2020 Presidential Campaign Blog

Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame Photos, Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, June 9, 2019, Cedar Rapids Part 2 of 6 #IAcaucus

Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame Photos, Cory Booker, Eric Swalwell, Bernie Sanders, June 9, 2019, Cedar Rapids Part 1 of 6 #IAcaucus

Michael Bennet at the Iowa Democratic Party's Hall of Fame Celebration

Bennet in Iowa: “We Need to Fix Broken Politics” to Achieve Progress

CEDAR RAPIDS — Michael Bennet spoke tonight at the Iowa Democratic Party's Hall of Fame Celebration, where he made clear that the only way to achieve progress on the pressing issues facing our nation — from healthcare to climate change to economic inequality — is to fix our broken politics in Washington and build a broad constituency for change.

“[There is similarity between] what working people all over America want for our kids and grandkids. But to do any of it, we are going to need to fix the broken politics in Washington, DC,” said Bennet. “To overcome this, we need to build a broad-based agenda for America that unifies our country.”

Michael announced his candidacy for President of the United States less than six weeks ago and has already qualified for the first Democratic presidential debates and raised more than $2 million. In the past two weeks, he has also announced staff in Iowa and South Carolina, and laid the groundwork for a sustainable, long-term campaign.

Michael is running for president to build opportunity for every American and restore integrity to our government. Following his appointment to the United States Senate in 2009, Michael won two competitive races in 2010 and 2016, winning areas Donald Trump won and receiving the most votes in Colorado history in 2016. Prior to this, Michael spent a lifetime outside of politics. He turned around failing businesses in the private sector and improved outcomes for kids as Superintendent of the Denver Public Schools — a district with 85,000 students and more than a $1 billion budget.

John Hickenlooper Full Remarks at the Iowa Hall of Fame Dinner

REMARKS: HICKENLOOPER SPEAKS TO IOWA HALL OF FAME DINNER

"Pragmatists don't say no, they figure out how to get big things done"

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA - Today, Governor Hickenlooper will deliver remarks at the Iowa Hall of Fame Dinner. The former Colorado governor and Democratic presidential candidate will echo his remarks from the California Democratic Party Convention that Democrats must embrace progressive pragmatism if they want to defeat Donald Trump and achieve big progressive goals. Excerpts from the speech follow.

"Donald Trump is the worst President our country has ever had. But, defeating him is far from guaranteed. We have to take the right approach. We must be progressive, but also pragmatic. We need a dreamer, but also a doer. We must present a bold vision for the future, but we also must acknowledge that the most effective charge Republicans can level against us is 'socialism.'"

"Now, that does not mean that Democrats should shy away from big progressive goals. Far from it. A pragmatist doesn’t say no to big ideas, they figure out how to get them done. I know this because it’s what we did in Colorado. Today, Colorado has near universal health care. All 64 counties have access to reliable broadband service. We’ve had the number one economy in the country for three consecutive years."

Full remarks follow. Remarks are as prepared.

Hello, Iowa Democrats!

Thank you so much for having me.

I would like to acknowledge Fred and Charlotte Hubbell, and all those receiving awards tonight.

You all do the hard work – knocking on doors in the snow and the heat, phone banking late at night.

It is difficult, and often thankless work, but it is essential work.

You all are on the front lines of the resistance. You protect our democracy.

President Trump reminds us every day that our democracy is something we neglect at our own peril.

We now live in a country where children are taken from their mothers and put in cages.

A woman’s right to control her own body is under constant assault.

The sick and the elderly have to chose between paying their medical bill, or paying their utility bill.

Donald Trump is the worst President our country has ever had.

But, defeating him is far from guaranteed.

We have to take the right approach.

We must be progressive, but also pragmatic.

We need a dreamer, but also a doer.

We must present a bold vision for the future, but we also must acknowledge that the most effective charge Republicans can level against us is “socialism.”

Now, that does not mean that Democrats should shy away from big progressive goals.

Far from it.

A pragmatist doesn’t say no to big ideas, they figure out how to get them done.

I know this because it’s what we did in Colorado.

Today, Colorado has near universal health care.

All 64 counties have access to reliable broadband service.

We’ve had the number one economy in the country for three consecutive years.

We were the first state to compel the oil and gas industry to eliminate methane emissions.

We beat the NRA and became the first purple state to pass universal background checks and magazine limits!

When other states were limiting reproductive rights, we provided long-acting reversible contraception to any woman who wanted it. And we cut abortion and unintended pregnancy among young women by almost two-thirds!

I am the only person running who has actually done what everyone else is talking about.

So I can tell you, you don’t do big things with Big Government.

You do big things by bringing everyone to the table --- by making the table bigger.

When I am President, we will make affordable healthcare a right, not a privilege.

We will do it by creating a public option – so the more than 100 million Americans who like their insurance can keep it, and the millions who do not will have another choice.

When I am President, we will unite the world to save our planet.

America will not only rejoin the Paris Accord - but we will exceed its goals!

We will work with private industry and non-profits to do the massive research and development that we will need to effectively, and quickly address our climate crisis.

When I am President, every American will have the opportunity to create their version of the American Dream.

We will make college more affordable, and we will also provide a path for the 65 percent of Americans who won’t get a four-year college degree.

I will work with unions and businesses to do the biggest expansion of apprenticeships in our country’s history. One million apprenticeships a year!

I am proud to be part of a political party that over decades has rallied to the call of so many dreams and dreamers.

I am proud to be in the party that not only dared to dream big dreams but had the persistence to get them done - from creating Social Security and Medicare to putting a man on the moon.

I am a dreamer and a do-er.

And we need both to make real progress.

Not just big ideas but making them happen -- finding common ground when it sometimes seems like there’s nothing there but mountains between us.

That’s my record.

And that will be my promise as President.

Thank you.

Marianne Williamson's Remarks for Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame Dinner Sunday, June 9

Marianne Williamson's Remarks for Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame Dinner Sunday, June 9

(Cedar Rapids, IA) - "A goal that all of us have here today is that Democrats win the presidency in 2020.

Many people think we just need someone tough enough to defeat Donald Trump. But anyone who thinks we just need someone tough enough to take him on is naïve about the nature of the opponent. Something deeper, and more dangerous, is going on here than traditional political toughness knows how to handle.

Donald Trump has touched people in a very fearful place, and only love can cast out fear – not money, not strategy, not anger, not mobilization. And that in the final analysis, is the only thing that will defeat Donald Trump. Last time we won with hope; this time we’ll win with love. Ultimately, we will only win if we touch enough people’s hearts.

I know something about harnessing the emotions of large groups of people. Like everyone else, I am appalled by how the President has done that. But unlike many people here, I know something about how he has done it.

Donald Trump has built a career on harnessing fear, and I have built a career inspiring love.

Trump has spoken to a very dark, primal place within the human psyche, a place of fear that becomes like an emotional knot in people’s brains. And this knot cannot be unraveled by rationalistic thinking or intellectual argument. For I assure you: the part of the brain that rationally analyzes an issue is not the part of the brain that decides who to vote for.

That emotional knot can only be unraveled through the power of an equally primal place within the psyche. The only way to defeat a big lie is through the power of a big truth.

And the only big truth is the real truth – not the kind-of, sort-of truth that too often passes for truth among the political class. The real truth is not the truth of the moment but the truth of the ages, not a truth based on self-interest but a truth based on principle.

Republicans don’t walk their talk – we all know that -- but too often we don’t talk our walk. Over the last few decades, we have ceded words like morality and patriotism to those who were more than glad to take them out of our hands.

And boy have they. People who have passed policies destructive to everything family should stand for, have claimed to stand for “family values.” People who have passed policies that have created the largest income inequality since 1929, claim to have created a “good economy.” And people who have led us into unjustifiable wars that have killed hundreds of thousands of people, still claim to be “stronger on security.”

Lies? Of course. But politically powerful? Yes. Why have they not been held accountable for their lies? Because too often Democrats have not held ourselves accountable to the truth. Too often we’ve been a party that stands for the right thing, but still cozies up to forces that do the wrong thing, thinking that if we do that it’s really okay because once we get into power then we will do the right thing. And we naively think that doesn’t smell to people, that the putrid stench of that more complicated corruption will not be wafting into the nostrils of the average voter. 

In other words, too many Democrats are half-truth tellers. And Donald Trump will eat the half-truth tellers alive.

The real truth is how deeply corrupt our country has become, how we are no longer functioning as a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people,” but as a “government of a few of the people, by a few of the people, and for a few of the people.” We rejected such aristocratic nonsense in 1776, and we need to reject it again.

The political system has brought us to this point, and it’s time for the people to step in. The abolitionist movement led to the end of slavery when the people stepped in. The Women’s Suffrage movement gained women the right to vote when the people stepped in. The Civil Rights movement led to desegregation when the people stepped in. And now it’s our time. We the people need to step in now. We must step in and save millions of traumatized American children, whose despair has been simply normalized by the political system. We must step in and dismantle layers of systemic racism that has been tolerated by the political system. We must step in and stop supporting a national security agenda based more on defense contractor profits than plans for peace, that has been created by the political system.

That, to me, is brutally honest and deeply true. We need a nominee who is a radical truth-teller and an inspirer of hearts. To me, no less than that will win the White House in 2020. And that’s why I am here."

Cory Booker's Speech at Iowa Hall of Fame. Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

CORY 2020 HALL OF FAME
JUNE 9, 2019

REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY

Hello Iowa!

Thank you Troy.

I congratulate this year’s honorees.

These grassroots leaders give us what we truly need to win.

We have a lot of strong presidential candidates here this afternoon.

But our strength as a party comes from the grassroots.

Our party doesn't need a savior - we need each other. We need to deepen our bonds, organize, build community strength.

I am here because of that tradition.

My grandma was born and raised in Iowa.

My family comes from a mining town called Buxton -

Where blacks and whites went down into the mines together to carve out of the earth their American dream.

They lived together; built a community together-- a more beloved community.

Affirming that we in America have common purpose, common cause, a shared American dream and destiny.

But today, those bonds are being tested.

Leading many to believe that the forces tearing us apart are stronger than the bonds holding us together.

We are being tested.

When millions of Americans work full time jobs, pick up extra shifts when they can, but they still need food stamps to feed their family;

When there are shrines on our streets to shooting victims--like the ones in front of schools and houses of worship across the country;

When we have a criminal justice system that as Bryan Stevenson says:

treats you better if you’re rich and guilty than if you’re poor and innocent.

We are being tested.

This is a moral moment in America-- we must meet this test.

I’m running for President because we can’t take four more years of Donald Trump.

I’m running for President to beat Donald Trump and I’m running for President because beating Donald Trump is not enough.

We must have bigger aspirations and bolder dreams than just that.

Beating Donald Trump is the floor -- it is not the ceiling.

Beating him will get us out of the valley -- but it will not get us to the mountaintop.

Democrats. We can't let this election be about what we are against.

It must be about what we are for, who we are for!

We are for every American worker because they deserve a living wage, the right to a union and to retire with dignity and security.

We are for public school teachers,
we’re for valuing them,
supporting them
and raising their pay.

We are for every American having access to healthcare --
And make no mistake-- abortion is healthcare and healthcare is a right, not a privilege.

We are for ending mass incarceration.

And in the name of Charleston and Pittsburgh, Parkland and Newtown, Las Vegas and Virginia Beach, and communities like mine across the country.

We will take the fight to the corporate gun lobby, and we will win.

This is the call of our country-- we come from generations that, no matter what the challenge, kept their eyes on the prize.

They came up from mines in Buxton together.

They rose from sweatshops and slums.

Together they boarded buses knowing they could be bombed -
crossed a bridge knowing they could be beaten.

They did not turn against each other in the face of injustice,
they stood with each other, for each other.

They beat the demagogues and bullies and bigots
who tried to push them down

by doing the work, and the struggle and the sacrifice
to lift people up.

Now, Iowa, it’s our turn.

This election is not a referendum on one person, in one office--
it’s a referendum on who we are, and who we must be to each other.

Donald Trump wants this election to be about him, on his terms and on his turf. That’s how he wins.

We win when we rise.

With grace and grit;

Rise;

with Patriotism - Love for our country and love for one another

We will not stay in the valley of darkness and fear.

We will rise.

We will lift up our voices,

We will raise our sights,

We will win this election.

And America, we will rise.

Bernie Sanders Delivers Remarks At Iowa Hall of Fame Dinner

Bernie Sanders Delivers Remarks At Iowa Hall of Fame Dinner

CEDAR RAPIDS – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders today delivered remarks at Iowa's Hall of Fame Dinner.

Here are the full remarks as prepared:

Thank you for inviting me to be with you and thank you for what you are doing to defeat the most dangerous president in modern history. 

The American people do not want a president who is a pathological liar, a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, a xenophobe, a religious bigot and someone who believes that he is above the law. 

Together we will put an end to the ugliness and divisiveness that comes from this White House.  

Let me be frank with you for a moment. While we are all united in the need to defeat Trump, there are disagreements amongst us as to the best way to do that. 

In my view, we will not defeat Donald Trump unless we bring excitement and energy into this campaign, unless we greatly expand voter turnout, and unless we give millions of working people and young people a reason to vote and a reason to believe that participating in politics will improve their lives. 

The status quo, same old same old kind of politics, will not do that. 

The only way we win is with a Democratic Party that, from the top of the ticket to the bottom, is prepared to stand up and fight for the working families of this country - black, white, Latino, Native American and Asian American. 

A Democratic Party that has the courage to take on the powerful special interests who have so much control over the economic and political life of this country. 

A Democratic Party that creates a government and an economy that works for all of us, and not just the 1 percent. 

I understand that there are some well-intentioned Democrats and candidates who believe that the best way forward is a "middle ground" strategy that antagonizes no one, that stands up to nobody and that changes nothing. 

In my view, that approach is not just bad public policy, but it is a failed political strategy that I fear could end up with the reelection of Donald Trump. The American people want change, real change, and we have got to provide that change.

And that means if we believe health care is a human right, we must take on the power of the insurance industry. 

If we believe in cutting prescription drug prices in half, we must take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry.  

If we believe in an end to endless wars, we must take on the clout of the military industrial complex. 

If we believe we need to combat climate change and save our planet for future generations, we must take on the lies of the fossil fuel industry.  

History reminds us that real change is never easy.  It requires millions of people standing up for justice -- and together we can do that.  

 We can create a nation where all people, regardless of their income, have healthcare and unlimited educational opportunities;  where veterans are not sleeping out on the street and where children are not going hungry; and where we finally put an end to racism, sexism, homophobia and religious bigotry. 

 That must be our vision - and if we are prepared to create an unprecedented grassroots movement that is a vision we can accomplish.