 1962 mid-term campaign. Someone sent me the audio, and it’s striking how passionate the crowd was. Just a couple of generations later, Trump won that district by 20 points, and those same people told me the Democratic Party had left them. But many still voted for me. Why?
We went everywhere, talked to everyone, and invited everyone in. I saw how important it was to just listen. We need to do this on a much larger scale, and I’m asking you to help me figure out how. Become a paid subscriber today. Thanks!