Jonathan gillibrand. Hi, everyone. Senator gillibrand henry loves your state fair, so thank you. Henry won that, no joke, it was a little frisbee thing, anyway, it is such a pleasure to be here. I cant tell you how exciting it is. I got my start in politics in a community not unlike this. My grandmother was a woman who my grandmother was a woman who loved politics, started working at age 18 as a secretary in our state legislature. 75 years ago, she looked around, all the legislators were men, all the staff were women, so she wanted to have a voice. She did not know how, she knew her voice was important, but she figured the voice of all the women was even more important. So she learned to work on campaigns she learned to organize, she taught women had to go door to door, how to stuff envelopes, how to make phone calls, and my first memory on a campaign was when i was henrys age, it was a hot august day, the women were wearing dresses not unlike mine, sleeveless, cotton dresses to keep cool, and there were stuffing envelopes. And i am thinking, i am mesmerized by their arms, their jiggly arms, and i am saying to myself, i want to be just like those ladies someday. Sure enough, jiggly arms for everybody. I loved my grandmother and how much she loved politics, because it was an extension of her values, who she was, what she wanted to accomplish and who she wanted to help in her communities. So i followed in her footsteps. But the one lesson my grandmother taught me was i should never give up. That there was nothing i couldnt do, and there was no such thing as impossible. I took those words to heart. If you need to know anything about me, anything at all, you tell me something is impossible, i get it done. I have done it my whole life. When i ran for congress in 2006, i was told i could not win by upstate new york congressional district. I went to my poster and i said, i want to run in new york 20, can i win . He said no. I said really . He said no. And i said, i have been helping campaigns for a decade, i know how to raise money, i could raise 2 million to get my message out. Could i win then . He said, no, it is 21 republican. And i said, what if i run a Perfect Campaign . And he said kiersten, there are more cows than democrats in your district and you cant win. And i said, i am frustrated, what happens if this guy gets indicted . I could beat him then, right . He says, it depends what he gets indicted for. [laughter] so, it is a red, red district. The only person who thought i could win was my mother. That tells you a lot about my mother. My mother was raised by her mother, my grandmother, to be strong, brave, my mom was one of only three women in her law school class. When she came to be an albany lawyer, a lot of people in the gayrights community did not have lawyers, so they came to her. She helped them, if they wanted a house, if they want that he will, she helped them. By the time she was my age she was a Second Degree black belt in karate. My mom didnt just cook the thanksgiving turkey, she shot that thanksgiving turkey. I grew up in a family of strong women, so when i ran for this congressional district, nobody thought i could do it but it did. The one mistake my opponent made is he never took me seriously, not wants. He demeaned me, dismissed me, called me names, just like trump will do. At one point he said, you are just another pretty face. I said, thank you. Then i talked about all the ways i was different from him. I talked about why we need to get our troops out of iraq erie. Talked about why health care should be a right. I ran on medicare for all in a 21 republican district and i one. [applause] i ran for reelection. My opponent again didnt take me seriously. In that campaign i was pregnant with henry. I had a toddler at home, who is at camp canoeing in the wilderness, and im Walking Around the district and he runs all negative ads, really mean ads, so mean i had to turn the tv off because i had a toddler at home. I did not want him to see his mothers face in red with flames coming out of my head and a dark voice saying, she is not who you think she is. So we learn something in politics that day. You cannot win a Congressional Campaign against a young mother with an infant and a toddler, with negative ads. No one believes you. I beat him by 24 points. [applause] so it was not impossible. When i got to the u. S. Senate, i met with a soldier, a man who said, i joined the military because i believe in the honesty, integrity, the character of people who serve in the military and i wanted to be one of them, but not for me because i am forced every day to lie about who i am and who i love, and i cannot bear it. I said, i will help you repeal dont ask, dont tell. I will help you lift up your voice. I went to advocate and said, we must repeal this now. They said, the military wont let it happen. The best we can hope for is that president obama doesnt and force it. And i said that is not good enough. We have to repeal this corrosive, horrible, discriminatory policy, and i got to work. I went first to democrats and i said, we have to repeal dont ask, dont tell. But democrats said, why are you doing this now . It is not convenient. When our civil rights ever convenient . [applause] i got all the democrats on the bill, i found the republican allies i needed, worked together, we got seven republicans, we stood up to the pentagon and we repeal dont ask, dont tell. It was not impossible. [applause] and then i am asked as a freshman senator, you have to help, we need to pass the 9 11 health bill. Well, i was told it was impossible because it was dead on arrival. It sat in the house of representatives for seven years, 20 hearings, no progress, in the senate it had not even been introduced, not even written, not even a hearing. So i got to work. I wrote the bill. I introduced it. I got a hearing. I found a republican. He cosponsored it. I went to friends in the senate, my women friends, and said, how do i pass a big bill like this . And they said, we will help you, we will tell you to pay for it in a way republicans cant say no. They helped behind the scenes. We asked First Responders to come to washington over and over and over again. Within a year and a half, everybody was talking about it. We had msnbc, of course, we had cnn, of course, we had john stewart, of course, two episodes on the 9 11 health bill. But we did not have fox news. So i went into the lions den and i met with roger ailes. And i said, you say you are the party of First Responders, where are you . I convinced him. We learned a second thing that is true in politics. When you have jon stewart on one side and fox news on the other site, you are going to win. It passed unanimously. Not impossible. I had to bring it back up five years later, because the money wasnt permanent, and just two weeks ago we made it permanent, and just made it permanent forever, not impossible. So now, the number one question is, can you beat trump . The number two question is, can you beat trump . Number three, can you beat trump . The answer is yes. It is not impossible. I will tell you how, because i have always represented everyone. It doesnt matter who you are, where you live or who you love. I have your back. I will represent your family as if you were my own. It is who i am. It is what i have done. My three races in new york, i have the highest vote percentage in the history of the state, higher than obama, higher than hillary, higher than trump. I just won back a bunch of counties where trump won in the last election. So i winning red places, i winning blue places, i bring people together and they get things done. President trump does not know he signed my bills into law, but he did. So i get things done. [applause] and i have got to tell you, President Trump is dividing us. Hate crimes have gone up under him. Racism, homophobia, misogyny, antisemitism. And he has emboldened white supremacists. He has emboldened racists. He has emboldened hate groups. He finds moral equivalencies where there are none. He said there were good people on both sides after charlottesville. He laughed when an organizer in florida, when he is doing a big rally and he said, what do we do rally and he said, what do we do with immigrants and someone shouts out, shoot them, and he laughed. He is giving permission for hate to flow. I decided to run for president because we need someone who will remind this country we are so much stronger when we care about one another. We are such a better country when we believe in the golden rule. [applause] when we treat others the way we want to be treated, when we love one another, when we care about the least among us, that is who i am. I am a person of deep faith. I believe in matthew 25, i believe in matthew five, that we are the light of the world, meant to be on a hill so all can see, that is the beacon of light and hope in america. We are meant to be the light of the world. I also know what to do. The first thing i am going to do when i am elected president , i am going to clorox the oval office. [applause] the second thing i am going to do is restore our moral leadership on the world stage, signed onto Global Climate accords, lead, lead the world in a worldwide conversation about how we attack local climate change. It is an idea that is big, but we can do it. When john f. Kennedy said i want to put a man on the moon in this decade, not because it is easy, but because it is hard, it is a measure of our effectiveness as a country, he knew a space race with russia would galvanize the country, to want to be an astronaut, to want to be an engineer, and it worked, and we can do the same thing with green energy, our farmers can be part of biofuels, carbon sequestration, Rural America can lead the way and how we tackle climate change. Our farmers and scientists are the best in the world, they can invent a way out of this problem, make sure you award innovation, we can do this. I will do this as your president. Is it impossible . Not impossible. Pass health care as a right, not a privilege, take on the insurance companies, not impossible. I will deliver health care as a right. And when people have lost loved ones to gun violence, suffered through it, survived gun violence, it is crippling. One of my best friends in the house was gabby giffords. I watched what happened when she went to a corner to serve the public and a little girl who showed up was shot and killed. Gabby survived. Dow many others dont . So i will take on the nra, get money out of politics, because it is not impossible. Thank you so much. [applause] i know you care about iowans with disabilities. We are worried about the virtual caucuses because they are not making sure people with disabilities can use them. Can you push the Democratic Party to do that . Senator gillibrand i have been meeting with people here in iowa. One of my favorite young men came to the debate to watch me and we had a great time. But the truth is, we need to care about everyone in our communities. We need to make sure the Disability Community gets the best education in the world. It is why i will fully fund special ed, not the paltry 18 , but 50 . I will never have an education secretary like betsy devos. Ever. [applause] people should have homes where they can look after themselves and have the Home Health Aides they need. Kyle works at a local pizza parlor and everyone loves him, a 29yearold man with down syndrome, and he is an inspiration. I will fight for our Disability Community. I will make sure everyone is included in the Iowa Caucuses and no one is discriminated against. I will use my voice to get that done. [applause] i want to thank you for your commitment to addressing the overdose crisis, especially supporting care act which is funding communities in iowa to address the crisis. A new bill called the mainstream Addiction Treatment act would act would remove restrictions around medications to treat the overdose crisis. Is that something you would support . Senator gillibrand yes. She asked about a bill on how we treat addiction in this country. This sounds like a bipartisan bill in the house. I will look to see if it has a lead in the senate. I am definitely in. She is so knowledgeable about issues of addiction. New hampshire is dealing with the crisis. We need funding specifically for treatment and prevention. We need to take on drug companies, when a company like Purdue Pharmaceuticals has documents that shows they made their opioids more addictive so they could addict more patients. They should be investigated and prosecuted. [applause] i am wondering what you will do to secure reproductive rights in states. Iowa has been trying, but in states that are trying to eliminate . Senator gillibrand reproductive rights in this country are civil rights, human rights and constitutional rights. [applause] and they need to be treated that way. The Supreme Court ruled 40 years ago women have a right to basic, constitutional right to privacy. They made that right and secured that right for 40 years. President trump has demonized womens reproductive freedom. He said he would only name justices that dont see womens reproductive freedom as human rights. Gorsuch and cavanaugh are against reproductive freedom. He has emboldened legislators across the country to overturn roe v. Wade because he doesnt want women to get access to health care they need. As president i will codify roe v. Wade into law so it is the law of the land, i will only appoint justices that believe roe v. Wade is the law of the land, i will repeat the hyde amendment, which makes it impossible for low income women to get access, and i will make sure that no matter what state you live in, you can have access to reproductive services, hopefully through medicare for all, where anyone can buy in at a price they can afford, it would be a percentage of income matched by your employer. It will create competition overnight with forprofit insurance. And forprofit insurance is trying to have shareholder value. They have to have quarterly profits, they pay ceos millions of dollars. What you think that money goes . Not for your health care. They deny you a day in the hospital because they want to make more money. When they say you cant have the medicine your doctor wants, is because they want more money. They are harming us. I want to compete with them. If you get a by innovative ercent, you can make it an earned benefit just like social security. That is how we get to health care as a right that is universal, affordable and permanent. [applause] [indiscernible] i went to a Brett Kavanaugh protest three times. Now i am terrified that we have gorsuch and now Brett Kavanaugh, just like the federalist society. What would you do as president to protect the courts to make sure they are not taken over by extreme rightwingers . Senator gillibrand the question is, what are you going to do to protect the Supreme Court because gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh are antilgbt, antiabortion and antia lot of other things that we can no longer rely on. We need Ethics Reform for the Supreme Court. They can be wined and dined by lobbyist, specialinterest, taken on junkets, they can be bought and paid for. Thats not ok. 100 Ethics Reform. I will look at whether term limits can make a difference in depoliticizing the court. I will look at whether we can change the number of justices to depoliticize the court. We have got to get money out of politics. Im the only candidate who is focused on getting rid of rot and corruption in washington. Your democracy is being subverted by people and institutions that have so much money. The Koch Brothers can spend millions each election cycle. Dark money is throughout politics. When you have the nra spending so much money on campaigns, we need to know our kids in our schools have a louder voice than the Koch Brothers and the nra. The only way to do that is publiclyfunded elections. [applause] thank you for coming. This has been an honor. I am out, i am not allowed to go over. Zero minutes. I will be Walking Around the fair all day. Thank you for coming out. Iowa is an incredible place. The fact you care so deeply about this democracy, you are willing to listen to every candidate tell you about themselves, im very grateful, and i think this is a real blessing for all of us. God bless you all, and thank you. [applause] [indiscernible chatter] i think we need better governors than we have in iowa. Somebody who understands that children should not be going and to school with anxiety should not have the anxiety they have in day. It is absurd. We need a governor and we need president s who understand that the nra does not represent us. Salesare more about gun then the people and children. We need leadership. President trump is unwilling to provide it. Mitch mcconnell will not call us back to session to pass common sense laws. It is ridiculous. The epa keeps granting waivers for huge oil companies. Giving it to Big Companies like exxon mobil. It is hurting ethanol producers. We know biofuels are the future. We have some of the smartest engineers and scientists figure out how to move this country into a green, renewable future. Biofuels will be part of the. If we were to eliminate the filibuster under mitch mcconnell, i dont think we would be able to protect womens reproductive freedom or clean water and clear air standards. There would be a lot of things that we take for granted that would be unwound with a 51 vote threshold pedal. There are big issues out there that we might want to be able to defend. Do you believe that walmart should stop selling firearms . Yes. Temporarily or permanently . I think it is very important assault weapons and large magazines and accessible to civilian use. One of the problems we have seen and these Mass Shootings is the easy access that these individuals have had to the most sophisticated weapons. That our fighters spend months training to use. I dont think those weapon should be readily available. [indiscernible] i would than military style weapons that are designed specifically to kill large numbers of people very quickly. When you have a magazine that can allow for thousands of rounds, that is intended as a weapon of war. Lets be clear. We have people in this country fueled by hate and anger, misogyny, racism, and fear. Hunting down other americans. Other people across his country. Happening. T is i think we have to have a serious conversation about what kind of common sense gun reform makes sense. We can and violence in this country with universal background checks, banning magazines, as well as having an antigun trafficking law. Those commonsense reforms are ones most americans already agree on. The only ones who dont agree on it are the guns manufacturers. Time for one more. And a comment on epstein. I think we need to look into it. Someone who is on a suicide watch list, to be taken off that, i dont know why that decision was made. I would have preferred him to face justice in our criminal Justice System for the horrible crimes that are alleged against him. Pedophilia, human trafficking, sexual assault. We need to cure alzheimers. I want to curate within my presidency. To act. Und the nih so we can cure alzheimers, cure cancer, take diseases headon. I would make sure we have more Home Health Aides so those individuals who want aid in place, want to stay at homes with their families, have the resources they need. Thank you so much. I want to allow student to be financed at the lowest rate. And we can have debtfree college in exchange for public service. Thank you. [indiscernible] former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper was among the president ial candidates who spoke at the iowa state fair. He always took questions from viewers afterward. Thank you, rachel. Thank you for sitting out here in the hot sun. I have been out here for the last few hours. My job is to give you the reasons you will take home and tell your family and friends why that guy with the funny last name is the right guy for our next president