Elizabeth Warren Delivers Remarks on New Hampshire Primary Night
Manchester, NH - Elizabeth Warren delivered remarks on the night of the New Hampshire FITN primary.
Her remarks are below as prepared for delivery:
Hello New Hampshire!
Results are still coming in from across the state, but right now it is clear that Senator Sanders and Mayor Buttigieg had strong nights. And I also want to congratulate my friend and colleague Amy Klobuchar for showing just how wrong the pundits can be when they count a woman out.
But since we’re here tonight among family and friends, I also want us to be honest with ourselves as Democrats: we might be headed for another one of those long primary fights that lasts for months. We’re two states in, with 55 states and territories to go. We still have 98% of the delegates for our nomination up for grabs, and Americans in every part of our country are going to make their voices heard.
The question for us, Democrats, is whether it will be a long, bitter rehash of the same old divides in our party, or whether we can find another way.
Senator Sanders and Mayor Buttigieg are both great people and either of them would be a far better president than Donald Trump. I respect them both.
But the fight between factions in our party has taken a sharp turn in recent weeks, with ads mocking other candidates and with supporters of some candidates shouting curses about other Democratic candidates.
These harsh tactics might work if you’re willing to burn down the rest of the party in order to be the last man standing. They might work if you don’t worry about leaving our party and our politics worse off than how you found it. They might work if you think only you have all the answers and only you are the solution to all our problems.
But if we’re going to beat Donald Trump in November, we are going to need huge turnout within our party, and to get that turnout, we will need a nominee that the broadest coalition of our party feels they can get behind. We can’t afford to fall into factions. We can’t afford to squander our collective power. We will win when we come together.
Reverend Jesse Jackson once said: It takes two wings to fly. And I think he’s right. Our campaign is best positioned to beat Donald Trump in November -- because we can unite our party.
We can unite this party and this country by mobilizing people behind ideas that are not only popular with huge majorities of the American people -- but that also accomplish structural change for our broken government and our rigged economy. We can unite people around a wealth tax on the very richest Americans so we can invest in education for all our children.
And we can unite people around ending corruption in Washington. Ending the corruption that has meant stagnant wages, rising costs, and a tighter and tighter squeeze on the middle class. Ending the corruption that leaves more and more working families with less and less hope for a better future -- and that has crushed people of color even harder. Ending the corruption that has shortchanged our kids, our schools, and the very survival of this planet they will inherit.
Families in America today are running out of time. We have faced decades of shrinking opportunity, decades of rising inequality, decades of a widening racial wealth gap.
Big business has captured and used government to serve its own interests at the expense of smaller businesses and at the expense of the American people. I believe in markets, but markets without rules are theft. Markets without rules perpetuate racial discrimination. And for too long, the rules have been rigged against people who just want a level playing field2020 is our time to change who makes the rules.
It was never my plan to run for any office of any kind. But I have been in this fight -- the fight for working families -- for decades. I fought the credit card companies as they tried to trick and trap consumers. I fought our own banking regulators to hold them accountable during the financial crash. I fought to build a new federal agency to protect consumers from predatory financial institutions. I got in this fight -- I ran for office because I saw families were being squeezed harder than ever, and too many politicians not getting enough done. I’m here to get big things done.
Because that’s the thing about politicians: whether they’re offering vague platitudes or powerful rhetoric, they will ultimately face the same test: actually getting anything done in a Washington that is badly broken.
Americans from all political backgrounds don’t need a bunch of flowery words. They know deep down in their bones exactly why government doesn’t work for them: it’s corruption, and we need to call it out for what it is.
The corruption that gives lobbyists a louder voice than voters. The corruption that lets big companies pay nothing in taxes while small businesses pay full freight. The corruption that ensures that nothing ever changes on gun violence or climate policy or drug prices -- even though nearly everyone in America wants change.
And let’s be specific here: on a day when career prosecutors showed more backbone than almost every Republican Senator in standing up to this President, Americans of all political stripes are gravely concerned about the corruption of a Trump Justice Department that abandons the rule of law to give sweetheart deals to criminals who commit their crimes on behalf of Donald Trump. Yes Roger Stone, I’m looking at you.
So tonight I have a message for our party and for this nation: Our best chance of beating Donald Trump is with a candidate who can do the work -- I mean the hard, disciplined work. A candidate who can build a campaign to unite our party. And a candidate who can build a movement that is ready to take on corruption in Washington and win.
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And the only way we can take on the corruption in Washington is if we’re not beholden to it. Let’s just check the facts. Amy and I are the only candidates in this race who are not billionaires or supported by Super PACs. And, unlike other candidates, I don’t fund my campaign by spending time behind closed doors sucking up to wealthy donors.
Our movement is powered by you -- it’s powered by the people.
And over the past year I’ve had the chance to shake hands or hug way over 100,000 people in more than 220 town halls in 29 states and Puerto Rico. Sure, there are lots of differences among us.
We come from different backgrounds. Different religions, languages, experiences. We have different dreams and different aspirations. We feel the urgency of this moment in different ways.
But, with all of those glorious differences, for the most part, we want the same things.
We want an America where decisions in Washington aren’t bought and paid for by lobbyists and big donors. We want an America where every person has a voice in our democracy.
An America where fossil fuel companies don’t have a vise grip on our planet, An America where we can breathe the air and drink the water.
An America where every child can dream big and actually have a chance to make it. Because no matter the color of your skin, who you love, how you worship, or what zip code you live in, you deserve an America where you are safe and your opportunities are as good as anyone’s.
I can see that America. That America is within our reach. And if you can imagine that America, if you think it’s worth fighting for, then join us. Go to Elizabeth Warren DOT COM right now. Pitch in a few bucks, sign up to volunteer, get involved with our campaign. This moment will not come our way again.
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Tonight I want to say thank you -- thank you to every volunteer, every organizer, every door knocker, every phone banker, every five-dollar donor.
Thank you for helping to build a movement to take back our democracy and rebuild it from the grassroots up.
And while I’m thanking everyone. I want to take a moment to thank my sweetie, Bruce. I also want to thank the good boy who posed for one selfie after another -- our Bailey.
This fight we’re in -- the fight to save our democracy -- is an uphill battle. But our campaign is built for the long haul. And we are just getting started.
I’m grateful down to my toes for what our campaign has been able to accomplish so far.
My plans for this country have been influenced by letters pressed into my palm by little girls.
My will to fight has been strengthened by the people who have whispered their dreams into my ear.
My determination to lead a movement has been forged by the tens of thousands of people who have said they are ready to fight for the America they know we can be.
Because if we have the hope that comes with dreaming big, if we have the courage to fight hard, we are going to win!
Thank you.
