Democrats. Im not here to make an an endorsement but im here to welcome you. I bet i know the reason youre here. And that reason is, you want to make ail change in the way our state and our government in washington is being run. So, absolutely. Whats the best way to do that . S get involved. You can get involved with the Johnson County democrats, and what you do is go to jcdems. Org, thats jcdems. Org, get out your phones right now, head there and sign up for our weekly email. And on that email theres a newsletter. Its going to give you the latest of the important political events going on in ou area as well as you can have details about the caucuses, where youre going to caucus, e information, about training stt online and also in person. So, please go to that site. Suppr join the Johnson County democrats and help us take back the state, the country and support our local democrats. Thank you. Next, please join me in welcoming state senator joe bolkum to the stage. [ applause ] goods afternoon, iowa city. Happy holidays. Im state senator joe bolkcom. Thank you for coming to see afr Elizabeth Warren this afternoono if youre alreadylida a committ warren thank supporter, thank yf your support. Te we havern aoure al lot of workn the next 63 days. Ort, tha if you are still undecided about who youre going to support in the iowa caucus, thank you for taking time to come here, senator warren, share her vision for the country. The 2020 election is about thre things. Stopping the crazy. [ applause ] thats right. Thats right. Breaking the grip of corporate special interests on our democracy. [ applause ] and bringing positive improvements to the american amr people. [ applause ]e ited to im here today because i enthusiastically support Elizabeth Warren for president because she can win and she is best suited to transform our politics once she is in office. [ applause ] she has she has the he experience, the energy and the guts to take on powerful and special interests in washington to solve the daunting problems facing the American People and our planet. The 2016 election was a loud wakeup call, driven by profound unhappiness with business as usual, powerful special interest politics. People are tired of this corruption. Americans want our political leaders to Work Together to solve their problems. That is really what this election is about. Will we have a government of, by and for the people again. We all want a more hopeful unified country. The best way to unify the country is for our leaders and n our government to actually solvt problems facing our families ana improve their everyday lives. That is why we will unify mp thats what will unify us, solving problems that improve peoples lives. Sounds simple. Its not. Sident n powerful special interests are standing in the way. Powerful special interests that like things just the way they nh are. Our next president needs to have the guts to take on these powerful interests. G. Elizabeth warren has a proven ab record of takingri on washingto special interests and winning. Thats what will actually bring people together. Winning for the American People. I have heard from some of my friends that say, we need a moderate approach if werere gog to beat trump. Rump now, i appreciate that viewpoint. I understand that people have ua had it with the chaos, the corruption and the noise of the trump presidency. Ld today they just want calm and stability. Unfortunately, the world today is anything but calm or stable. E we face complex issues here at i homest and around the globe. What wewe need is a steady, lear thoughtful, smart leader that is going to set high but realistic and achievable goals. Affordab we need a leader who is going to tackle income inequality, Climate Change, College Affordability and our broken Health Care System head on. [ applause ] Elizabeth Warren is going to t challenge us to be the best we can be. That is what great leaders do. Did anyone see the hawks beat nebraska on friday . Wn to go hawks well, it came down to a 48yard field goal with one second left on the clock. The coach didnt tell the kicker, keith duncan, to get in there and get it close. Make the give it a good kick. No, the coach and the team wanted to win the game. Make the field goal, expect results, get results. That is what we need in our next president. Someone who will challenge us to be the best, someone that will expect and get results for the American People. Elizabeth warren is that leaderi as ive watched the Iowa Caucuses unfold over the last several months, ive seen elizabeth organize a Grassroots Campaign rooted in big ideas and persontoperson connections. Shes campaigning in small towns, Rural Communities and big cities across our country. He the time she spends listening and learning about the lives oft Everyday Americans makes her a better candidate and will make her a great president. Shes proving she knows how to r win. She will campaign hard in every state. She will stand tough against trump, she can beat donald trump. [ applause ] ive been doing politics for almost 30 years. Andida long time. Ive seen thank you for your support. Wouldnt be here without you. Ive seen a lot of candidates and a lot of politicians. The best ones have always set the bar high and encouraged us to be our best. Ca [ applause ] ive also worked on many, many tough issues. Health care, Climate Change, tics predatory has ms. Lending, tax i. Old school, business as usual h politicste hasnt fixed these problems. Only a courageous, relentless ve fighter like Elizabeth Warren will. [ applause ] finally, a powerful woman president is our best hope for the positive change we need right now. [ applause ] please join me in caucus for Elizabeth Warren on february 3rd. Thank you very much. Hello, everybody. Hi. So, my name is paige. Im a field organizer here. I use they them pronouns. And before i give a little speech, some of you were some of you wanted to ask questions and so what were going to do, im going to draw five tickets. Everyone get your tickets out. Im going to read the last four digits. And that is how we will do it. Youre going to go up to stockton over here. Shes lovely. Shes holding up the sign. Yeah, okay. So, the first number is oops. All right. We got two. 1019. Youll yell persist if its you. Persist. Second number is second number is 1020. Persist. Amazing. Ne is yeah, i think im going to shuffle them a little more. Were good. The next one is 1069. 1069, anyone. Okay. Cool. So that one. The next one is 1079. We have 1079. Is 1079 . That her . 1069, and do we have 1079 here and 1069 . No. Okay. Cool. And then we have 1008. Anyone . 24. Okay. So we are missing two. Cool. So then we are doing to do 1024. Yes and then the last one for this round is 1016. Yeah. Amazing. So my name is paige, again, and i use they them pronouns and im an organizer on the north east side of iowa city. I figured since we are on the ra collegern campus,in i would telu a little bit about my experience in college. So, there are going to be trigger warnings in here for gun violence and Sexual Assault just for your awareness. Nd ii went to a Small College in hl pennsylvanial, called muhlenber and my time there was bookended by protests. On my first night of subdued cab sleepless night on campus was by campus violence when the killing in ferguson happened. And en throughout the year as we elevated the voice of black and brown students and faculty the black lives Matter Movement emerged into the national spotlight. Fast forward three years n. 2017, i remember scrolling ook through facebook oneme day and seeing the words me too scrolled like happybirthday posts, and i cant remember how long it tookb me, but i said it, me too. Fast forward again to valentines day. We got word of another shooting at yet another high school and u we saw thepl news clips of the incredible kids calling out the elected officials for action anh sharing the stories. Fast forward another couple of months. Two months out of college and working in cedar rapids to elect fred hubbel in iowa. I wake up one day to a massive kidney stone and lose 12 of myf body mass and got saddled with 7,200 7,200 in medical bills a i not had insurance i would have owed upwards to 42,000. Yeah. Everyones decision to get hting involved in politics or movemen comes from a deeply personal place. I was not going to do another campaign and then Elizabeth Warren who has been fighting for medicare for all jumped into the president ial race. I could not say no to this queen. Come on. I joined this campaign for my friends who have to work three jobs to get the food on the table and pay the rent and hopefully have money left over for their medication. I joined this medication, because when ijoined started co my tuition was 42,000 and when i graduated it was 66,000. I joined this campaign because. As a survivor of the childhood Sexual Assault, i cannot stand by with someone accused of Sexual Assault in the white house. As a binary person, i am tired of my rights being revoked. The number one cause of black men aging 18 to 35 in this country is gun violence. Iiar joined this campaign, beca if being a Student Activist hast taught me anything, it has taught me that the best leaders are the ones who are listening toh warr the ones affected moste issues and give credit where credit is due and get from point a to z. She turn and Elizabeth Warren is that anh more. The she does notlgbt rely on the fa policy writers, and she turned to the elect q staff and asked and she never shies away from anything. For promise plan everything. This is a a pmovement, and wel electis Elizabeth Warren as the next president of the United States, and we need your help ty do it. This is a movement and there is a place for you. There is too much at stake for e anybody to be sitting on the sidelines with 63 days to the caucus. Find a place to fight along our sides to elect the first female president of the United States. Thank you. A lot of people here, whoa. So, hello. My name is caesar perez and im a student here at the university of iowa. Fore i e go hawks, right. So before i start to begin to oi tell you why i support Elizabeth Warren and why she gives me hope, i wanted to start by telling you guys who i am, and how did i get to this point in my life. Served as a mexican firstgeneration student i always saw college wao something reserved exclusively for my wealthy peers. Growing up, it was a struggle to keep up with my grades and for r long time college did not seem m like an optionen for me. Both of my parents came from a mexico and never attended college. So it was bec neverause mention home. But, dont take this as a sob story, because, i dont really take it as a sob story, and i am actually proud of where i came from and how i am getting theren [ applause ]ublish so, my future was not always ced bright. I was not always hopeful about. Anything, and honest i will, i did not think that i would accomplish anything. So whento m iak got accepted to university of iowa, i knew it tk was a turning point for me, and i seized it. This was my chance to make a difference in the world, and it morest importantly to make my m proud of me. To be completely honest, it wasu hard when i started and it is g0 still hard right now and hard when the exams are hard and it is hard for studying until 4 00u a. M. T, is hard. Like me, and also balancing 30 things on your plate is pretty hard. But it is also hard, because fou lower income students like me, every day can feel like a struggle just to afford tuition. Like so many others, i took out the loans to afford iowa, but in doing so, i did not know what i was getting myself into. Re all right now like many students in the United States, i am thousands in debt. This is definitely a struggle. I stress about my future all ofn the time and how i o am going t pay for it. College wasnt made for me to succeed, and especially as the o son of two immigrants, but i know that i will continue to it work hardhe and i will continueo have hope. I want every person to have thet opportunity to go to scollege. If they want to or not, and note have toir worry about this. No one should be defined on the past struggles, and everyone de should have anbu opportunity to live out their dreams, and this is why i supported Elizabeth Che warren. Elizabeth has a plan not to just cancel the student loan death, h but to makeousa tuitionfree college. This is what big structural change s and her plan is going to c eraseolle every cent of my thousands of dollars in debt. It will help people so many like me to be successful in college, but not even just in college, but in life. He think about it. Ition. Elizabeth warren is giving every american the opportunity to ing. Attend a two year or Fouryear College without paying a dime. This is amazing and transformational for our that generation andis economy and country. So, something that i really did learn about this all of my life experience, and all of that is my Life Experiences have not been easy, but you cant choos your life. My you can only choose how you respondnd to it. Ly continue i will continue hard for me, my parents and my friends and Elizabeth Warren has given me inspiration. She wants to fight for me and the ones i love. So please, help me in welcoming the next president of the United StatesElizabeth Warren. Working 9to5 what a way to make a living what a way to get by it is all taking and no giving they just use your mind andner give you credit it is enough to drive you crazy if youu let it working nine to five for service and devotion hello, iowa city. Woo. And great job,good caesar. That is fabulous. What lets give ceasar a hand. Way to go. Good to see you all here. And gosh, it is good to be here. I just want you all to know that it is good to be back in iowa city. This time i brought family. I brought my son alex. Where are you, al . In iohere. Wa okay. The guy in the blue shirt. All right. Now, actually, you were with me when were were here before in iowa city and you had on a blueg shirt. And i told everybody in the crowd alex has been my tech support since second grade. True story. And he now runs his own business, small business, and he has picked up a new sideline support your mother when she to runs for president of the United States. Way to go, al. I thought that what we would try to do today is to kind of have a real short version of who i am and why i am in this fight. And then we will just take as many questions as we can get in. So let me start this by saying that i was born and raised in oklahoma. One. Whoa wayi ha much ol to go. Not that many of us, and we have to stick the ftogether. Born and raised in oklahoma. I have three much older brothers. I am the baby in the family. Ed im what used to be called the late in life baby. Col myle mother always just called the surprise. My three older brothers in om oklahoma now all live, there and they are collectively referred to as the boys. Even today. That is to distinguish them from the surprise. Growing up, our daddy had a lot of different jobs, and he sold paint and hardware and fencing. S and all threeer of my brothers went off and joined the military, and it is their path to the middleclass and their chance to serve america. Me i had a different dream, and i have known what i wanted to be since second grade. You laugh. You did not decide until like fourth or fifth grade, and i can tell there in the back. Okay. So i knew what i wanted it to be since the second grade and i have never wavered for it, and i wanted to be a Public Schoolteacher. And can we hear it for americas Public Schoolteachers. Yes, yes. Oh, man. Uld li this is what i wanted. I want you to know that i invested early, and i used to line my dollies up and teach e r school. I had aom reputation for being tough but fair. I loved it. By the time i graduated from high school though, my family si did not have money for the collegee application, and much less to send me off to four years of university. So like a lot of americans, i r dont haveto a Straight Path story, and i have a lot of twists and turns in my story and here is how it goes. I was a high school debater and i got the College Scholarship and so go, debaters. At 19, i fell in love and got married and dropped out of ost school. Woohoo. Now, look,t th itat w is what ig good life. But i thought that id lost the dream. I thought that, that is it. I will never get to teach. We are living down in houston, and then iaw found it. A commuter college 45 minutes away that cost 50 a semester. And for a price i could pay forv on a parttime waitressing job, i finished my fouryear diploma and i became a special education teacher. I haven now, got lived my dreae there it is. Now, have we got any teachers in here or teachers to be . Woo good, good. All right. Good. I am this going to need you too me up on this. It is not a job. It is a calling. I love this work. I had 4 to 6yearolds in special ed, and i loved them. I loved my babies, and the truth is i probably would still be doing that work today, but moret twists and turns in the story. By the end of the first year, i was visibly pregnant, and the principal did what principals did in those days, wished me luck and hired someone else for the job. Yeah. So, here i am. Im at home with a baby. I cant get a job. I have to do something. What am i going to d