We will wait to the music to stop. How are we doing . We will try that again. [applause] i cant even see that far at both ends, so i am sure you are there, but if i have learned anything tonight it is that virginia democrats know how to dinner. Party in party and i wanted to thank [indiscernible] for inviting me here tonight. What about another round of applause for her . [applause] ok. Welcomed,nice to be and thank you for being in this venue with me. I am glad to be back in virginia. This is the very first state that i came to when i launched my campaign a couple of months ago. Since then i have been to 62 cities in 25 states, but i have been to virginia more than anywhere else. In fact, i was just here last week. I was meeting with veterans starting businesses including one who has opened a bakery and yesterday was my birthday, so i thought i might go back for a piece of birthday cake. Reminded mereneurs what it was like to start a business, and to this day i have fun than when i started my business and was doing every job by myself. You are probably asking, why am i coming to virginia so much . Yes, in part because the virginia craft breweries, one of those i have visited today. Called nonele iba of this makes any sense. That is a good summary of the Trump Administration. Which brings me to the other region i have been coming to virginia so much because if we are going to beat donald trump in 2020, we must win this commonwealth. [cheers and applause] and we cannot wait until the primary is over to start campaigning here. Our work starts now. Yes you can applaud for that. As many of you know i have been involved in virginia politics since long before i became a president ial candidate. Back in 2013, i was a big supporter of Terry Mcauliffe in his race for governor. [applause] and im glad i was, because he proved virginia could help point the way for a Better Future for our country. Of course virginia was also forced to grapple with its past, when terry was in office. We all know the events in charlottesville invoked some of the darkest chapters in our history, chapters we are all reminded of in this neighborhood where thousands of slaves were bought and sold and separated from their loved ones. That history is one of the reasons americans felt so much pain when President Trump said very fine people among the nazis and klansmen were marching in charlottesville. But as tragic as that day was, it was also a galvanizing moment for many people. Because virginia and across this country, americans stood up and said, we cannot accept this. And i was honored to stand with all of those who spoke out for what this country really stands for. And i was glad to support candidates here in virginia in 2017, 2018, and 2019, who i knew would fight against the hatred on display in charlottesville. [applause] last month, all of that work paid off. When, for the first time in more than 25 years, virginia democrats took control of both chambers of the legislature. [cheers and applause] and i am happy that they won but i am even happier about what they have done. It has only been a month since they took office and already you have taken action to end our epidemic of gun violence. Lets hear it. [applause] lori haas and all the other leaders who made this possible, your legislature has also made progress expanding voting rights. So every voice can be heard at the ballot box. You have protected reproductive rights, because you understand that women have a right to make their own decisions about their own bodies. [applause] and you have raised the minimum wage, because no american who works fulltime should live in poverty. [applause] you have taken steps to ban lgbtq plus discover nation, becausemination, virginia really is for all lovers. [cheers and applause] and half a century after it was first proposed, you became the 38th state to ratify the equal rights amendment, declaring once and for all that Women Deserve equality under the law. [cheers and applause] this progress you have made did not happen overnight. It happened because the people in this room believed a red commonwealth could become a blue commonwealth. [applause] and you worked around the clock to make it so. Making phone calls, knocking on doors, and getting voters to the polls. So before i say anything else, i want to say thank you, thank you for all the good work you have done for this great state. Give yourself around of applause. [applause] now i want to be clear about why i am in this race. I am running to defeat donald trump. [cheers and applause] and i am running to restore honor to our government. And to build a country that we are proud of. And to start getting things done. And to start putting the united back in the United States of america. [cheers and applause] at the 2016 Democrat National convention in philadelphia, i warned that donald trump was not fit for office. And in 2018, i worked to help lift 21 house seats, which made nancy pelosi speaker, and allowed us to begin Holding Trump accountable. [applause] since the Republican Senate did not have the courage to remove the president from office, it is up to us to do it this november. [cheers and applause] i got into this race 11 weeks ago, because i was deeply concerned that donald trump was on track to win the election and i could not sit by and let that happen. Our campaign has been getting a great response all over america. We are running a campaign for change. A campaign for sanity. A campaign for honesty. For inclusion. For compassion. And a campaign for human decency. [cheers and applause] and we are running hard here in virginia. Because no mistake, virginia is still very much up for grabs in 2020, and we are not waiting until the general election to organize here. We have already knocked on more than 32,000 doors in the state. Made more than 72,000 phone calls. And i have hired more than 82 staffers to work right here in virginia. I am here to stay no matter who comes out on top of this primary. So we can elect democrats up and down the ballot. [cheers and applause] and say goodbye to donald trump. [cheers and applause] lets face it, donald trump is the World Biggest schoolyard bully with no respect for decency or facts or honesty. Our party needs a candidate who can go toe to toe with him and take the fight to him. Just think about the past few weeks. The president has been busy insulting the democratic candidates. He does that a lot, you know. When you cannot defend your record on health care or wages or the environment, you resort to insults. Well, Donald Trumps insults do not bother me. I have never run away from a fight. And i can tell you, he is not going to bully me. And i will not let him bully you either. [cheers and applause] fmr. Mayor bloomberg i have been blessed there is nothing donald can do or say that can hurt me. But he has hurt a lot of other people. That is why i am running. To stand up for every american who has lost his or her job, or lost their insurance, who cannot pay the college tuition. My whole career i have been a doer. I believe we need less talk, less partisanship, less division, and less tweeting. [cheers and applause] in fact, how about a commitment from me that when im in the oval office, no tweeting evermore . [cheers and applause] that is easy for me to say. Since i cannot spell. [laughter] then again, neither can donald. Even though donald and i are both from new york, the truth is, we could not be more different. In fact, i am the untrump. Just think about it. He breaks promises, i keep them. He divides people, id unite them. He is a climate denier, i am an engineer. I actually believe in science, imagine that . [applause] he tweets, i follow facts, respect data, and tell the truth. He looks out for people who inherited their wealth, like him. While i am a selfmade. And i will raise the estate tax to generate some of the revenue we need to start fighting income inequality. [applause] he is stubborn. I am a leader who can be honest about my mistakes. I believe when you make a mistake, you learn from it. Next time, do right. When i first took office, families in york city were losing their children to gun violence at alarming rates. My focus was clear. I wanted to save lives and respond with urgency to the crisis that was plaguing our communities. While many of the ways we tried to reduce gun violence and invest in communities were right, and we reduced murder by half, there is one approach i deeply regret. The use of up Police Practice called stop and frisk. I defended it for too long, i think, because i did not understand the unintended pain it caused to young black and brown kids and their families. I should have acted sooner and faster to stop it. For that, i have apologized. I spent a long time speaking with black leaders and community members. I have listened to their stories. I have heard their pain, their confusion, their anger. I have learned from them and i think i have grown from them. I cannot change history. But i can learn from my mistakes and use those lessons to do right by black and brown communities who suffered. Tonight, let me be clear. [applause] as president of the United States, i will work to dismantle systems that are plagued by bias and discrimination. I will invest in the communities that have borne the brunt of those systems for generations. And i will put this work at the very top of my agenda. [applause] now, it will not be easy. But i also know we can do it. Because unlike other candidates, i do not just talk about doing things. I have a record of reaching across the aisle and getting them done. Let me just give you a few quick examples. Other candidates talk about raising teachers salaries. As mayor, i raised them in york by 43 . They talk about improving public schools. I raised Graduation Rates by more than 40 . [applause] they talk about improving health care. In york, i cut the number of uninsured by 40 , improved care for mothers and babies, and raised Life Expectancy by three whole years. [applause] others talk about fighting climate change. I cut new york citys Carbon Footprint by 13 and helped create a Grassroots Movement to close more than 300 dirty, polluting coalfired power plants across this country. [applause] green jobs and a greener planet, we can get it done together. Others talk about stopping gun violence. In new york city, we cut murders by 50 . We have taken on the nra by creating a gun safety group, with 6 million members. We passed stronger laws in more than 20 states, thanks to so many moms demand action volunteers who made it happen. [applause] i was elected mayor just seven weeks after the devastating terrorist attacks of 9 11. Our city was in tatters and our economy was in recession. But i brought people together in the city and we created nearly 500,000 new jobs, and 175,000 units of affordable housing. We reduced street homelessness by 30 , launched programs to fight poverty and made our city stronger than ever. Some of you may have heard the slogan, mike will get it done. Let me tell you what the it is. It means winning this november and sending donald trump back to maralago permanently. [cheers and applause] but that is just the beginning. Because getting it done means finally providing Health Insurance to every american who lacks it, and lowering costs for everybody else. [applause] getting it done means passing commonsense gun safety laws that protect our children and our communities. [applause] getting it done means making america a Global Leader in the fight against climate change. [cheers and applause] getting it done means creating good jobs with higher wages. Getting it done means addressing discrimination and inequality. Getting it done means fixing our broken immigration system and creating a path to citizenship for the 11 Million People living in the shadows. [applause] getting it done means protecting a womans right to choose an appointing judges who will protect that right. [cheers and applause] and getting it done means providing Health Insurance to every single american. [cheers and applause] over the past two decades i have taken on the toughest fights and won. Ive taken on donald trump and won many times. I beat him on gun safety. I beat him on coal pollution. I beat him on turning the house blue in 2018 elections and i am ready to do it again. So if you want Health Insurance for everyone, if you want to combat inequality with fairer taxes and better jobs, if you support my commitment to quality Public Education matter what zip code you live in. If you share my belief that an opportunity for all, not just for the few, if you are ready to defend the constitution of the United States, and if you are ready to clean out the oval office and get things done, and i would be honored to have your help, your support, and yes, your vote. Thank you for coming and support this great organization. [applause] [cheers and applause] with the iowa and New Hampshire primary contest behind them, here is a look at upcoming events. The nevada caucus, often called the first in the west, is set in saturday, february 22. Nevada sends 36 delegates to the convention. South carolina is on saturday february 29 with 54 delegates. Super tuesday where 15 states and one territory allocate about one third of all of the democratic pledged ella gets his march 3. Pledged delegates is march 3. Washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Tuesday morning, we will talk about the state of the u. S. Manufacturing industry and Trump Administration economic policies with scott paul of the alliance for manufacturing. And then part of museum week, we are live from the museum of the marine corps with the curator and History Division director. We will discuss the 75th anniversary of the battle of you will shema. Battle of iwo jima. 7 00 a. M. At wednesday morning we will discuss the Smithsonian National museum of american history. The federal
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