Primary contests. [applause] mr. Bloomberg thank you all for coming. I want to introduce you to this young lady. Her father owns this place. I thought it would be nice to introduce her, otherwise we might get thrown out. She is 11 years old. You dont drink beer yet, do you . No, good. Ok, thank you for coming and thank you for having us. [applause] mr. Bloomberg im shameless. How we doing . [applause] mr. Bloomberg this is some crowd. I dont know if you came out here for the Craft Campaign over the beer. [applause] mr. Bloomberg to be clear, im here for both. It may be the only way to save a nation, with a little libation. [laughter] mr. Bloomberg seriously, our campaign is Building Momentum across virginia and the country. Super tuesday is coming up and we are going to make every second count. [applause] mr. Bloomberg and i want to thank charisse for supporting our campaign and all the kind words when she introduced me. The good news, she said them exactly the way i wrote them for her. [laughter] mr. Bloomberg seriously, thank you for your leadership in the house of delegates. You and your colleagues are showing the country what is possible when democrats are in charge. [applause] mr. Bloomberg now, some of you might remember virginia was the same state i came to when i launched my campaign a couple of months ago and since then, i ve been to 62 cities and 25 states. But ive been to virginia more than anywhere else. [applause] mr. Bloomberg in fact, i was here just last week in norfolk. I was meeting with veterans starting businesses, including one who opened a bakery and yesterday was my birthday so i might as well go back and get a piece of cake. Thank you very much. Thank you. And i hope i have a few more. And i will make a deal with all of you. Dont catch up and i want to expand the difference. These entrepreneurs remind me of when i started my business. To this day, i can tell you ive never had more fun than what i did that and when i was crawling under desks and doing all the basic jobs myself. Somebody said you can always tell who owns the place from whos sweeping up. And thats what i did. Now my company is 20,000 people and i dont know them all, but ive been very lucky and youre probably asking me why i come to virginia so much . Well, the answer is because of the great beer. But also because of the simple fact that if were going to beat donald trump in 2020, then we absolutely have to win this commonwealth. [applause] mr. Bloomberg and we cant wait until the Campaign Starts here. Our work starts right now, today. And as many of you know, i have been involved in virginia politics long before i came a president ial candidate. In 2013, i was a big supporter of Terry Mcauliffe in his race for governor. [applause] mr. Bloomberg ive always said hes a really great guy and im glad because he proved virginia to help the way to a Better Future for our whole country. Of course, virginia was forced to grapple with its past and the events in charlottesville invoke some of the darkest chapters of our history. The history is one of the reasons americans felt so much pain when donald trump said there were very fine people among the nazis and the klansmen marching. As tragic as that day was, it was a galvanizing moment for many people because across virginia and across the country, americans stood up and said we cannot accept that and were not going to do it. I was on the stand with 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 would fight against the hatred displayed back there in charlottesville. Last month, all of that work paid off, when for the first time in more than 25 years, democrats took control of both chambers of the legislature. [applause] mr. Bloomberg im happy they won, but im even happier about what theyve done. Its only been a month since they took office and already, theyve taken action on everything from gun violence to reproductive rights to lgbtq plus discrimination, and they even ratified the equal rights amendment. [applause] mr. Bloomberg and they did it half a century after it was first proposed, declaring once and for all, that Women Deserve equality under the law. [applause] mr. Bloomberg now, this progress made tonight didnt happen overnight. It happened because of all the virginians who made phone calls and knocked on doors and got voters to the polls, never losing faith in a red commonwealth turning into a blue commonwealth. Thats what we did. [applause] so before we see anything else, i just want to thank all of you who made all of that possible. It was done by a lot of people and a lot of hard work and it is just great for this state and great for the country. Yes, you can applaud for that. [applause] mr. Bloomberg nowlet me be really clear why i am in this race. I am running to defeat donald trump. [applause] mr. Bloomberg and i am running to restore honor to our country. [applause] mr. Bloomberg and to build a country that were proud of and to start getting things that we need done, and to start putting the united back into the Words United States of america. [applause] mr. Bloomberg back in 2016 in philadelphia, at the Democratic National convention, i warned ok, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. [booing] mr. Bloomberg thats ok. Thats ok. [booing] mr. Bloomberg thank you. [booing] [chanting] mr. Bloomberg i just wanted to thank you for making me feel at home. [laughter] mr. Bloomberg back then, i warned donald trump was not fit for office and in 2018, i worked to help flip the house, 21 seats. [chanting] mr. Bloomberg thats all right. [chanting] mr. Bloomberg ok, well get over it. [chanting] mr. Bloomberg thank you, thank you. The easiest thing to do is just wait them out. Anyways, we put 21 seats in the house and that put nancy pelosi in as speaker. [applause] mr. Bloomberg and it allowed Holding President trump accountable through the impeachment process. But since the Republican Senate didnt have the courage to remove trump from office, it is up to us to do it in november, and were going to do it. [applause] mr. Bloomberg now, i got in this race 10 weeks ago because i was deeply concerned donald trump was on track to win the election and i couldnt just sit by and let that happen. Our campaign is getting great response all over america. Were running a campaign for change, a campaign for sanity on sanity, a campaign for honesty, inclusion, compassion, and a campaign for human decency. [applause] mr. Bloomberg and were running hard here in virginia because, make no mistake, virginia is still very much up for grabs in 2020. And were not waiting until the general election to organize here. Weve already knocked on more than 32,000 doors, made more than 72,000 phone calls, and weve hired more than 87 staffers in virginia. So we are working hard here. [applause] mr. Bloomberg and i want you to know that im here no matter who comes out on top of this primary, god forbid, so we can elect democrats up and down the ballot. Were not just doing one thing. [applause] mr. Bloomberg and so we can say goodbye to donald trump. [applause] mr. Bloomberg now, let me tell you why i believe im the best candidate to take on donald trump and win. To start, i have achievable plans to deal with all the toughest challenges facing this country and i will get them done. [applause] mr. Bloomberg and thats the message we need in order to win voters all over this country and beat trump in the swing states that will decide this election, because we all know trumps strategy. Attack democrats, make their plans look unrealistic, unaffordable, and undoable. But that wont work against me and it wont work against you. [applause] mr. Bloomberg i have a record of getting things done and that is what voters want, but that is not all we need to win because lets face it, donald trump is the worlds biggest schoolyard bully. [applause] mr. Bloomberg with no respect for civility, decency, or even facts and honesty. And 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. Youve been reading it in the papers and seeing on television, the president has been busy insulting democratic candidates. And he does that a lot. I guess when you cant defend your record on health care or wages or environment, you resort to insults and thats what he is doing. Well, Donald Trumps insults dont bother me. Ive never run away from a fight, and neither have you. The people of this state know what they want and we will get it for them. He is not going to bully me and hes not going to bully you, either. Now, ive been pretty blessed. Theres nothing trump can do or say to hurt me. Im from new york. Im here standing up for every american who cant pay their tuition, for every american who has lost their insurance. My whole career has been as a doer. And believe me, we need less talk, less partisanship, less division, less tweeting [applause] mr. Bloomberg i will make you a commitment now. When i am in the oval office, no more tweeting. [applause] mr. Bloomberg now, in all fairness, its easy for me to say that because i cant spell. Then again, neither can donald. [laughter] mr. Bloomberg even though donald and i are both from new york, the truth is we couldnt be more different. In fact, i billed myself as the untrump. Think about it. He breaks promises. I keep them. He divides people. I unite them. Hes a climate denier. Im an engineer. I actually believe in science. Imagine that. [applause] mr. Bloomberg he tweets. I follow facts, respect data, and tell the truth. He looks out for people who inherited their wealth and im selfmade. I will raise the estate tax to battle and equality. [applause] mr. Bloomberg he is stubborn. Im a leader who can be honest about my mistakes. And i believe when you make a mistake, you must learn from it and next time, do it right. When i first took office in new york city, families in new york were losing their children to gun violence at alarming rates. And my focus was clear. I wanted to save lives and respond with urgency to the crisis that was plaguing our communities. And while many of the ways we tried to reduce gun violence and invest in communities were right, and we did reduce murders by 50 in new york city, there is one approach that, in all fairness, i deeply regret. And thats the abuse of a Police Practice called stop and frisk. And ive gotten a lot of grief for it. But ive defended it for too long and because i didnt understand the pain, i should have acted sooner and stopped it and i didnt, and i apologize for that. [applause] mr. Bloomberg you know, sometimes you just make a mistake and leadership is standing up and learning and doing it better. Ive spent a lot of time with black leaders and community members, listening to their stories. Ive heard their pain, their confusion, their anger, and ive learned from them and grown from them. So tonight, let me make it clear, those of you who want to know, as president of the United States, i will work to dismantle systems that are plagued by bias and discrimination. I will invest in communities that have borne the brunt of these systems for generations and i will put this work at the very top of my agenda. [applause] mr. Bloomberg now, it wont be easy but i also know we can do it. Why . Because unlike other candidates, i dont just talk about doing things. I have a record of reaching across the aisle and getting them done. Let me give you a couple of quick examples. Others talk about raising teacher salaries. As mayor, i raised teacher salaries by 43 . [applause] mr. Bloomberg they talk about public schools. I raised Graduation Rates by more than 40 and the raise was part of that. They talk about improving health care. In new york, i cut the number of uninsured by 40 , improved care for mothers and babies, and raised Life Expectancy by three whole years. [applause] mr. Bloomberg so if you have people that you really love and you want them to stay around, you can send them to new york. [laughter] mr. Bloomberg i cant guarantee that everyone will live three years more, but if you send enough people, i can guarantee the average. [laughter] mr. Bloomberg and others talk about fighting climate change. I cut new yorks Carbon Footprint by 13 and i helped create a Grassroots Movement to close coalfired power plants. [applause] mr. Bloomberg green jobs and green planet, we really can have both. Others talk about stopping gun violence. In new york city, we cut murders by 30 and im taking on the nra by creating a Gun Safety Group with 6 million members across the country. [applause] mr. Bloomberg and weve passed stronger gun laws from background checks in more than 20 states and our thanks go to the moms demand action volunteers who made it happen. [applause] mr. Bloomberg i was elected mayor just seven weeks after the devastating terror attacks of 9 11. Our city back then was in tatters. There was still smoke coming out of the void and our economy was in recession. But thanks to a lot of people, new yorkers and people from virginia and all over this country and really, the world, we brought the city together and created more than 500,000 jobs, 170,000 units of affordable housing. We reduced homelessness by 28 . We launched new programs to fight poverty, and we built our city stronger than ever. [applause] mr. Bloomberg somebody told me a fact the other day. When 9 11 happened, there were five hotels downtown. Today, there are 25 hotels. So you can recover and we can do that wherever we have problems. Now some have heard the slogan mike will get it done, and if you havent heard it, ive been wasting a lot of money on campaigning. [laughter] let me tell you what it is. It means winning this november and sending donald trump back to maralago permanently. [applause] mr. Bloomberg but thats just the beginning. Getting it done means finally providing Health Insurance to every american who lacks it and lowering costs for everyone else. Getting it done means passing common sense gun laws that protect our children and communities. [applause] mr. Bloomberg getting it done means making america a Global Leader in the fight against climate change. Getting it done means means creating good jobs with higher wages. Getting it done means addressing discrimination and inequality. Getting it done means finally fixing our broken immigration system and creating a path to citizenship for 11 Million People living in the shadows. [applause] mr. Bloomberg getting it done means protecting a womans right to choose and appointing that appointing judges who will defend that. [applause] mr. Bloomberg and getting it done means means providing Health Insurance to every single american. Now, over the past years, ive taken on the toughest fights and won. And ive taken on donaldson Donald Trumps company and won many times. We beat him on gun safety for background checks, we beat him on coal pollution. Promised to keep lots of mines open and they are not. Db him on turning the house blue with 21 new delegates, and nancy pelosi. Im ready to beat him again. [applause] mr. Bloomberg but i cant do it alone. If you want to qualify for 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 no matter what zip code you live in, if you share my belief in opportunity for all, not just a few. If youre ready to protect and defend the constitution of the United States of america [applause] mr. Bloomberg and if you are ready to clean out the oval office and get things done, then i would be honored to have your support, your help, and yes, your vote. Thank you for having us. [applause] mr. Bloomberg youre the greatest. [applause] heres a look at some of this evenings programs schedule. Q a is next. Analyzing american president s through the lens of the books theyve written. Pat 9 35, prime ministers questions from the british house of commons. After that, president of candidate Michael Bloomberg addresses a Democratic Party gala in fehrman, the author of the new book aug author in chief. They publish lots of different logo books