Please welcome to thestage Michael Bennett. Hello, iowa. You are a Patient Group of people. I didnt know how patient. And i want to thank you for allowing all of us to impose on you. I want to particularly thank you for the kindness youve shown me and my family as we travel the state of iowa. And i want to thank my friend tom parton, my chairman was right here. Tom, thank you for your leadership and thank youfor your friendship. Ive been in the senate as condos for 10 years. Its hard for me to believe that its been a decade. We served on two committees together. But tonight i want to talk to you not as a senator but as the only superintendent of schools who has ever run for president of the United States. I worked for the kids in the Denver Public schools before i went to the senate. Its a School District got about 1 billion budget. For reference, thats about three times the size of a certain municipality in the state of indiana. Im just saying. It has 95,000 children in it. Most of whom live in poverty. Most of whom are kids of color. And if their parents were here tonight, what they would tell you is that they are killing themselves at work. And no matter what they do, they cant get their kids out of poverty. And it reminds me a lot of the town Hall Meetings ive had for the last 10 years in colorado and in iowa and in New Hampshire where people come and they say michael, we are working really hard but we cant afford housing. We cant afford healthcare, we cant afford higher education. We cant afford Early Childhood education and iowa, thats why im running for president to ensure opportunities that to American People. Thats what we have to do. When i was deciding to run for president , im not much of a celebrity as some other people and im not as wellknown but i went home to talk to my kids and my wife susan and i asked them what do you think, should i run for president read my 15yearold of course said yes the cause she saw it as a way ofkeeping me away from her and out of the house. I dont know whats going on there tonight. My 20yearold daughter said to me you should run, dad because if you run and you tell the truth, and you lose , no one can fault you for it. And i said thats good caroline because there is no other reason for me to run. But to tell the truth. And i dont think theres any other way for me to win. And so i was so happy about a month or two ago when i was able to take the headline of the Des Moines Register and show it to caroline. That headline on the editorial said Michael Bennett pounds truth into this campaign and iowa, thats what im trying to do becausethis time is too important its too important. And thats why i want to tell you tonight iowa, that our kids do not have the time for us to spend the next 10 years fighting a losing battle for medicare for all. And thats not because its a big idea. Thats because there are better ideas. And here are some. From the perspective of the kids that i used to work for. We could make sure that everybody in this country that works hard 40 hours a week can actually raise a family in this country because they are paid a decent wage. From the standpoint of the kids i used to work for inthe Denver Public schools, we could end childhood poverty in america area that would help. I have a plan. I have a plan with Sherrod Brown from ohio that would reverse the trunk tax cuts, reduce childhood poverty in one year by 40 percent and end to dollar a day poverty for kids living in iowa and in colorado and in america. For three percent of the cost medicare for all, we could cut childhood poverty by 40 percent. That sounds like a big idea to me. Iowa, heres another idea. Wecan make our schools engines of opportunity again in the United States of america. And we can do that not by promising free college by delivering free preschool to every kid in america who needs it and let me tell you something, that every kid in america. And what about the 70 percent of kids who graduate fromhigh school and dont go to college . We can fix high school so that when they leave they can earn a living wage, not just a minimum wage that would transform the lives of millions of americans in our economy. We could create universal healthcare in three years with a public option ive been fighting for since we passed the Affordable Care act. Its called medicare that would give everybody in the country the choice of a public option or private insurance if they want it, reduce health costs by getting drug costs downand we could do it as i said in three years. And we needto address Climate Change , iowa but its not enough to be urgent about it. Thats not enough. We need a solution that will last a generation and thats why you cant accept the politics in washington where Michael Bennett puts his climate plan in for two years and the climate deniers rip it out and then we put it in for two years and they rip it out. Thats how politics in washington works today. Thats not good enough forthe American People and trying isnt enough. Having good intentions is not enough. We have to win and we have to win again and again and again so our kids inherit a planet that can be sustained. And to do that, iowa, to do that we have to fix our broken politics. We have to take the money out of politics and put people back into politics. And im telling you, if you elect me president i will lead an effort in every one of the 50 statesto overturn Citizens United. It and it gave the nextgeneration of americans in our democracy which is what we need to do. This might sound really hard, but its no harder than any other americans have done. I tell kids when they come to washington dc they have a tendency to think, it was all just there. The capital was there, the white house was there, the Supreme Court was there. None of it was just there. 230 years ago it was just an idea. Thats all it was. And the founders of this country did two incredible things in their generation. They led a successful revolution against the colonial powers, that had never happened before. They wrote the constitution ratified by the people that would live under that constitution. That has never happened before. But they did something terrible as well. They perpetrated humanslavery and we will be with that for the rest of our days. Whats important to remember is that it took other americans to end slavery in this country. Frederick douglass, i tell them about him. Born a slave in the United States of america and because of his leadership and what he did, he saw human slavery and in this country in his generation. And you know what . I think that Frederick Douglass is as much a founder as the people who wrote the constitution. Thats what i believe. Thats what i believe, iowa and i believe the women that fought for my daughters to have the right to vote our founders just like the people who wrote the constitution. Thats what i believe, iowa. And thats what i think of all of you. Thats your job ascitizens in this republic. We are founders of the republic. It is that elevated sense of what your responsibility is and when you have a president who doesnt believe in the ruleof law , who doesnt believe in the separation of powers, who doesnt believe in the independence of the judiciary, doesnt believe in the freedom of the press, evendoes not believe in our democracy, you have a job to do. You may not have asked for it but you know what your job is, it is to save this democracy for the next generation of americans. That is what you are being asked to do, iowa. That is what you are being asked to do. And i know you wont shirt that responsibility. We cant and live up to the example that our parents and grandparents for us. Im not scared of donald trump, iowa and i dont think you are either. Ive already had the hardest job you can have in america being a School Superintendent other than being a schoolteacher and by the way, we should pay them what they deserve as professionals. But i know what to do with the schoolyard bullies like donald trump. And i need your help. I need your help iowa to help you. I need you to help put me in a position to be able to win this race because i know i have the experience and temperament and agenda to the donald trump. I know it is something that cindy and abby can run on. Im the only person in this race is 12 National Races in this swing state and i know how to do it. I know how to win colorado and iowa and maine and arizona to get at the majority in the senate and to get us the white house as well. But i cant do it without you. So im asking for your help tonight. If you want it, want a president who gives a damn about your kids, join my campaign. If you want somebody was going to fight for an economy that works forevery american , join my campaign. If you want somebody was going to fight for our democracy and to reestablish our alliances around the world, join my campaign. Iowa, if you want somebody who will tell you the truth even when its hard to do, join my campaign. I want to thank all of you again for the opportunity to be here tonight for the kindness that youve shown susan, caroline, alina and anne and we look forward to seeing you on caucus night because more surprising things have happened than this, iowa. I can assure you of that. Lets go do our work as founders. Thanks for having me today. Its great to see all of you. Thank you, iowa. [music] please welcome secretary julian castro. Please welcome secretary julian castro. [applause] [music] good evening, iowa. First of all, let me say a huge thank you to troy price and to all of the leadership of the Iowa Democratic party who your great congresswoman and congressman, to all of the local and state elected officials who are here and to all our great Iowa Democrats that are going to help win back the senate in 2020. Its great to be here in des moines with you. On january 20, 2021 at 12 0 1 pm where going to have a democratic president , a Democratic House and a democratic senate. So the question for us here tonight is what kind of america are we going to become . You see, there is going tobe like after donald trump. But what is that going to look like . What kind of america are we fighting for western mark the next president has the responsibility of trying to heal this nation, trying to bring together. I want to talk to you tonight about the americathat we can build in the years to come. I hope that you all have been tuning into this campaign, youve noticed that this campaign as march to the beat of its own drummer. Weve been a little bit different from all the other campaigns. We havent been the same. Weve been sneaking up on the most vulnerable folks in this country. People sleeping on the streets and in storm drainage tunnelsin las vegas. Folks who are the victims of police brutality. A woman named rs wayne and iowa who has lived in her trailer home for 40 years and got a notice a few months ago that her rent was going up more than 60 percent. Because some private equity Group Brought bought out the trailer park. Weve been fighting for those who are often left out, cast aside, marginalized because somewhere along the way, in our country we forgot to talk about the poor. To talk about the most vulnerable. We are great at talking about the middle class and we need to fight for the middle class and im fighting for the middle class that we also need to fight for the poor and those who have the least. Those who suffer the most. And thats what this campaign has been doing and thats not an accident. Like many of you, ive lived an American Dream story. I grew up with my mother and my grandmother and my brother on the west side of san antonio. My grandmother had come to the United States as an orphan when she was seven years old. She worked as a maid, and a babysitter whole lifebecause she never finished elementary school. She raised my mom is a single parent and my mom raised my brother and me as a single parent as well. My brother and i are proud products of the Public School of texas. And just to think that only two generations after my grandmother got here, like i did a lot of your relatives did, wherever they came from was hardly anything. One of her grandsons, my brother walking represents the 20th congressional district, the neighborhood that shemoved to in san antonio and the other one is here asking for your vote for president of the United States of america. That is what america has been , what it can be, but we have to be. Im running for president because i believe that every single american should have the opportunity to live out their dreams and i want to make sure that we build an america thats possible. That we fight for an america where your child can get a great education because we invest inuniversal 3k for three and fouryearolds. When i was mayor of san antonio, we took to the voters a Ballot Initiative to significantly expand highquality fall debris kfor fouryearolds and we got it done. I want to make sure that we approved k12 education by paying teachers what they deserve. Reducing class sizes and making sure that specialNeeds Children can get the education they needat their school , because too often the parents of special Needs Children feel like they have to be lawyers to argue with a bureaucracy that makes it hard for their child to get that education. And i want to ensure that every single american and get a good hire education with tuition free public state universities, Community Colleges and jobtraining and certification programs. The grandmother that i grew up with had type ii diabetes. And like a lot of diabetics, her condition got worse and worse until right before she passed away in early 1996, she had to have one of her feet amputated. Which is not uncommon for severe diabetics but that whole time my grandmother had medicare, ill want to strengthen medicare for the people on it and make sure that available to everysingle american who wants it. And that if somebody has a strong private Insurance Plan , that they should be able to hold onto that. That we can do both those things. We can also end the distinction between physical healthcare and Mental Health care and invest in Mental Health care. We should never allow the promise of big pharma or Insurance Company to determine who gets care or medication. Theres no reason that insulin cost 10 times as much in theUnited States as it does in canada. I want to make sure that in this country no matter who you are that your innocence until Proven Guilty because we reimagine our Justice System. We invest in public defenders. We reform our cash bail system. We legalize marijuana and invest in divergent programs to getmore of our young people out of the criminal Justice System in the first place. We work to ban the box and get people a Second Chance in life that theyve been incarcerated. We will work to make sure that we are a better nation, that you cant be discriminated against because of your Sexual Orientation for your gender identity. Im proud that when i work at Barack Obamas housing secretary with extended protections to the lgbt to community and housing. Iwant to make sure we have no secondclass citizens in the United States of america. And that women get equal pay for equal work. That we protect a womans right to get an abortion in this country as its under assault. And that no matter who you are, if you work hard in this country that you can prosper. We need a tax bill that rewards people who have to work for a living and not only amazon and big corporations and wealthy individuals, every american. I remember what it was like going up in a household where we worried about being able to pay the rent on the first of the month and had the electricity turned off sometimes. I remember watching as my mother lost her hair when she was about 38 years old and my brother and i were 11 and they didnt know what the reason was and finally the doctors told her it was stress. There are a lot of families out there stressed out right now and we need to make sure America Works for working families in the years ahead. That also means investing in affordable housing. It means unleashing a Clean Energy Economy by tackling Climate Crisis, seeing it not only as acrisis but also an opportunity to create great jobs. It also means harnessing the wonderful potential of immigrants in this country. I have a totallydifferent vision of immigration on this president. I believe that we dont have give into cruelty, that we can have Border Security but treat people with compassion and common sense and no more kids in cages, no more separating families. No more playing games with people seeking a better life. No more criminalizing desperation. We can have a different, positive, better vision, a more humane way of doing immigration. And you know, i dont want to make america anything again. I want to go backwards. I want to go forward. I want to make