Senator Elizabeth Warren holds a town hall in norfolk, virginia, home to the Worlds Largest naval base. Her Campaign Event took place at old dominion university. I good evening. You dont sound excited. Lets get some excitement into this room. We have an election on november 25. It is your task and my task to make sure that we win big on november 5. It is time for a change in richmond. Our colleagues do not know how to govern. Democrats know how to govern. Accomplishing to objectives to combat Climate Change and Sea Level Rise. , it is costing us 34 billion to combat Climate Change and Sea Level Rise. Since over the past 70 years, Sea Level Rise is up 14 inches. Were second only to new orleans as the largest Population Center at risk for Sea Level Rise. 45,000 properties in our area are at risk from tidal flooding. We need solutions. Not people talking about science is not real. [cheers and applause] they want to call it coastal flooding. Its Climate Change and Sea Level Rise, people. [applause] democrats will Bring Solutions, not talk. We will Bring Solutions with sensible gun prevention laws and not adjourn in 90 minutes. We will Bring Solutions with minimum wage increases. We will Bring Solutions to groceries closer. We will protect Medicaid Expansion and the Affordable Care act. We will not say that we supported Medicaid Expansion when we didnt. Solutions,re about but we can only Bring Solutions with your help on november 5. Help us flip the house of delegates and the Virginia Senate by giving democrats control. [applause] be your voice for change and positive governance. You know who else will be your voice for change and positive governance . Here this evening is a very strong democrat with a plan for environmental justice. [applause] to have someone who has a plan . [applause] a plan for health care. A plan for Economic Equity and justice. A plan for criminal justice reform. Familiesr our military and veterans. Someone who actually has a plan to go into effect to support our families in our community. Myies and gentlemen, it is honor to bring to this stage this democrat, who has a strong voice and a plan for positive change. I bring to you senator Elizabeth Warren. Sen. Warren hello, virginia. Oh, virginia is for lovers. I love this. So let me start by saying a very big thank you to i love you too. To senator locke. Fabulous. Thank you. [applause] just wonderful. And we have many special guests, i also want to say a very special thank you to a man who has given me a lot of good advice and is always there, has served our country so honorably, admiral smith. Wherever you are, admiral smith, thank you. Thank you for getting us started. Thank you. Thank you for getting us started. Thank you. We also have another very special guest in the house. The man who helped lead the United States house of representatives, who is on one of the most critical committees, who leads that committee, on health and labor, congressman bobby scott is here. Please stand up. [cheers and applause] congressman scott and i are hatching all kinds of plans around labor and education. Am i right . [applause] as long as were doing all this family stuff, i also brought along my husband bruce. Where are you, sweetie. . [applause] hes the man with the very debonair black cast on his arm. He defended bailey from another dog and bruce ended up with the broken bone over it. But hes on the mend. Hes on the mend. And out with us. And i am just so glad to be here with you all today. Thank you. 18 days. Virginia is going to get this done [cheers and applause] in 2017, you inspired our nation. And what you did in 2017, the rest of the nation doubled down on in 2018. Now in 2019, were turning to you again. Do it again and inspire us for 2020. [applause] yeah. So i thought what wed do tonight is ill tell you a little bit about myself, well take some questions, and then if anybody wants to, ill stay as long as you want and well do selfies. [applause] yes, the core part of democracy, ok, there we go. So, i was born and raised in oklahoma. [applause] we got a few okies here. Ok. There arent so many of us. I understand. One over here. Good. I was the baby in the family. I have three much older brothers. I was what used to be called a lateinlife baby. My mother always just called me the surprise. Now, all three of my older brothers went off and joined the military. My oldest brother, don, was career military. He spent about five and a half years off and on in combat in vietnam. We were really lucky to get him back home. Very, very lucky. [applause] my brother john was stationed overseas for a little over a year. My brother david, the youngest of the three, david trained as a combat medic. And to this day, we have a rule in our family. Never choke around david. [laughter] its he is convinced that he could perform an emergency tracheotomy, ready to go. Always has a sharpened pocket knife with him. It makes for some very exciting thanksgivings. Anybody goes [clears throat] and david is ready. The rest of us are like, whoa, back, brother. I love my three brothers. They are to this day referred to as the boys, to distinguish them from the surprise. They have all retired. They live back in oklahoma, close together. When we were growing up, our daddy had a lot of different jobs. He sold fencing. He sold carpets. He sold housewares. He sold paint. And when i was in middle school, the boys were all gone by that point, and it was just my mama and my daddy and me. In my daddy had a massive heart attack. And for a long time we thought he was going to die. The neighbors came in, folks from church brought covered dishes, everybody spoke in quiet tones. Daddy made it through. And we were deeply grateful. But he couldnt work. Not for a long, long time. And that meant no money coming in. I can still remember the day we lost our familys station wagon. I remember learning words like mortgage and foreclosure. I remember how every night my mother would tuck me in, shed kiss me on the forehead, she would pat me and i knew what was coming next. Shed walk outside, close my door, and lean back against it and start to cry. She didnt want to cry in front of me. And one day i walked in to my folks bedroom. And laid out on the bed was the dress. Now, some of you in this audience will know the dress. Its the one that only comes out for weddings, funerals, and graduations. And its laid out on the bed. And i see it and i look at the end of the bed and theres my mama in her slip and her stocking feet and shes pacing. And she is say, we will not lose this house. We will not lose this house. We will not lose this house. She was 50 years old. She had never worked outside the home. And she was terrified. And finally she sees me standing there in the doorway, im just a kid. And she looks at me. And she looks at that dress. And she looks at me. Never says a word. Wipes her face. Pulls that dress on. Puts on her high heels. And walks to the sears and gets a fulltime minimum wage job answering phones. That minimum wage job saved our house. And more importantly it saved our family. [applause] now, i always think of this as the lesson my mama taught me. That no matter how scared you are, no matter how hard it looks, when it comes down to it, you reach down deep, you find what you have to find, you pull pull it up and you take care of the people you love. Thats what she taught me. [applause] it was years later, years later, that i came to understand, that wasnt just what my mama taught me. Thats what millions of americans do every day. No matter how hard it looks. No matter how scared they are. They reach down deep, they find what they have to find, they pull it up and they take care of themselves and the people they love. Thats what we do. [applause] but it was only years after that that i came to understand that same story is also a story about government. Its also a story about government. Because understand this. Back when i was a girl, a fulltime minimum wage job in america would support a family of three. It would pay a mortgage, it would cover the utilities, and it would put food on the table. Today, a fulltime minimum wage job in america will not keep a mama and a baby out of poverty. That is wrong and that is why i am in this fight. [cheers and applause] and understand this. That difference is no accident. Its about who Government Works for. When i was a girl, go back and look, the question asked about minimum wage is, what does it take a family of three to survive . What does it take a family of three to get a foothold in americas middle class . What does it take a family of three to have something secure that they can build on . Today, the question asked in washington is, where should the minimum wage be set to maximize the profits of giant multinational corporations . Well, i dont want a government that works for giant multinational corporations, i want one that works for our families. [cheers and applause] that is why im here. Yep. So, like i side, the three boys, they went off to the military. That was their path. That was their ticket. To americas middle class. Me, i had a different plan. I have known what i wanted to be since second grade. You may laugh back there, you didnt decide until, like, what . Fourth grade . [laughter] announcer fifth grade . I can tell. No, me, i have known what i wanted to be since second grade and never wavered from it. I wanted to be a Public Schoolteacher. Can we hear it for americas Public School teachers . [cheers and applause] yes yes whoa yes, this is what i wanted i wanted to teach Public School. I got to tell you, i invested early. I used to line up my dollies and teach school. I had a reputation for being tough but fair. [laughter] its all i wanted. By the time i graduated from high school, my family didnt have the money for an application to college. Much less to send me off to four years at a university. So heres the deal. Like a lot of americans, i have a story thats not exactly a straight line. It has got a lot of twists and turns. So heres how mine goes. I graduated from high school and i got a scholarship to college. Yay and then at 19 i fell in love, got married, dropped out of school, and got a minimum wage job. Not to that guy. To somebody who is currently referred to as husband number one. [laughter] never a good sign when you have to number your husbands. [laughter] its true. But back to the story. So. Here i am. Look, i chose it. It could be a good life. It was my decision. Nobody made me do this. But i thought i had given up the dream. That that was it. I had stepped off and i would never get to be a teacher. And then i found it. Were living down in houston at the time, and i found what was then a commuter college, it was about 45 minutes away, it cost 50 a semester. And for a price i could pay for on a parttime waitressing job, i finished my fouryear diploma, i became a special needs teacher, ive lived my dream job. [cheers and applause] yep. So lets see. Weve got Public School teachers in here . Yes yes we got any special needs teachers in here . A few . Yeah, good. Ok, you are going to have to back me up on this. This is not a job for teachers. Its a calling. I loved the work. I loved those babies. I had four to 6yearolds. Mostly. And to this day i can remember faces, names, i can remember successes. I can remember places we didnt get it done. I loved it. And i probably would still be doing that work today but my story has another twist in it. And here is the twist. By the end of the first year i was visibly pregnant. And the principal did what principals did in those days. He wished me luck and hired someone else for the job. Yep. So there i am. Im at home. Cant get a job. Ive got a baby. What am i going to do . I got to do something, right . I got to do something. So i decide ill go to law school. [applause] yeah. So. Baby on hip, by this time were living in new jersey, i head we got everybody here. I head off to a public law school. Back then cost 450 a semester. Woohoo. And graduate, visibly pregnant you will discover a pattern to these stories. Took the bar. And practiced law for 45 minutes. And then went back to my first love, teaching. I traded little folks for much taller folks. But always in teaching. Oh, and also traded out husbands. Thats how i ended up with bruce. [applause] a lot of change in that period of my life. But thats how i spent most all my life, is teaching in law school. So you know, i dont know, maybe this is what happens to everybody who kind of grows up at the ragged edge of the middle class. But ill tell you what i taught. Money. If it was about money, i mastered it and i taught it. So i taught contract law and commercial law, i taught secure transactions. Feel free to cheer at any point. I taught the uniform commercial code. Woohoo. All the good points. Law and economics. Corporate finance. Partnership finance. I taught it all. But there was always one central question that i worked on. And that is, why is americas middle class being hollowed out . Why is it that for families that work every bit as hard as my mom and dad did two generations ago, find the path today, so much rockier and so much steeper. And for people of color even rockier and even steeper. [applause] yep. And the answer is just like the answer around minimum wage. The answer is about who Government Works for. Think of it this way. We have a government that works fabulously. Wonderfully. Terrifically. For giant drug companies. Just not for people trying to get a prescription filled. Am i right . [applause] works great for people who want to invest in private prisons and private detention centers. Just not for the people whose lives are torn apart by those institutions. [applause] yep. A government that works terrifically for giant Oil Companies that want to drill everywhere. Just not for the rest of us who see Climate Change bearing down upon us. [applause] heres the thing. When you see a government that works great for the wealthy and the well connected, and isnt working for much of anyone else, that is corruption pure and simple and we need to call it out for what it is. Corruption. [cheers and applause] corruption. Yep. Corruption. And think of it this way. Whatever issue brought you here today, climate, health care, the cost of prescription drugs, gun violence, whatever it is. I will do them all. Immigration, you bet. Whatever is the issue that brought you here today, if there is a decision to be made in washington, it has been touched by money. It has been influenced by money. It has been nudged by money. Its had an exception created by money. In fact, let me tell you a quick story around this. So back in the early 1990s. Announcer were beginning to get whats happening on climate. Dont have quite all the words, global warming, but theyre getting it. The science is there. And people are starting to say, wow, this could be this is a real catastrophe that could be headed our way. Heres the amazing part. Democrats and republicans basically are working together. Think about that. Theyre talking about, so what do we need to do . Do we need to give more power to the e. P. A. . Do we need some new laws . Because all of us have to care about the future of this country and the future of this earth. And then, along come the koch brothers. [audience boos] i see youve heard of the koch brothers. Hmm, nice, nice. Along come the koch brothers. And lets be clear, and the joint Oil Companies, and the big polluters. And in effect they get together and say wow, if Congress Gets really serious about this climate thing, thats going to cut into our bottom line. Thats going to cost us money. So theyve got a decision to make. Theyve got an Investment Decision to make. Think about it that way. So they have to decide. Now they could have decide, they could decide, lets see, we see this happening. What were going to do is stop we are going to stop doing carbonbased fuels. Well pull ourselves out of that and go into green no, they dont do that they could decide, were going to really double down on investment. R d investment in how to clean carbon out of the air. How to clean it out of the water. They dont do that. In . Know what they invest politicians. They invest in politicians. They invest in washington. And yeah, its campaign contributions, but it is so much more. Its about lobbyists. Its about p. R. Firms. Its about oh, its about bought and paid for experts. You ever think about those bought and paid for experts, im amate deniers doctor of [mumble] and climate blah, blah, the dinosaurs loved it whatever it is. They dont support those guys and put money into the think tanks for them because theyre fooled. They do it because those guys, those climate deniers, they build an umbrella over the politicians so the politicians can stand under it and continue to take koch brother money, big oil money, big polluter money and say, oh, i dont know. Im not a scientist. Well let me tell you, you want to understand the Climate Crisis that we face right now . It is 25 years of corruption in washington that brought us here. [applause] so heres the thing. The corruption is felt everywhere. If we are going to make change in this country, it cant be one statute over here, a couple of little regulations over there, maybe one more piece over here. What weve got to have in this country is big structural change. There it is. Not little. [applause] and let me tell you where big structural change starts. It starts by attacking corruption head on. You ready . Yep. And ive got a plan for that. [cheers and applause] yeah. In fact, heres good news. I have the biggest anticorruption plan since watergate. Yay here is the bad news. We need the biggest anticorruption plan since watergate. Ok. So this thing is big becaus