On Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at a campaign event in Wisconsin.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon, Wisconsin.
00:12Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you. It is good to be back. Thank you all very much.
00:23Can we please hear it for Leah and her extraordinary story and leadership?
00:33And I do believe our teachers do God's work. They teach other people's children, and God knows we don't pay them enough.
00:40But thank you. And it is so good to be here and be back with so many extraordinary leaders, including my friend, the great governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers.
00:58He's here somewhere. My dear friend, Senator Tammy Baldwin. And, you know, I had the privilege of serving with Tammy when I was in the United States Senate,
01:12and she is always fighting for the people of this state. And I know that the folks that are here are going to make sure you return her to Washington, D.C., in November.
01:27Yes, we are going to elect her back to Washington, D.C. It is so good to be here also with Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez, Attorney General Josh Cole,
01:42Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski, County Executive David Crowley, Mayor Cavalier Johnson, and the great state party chair, Ben Wickler,
02:03who I have worked with. Ben, you and I have been working together for years, and I can attest he knows how to build the infrastructure that delivers wins up and down the ballot. Thank you, Ben.
02:21So it is good to be back in Wisconsin, and it is great to be in Milwaukee. As many of you know, our state campaign headquarters are in this city. Yes, and there is a reason for that.
02:39The path to the White House goes through Wisconsin. Yes, it does. And to win in Wisconsin, we are counting on you right here in Milwaukee. And you all helped us win in 2020.
03:01And in 2024, we will win again. Yes, we will. So, Milwaukee, I want to start by saying a few words, and I could really speak at length, but a few words about our incredible President Joe Biden.
03:26It has truly been one of the greatest honors of my life to serve as Vice President to our President Joe Biden. Joe's legacy of accomplishment over his entire career and over the past three and a half years is unmatched in modern history.
03:50In one term, think about it. In one term, as President, he has already surpassed the legacy of most Presidents who served two terms in office.
04:09And I know we are all deeply, deeply grateful for his continuing service to our nation. And it is my great honor to have Joe Biden's endorsement in this race.
04:33So, Wisconsin, I am told as of this morning that we have earned the support of enough delegates to secure the Democratic nomination.
04:53And I am so very honored, and I pledge to you, I will spend the coming weeks continuing to unite our party so that we are ready to win in November.
05:13My friends, we have 105 days until Election Day. And in that time, we've got some work to do. But we're not afraid of hard work. We like hard work, don't we? And we will win this election. Yes, we will.
05:37As Leah told you, before I was elected Vice President, before I was elected United States Senator, I was elected Attorney General of the State of California, and I was a courtroom prosecutor before then.
05:48And in those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain.
06:11So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump's type.
06:34And in this campaign, I promise you, I will proudly put my record against his any day of the week.
07:01As Attorney General of California, I took on one of our country's largest for-profit colleges that was scamming students. Donald Trump ran a for-profit college that scammed students.
07:17As a prosecutor, I specialized in cases involving sexual abuse. Well, Trump was found liable for committing sexual abuse. As Attorney General of California, I took on the big Wall Street banks and held them accountable for fraud.
07:39Donald Trump was just found guilty of fraud on 34 counts.
07:51But let's also make no mistake, this campaign is not just about us versus Donald Trump. This campaign is about who we fight for. This is about who we fight for.
08:13Just look at how we are running our campaigns. So Donald Trump is relying on support from billionaires and big corporations. And he is trading access in exchange for campaign contributions.
08:28A couple months ago, y'all saw that a couple months ago at Mar-a-Lago, he literally promised big oil companies, big oil lobbyists, he would do their bidding for $1 billion in campaign donations.
08:47On the other hand, we are running a people-powered campaign.
09:02And we just had some breaking news. We just had the best 24 hours of grassroots fundraising in presidential campaign history.
09:31And because we are a people-powered campaign, that is how you know we will be a people-first presidency.
09:46And Wisconsin, this campaign is also about two different visions for our nation. One, where we are focused on the future. The other, focused on the past.
10:02We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead.
10:17A future where no child has to grow up in poverty. Where every worker has the freedom to join a union.
10:34Where every person has affordable health care, affordable child care, and paid family leave.
10:51We believe in a future where every senior can retire with dignity. So all of this is to say, building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.
11:14Because here's the thing we all here, Wisconsin, know. When our middle class is strong, America is strong.
11:29But Donald Trump wants to take our country backward. He and his extreme Project 2025 agenda will weaken the middle class. Like, we know we gotta take this seriously.
11:44Can you believe they put that thing in writing? Read it. It's 900 pages. But here's the thing. When you read it, you will see Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.
12:03He intends to give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and make working families foot the bill. They intend to end the Affordable Care Act.
12:17And take us back then to a time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with pre-existing conditions. Remember what that was like?
12:30Children with asthma. Women who survived breast cancer. Grandparents with diabetes. America has tried these failed economic policies before. But we are not going back.
12:50We are not going back. And I'll tell you why we're not going back. Because ours is a fight for the future.
13:19And it is a fight for freedom. Generations of America's before us led the fight for freedom. And now, Wisconsin, the baton is in our hands.
13:48We who believe in the sacred freedom to vote will make sure every American has the ability to cast their ballot and have it counted.
14:04We who believe that every person in our nation who should have the freedom to live safe from the terror of gun violence will finally pass red flag laws, universal background checks, and an assault weapons ban.
14:30And we who believe in reproductive freedom will stop Donald Trump's extreme abortion bans because we trust women to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do.
15:00And when Congress passes a law to restore reproductive freedoms as President of the United States, I will sign it into law.
15:21So Wisconsin, ultimately in this election, we each face a question. What kind of country do we want to live in?
15:30A country... And to your point, do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion, and rule of law? Or a country of chaos, fear, and hate?
15:57And here's the beauty of this moment. We each have the power to answer that question. The power is with the people. We each have the power to answer that question.
16:11And in the next 105 days, then, we have work to do. We have doors to knock on. We have phone calls to make. We have voters to register. And we have an election to win.
16:27So Wisconsin, today I ask you, are you ready to get to work? Do we believe in freedom? Do we believe in opportunity? Do we believe in the promise of America?
16:52And are we ready to fight for it? And when we fight, we win! God bless you. God bless the United States of America.