00:00Make no mistake, the world is watching.
00:03I'll invite your attention to the press risers over there.
00:05Not in a creepy Donald Trump kind of way because we respect a free and independent press.
00:12We are all paying more at the pump and service members are paying with their lives because
00:18Donald Trump launched a war on Iran with no plan for how to get us out of it.
00:24Thank you for the huge showing tonight.
00:26Thank you for taking some time on a Friday evening to get fired up together for the work
00:32that we're going to be doing over the next 88 days.
00:38I want to acknowledge all of the great leaders who are with us, people who have stepped up
00:42at every level, people who will never make the mistake of treating the presidency like
00:48it's the only office that matters because we got some work to do right here closer to home.
00:55I'm thankful to be in the city led by Mayor Mary Sheffield, to be in the tradition of Senator
01:05Slotkin and Senator Peters in the state of Governor Gretchen Whitmer, that woman from Michigan who
01:11got a whole lot of people to see our state differently.
01:18And most of all, I'm excited to be here with you.
01:21Ever since moving to be closer to our family in Grand Traverse County, or as I've learned
01:26as a Michigander to put at the end of my ring finger right there, I have seen for myself how
01:33this state captures so many different dimensions of American life, from the auto towns that remind
01:39me of where I grew up, to the rolling hills and cherry orchards where we live now, to one of
01:45the
01:46world's great cities where we are gathered right now, Detroit, Michigan.
01:54So before I was your neighbor, you may have gotten to know me from something else,
01:58like maybe when I did what any successful second term mayor of the fourth largest city in Indiana
02:05would do and sought the presidency in 2020.
02:11Or maybe you know me from my unexpected specialty of appearing from time to time on Fox News.
02:20Or maybe you know me from when I had the honor of serving as your United States Secretary of Transportation.
02:30Making sure we got dollars on the ground to do things like build safer streets around Detroit,
02:37or reconnect communities around I-375, or deliver the strongest expansion of airline passenger rights ever.
02:47But right now I am here in one simple capacity, and that is as your fellow proud Michigan Democrat,
02:54working to make sure we have a great result this November.
03:02Now we have just 88 days to make sure that things go right.
03:07The stakes are high, and people from around the country, people from around the world,
03:12are watching the state of Michigan right now to see if we have the capability to put together that coalition
03:19to win.
03:28We're going to win because we know what it means to focus on what's at stake,
03:33to lock arms as allies after a spirited primary,
03:38to pull together in common cause in an election that's going to decide in no small part
03:42whether the American dream comes back and the American project endures.
03:48Make no mistake, the world is watching.
03:50I'll invite your attention to the press risers over there.
03:53Not in a creepy Donald Trump kind of way, because we respect a free and independent press.
04:03But rather to affirm what is at stake in the choices that our fellow Michiganders are going to make
04:09at the ballot box in just 88 days.
04:14We're going to win because we aren't just obsessed with what it is we are against.
04:18We know what it is we're actually for, and we're ready to invite people to join us
04:23in a powerful majority to make that real.
04:29We're going to win because we understand that the project at the moment is not to return
04:33to some previous status quo. It's to make sure that things are better,
04:37not just than they are today, but than they ever were before.
04:45I believe we have the values and the vision to do that.
04:48I believe we have the discipline to do that, and I believe we have the candidates to do that.
05:00To pull together Democrats, Independents, and a whole lot of what I always like to call
05:05future former Republicans into the fold with us.
05:13Now look, it's no secret that we all may not have voted the same way on Tuesday.
05:19That's okay. That's how it works. But however you voted in Tuesday's primaries,
05:26there is a reason you went out and voted in the first place.
05:29I know that what brought us all out to vote, what brings us all out here tonight,
05:34and what will propel us to victory in November is the fundamental values we care about,
05:40the principles that we share, and the need to elect leaders who will represent us,
05:45the chance to make everyday life better in this state and in this country.
05:55I want to be very clear about this. Wherever you sit in this big tent of ours, and it is
06:00a big tent,
06:01but whatever corner of that tent you think of as home, there is a set of things, and I mean
06:06big,
06:07big things, where we agree with each other, we agree with most Michiganders, and Washington
06:14and Lansing Republicans disagree with us. That's what's at stake right now. And it's not all about
06:20left, right, and center, Democrat, and Republican. For example, you don't have to be a lifelong
06:26Democrat to believe that one job ought to be enough in the American economy.
06:36You don't have to be a bleeding heart liberal to see that costs need to go down and wages need
06:42to go
06:42up, not the other way around. You don't have to belong to this political party or that political
06:52party to recognize that God does not belong to any political party in the United States of America.
07:02Or to insist that people of every faith and any faith, if any, all deserve equal treatment,
07:09respect, dignity, and safety in this country.
07:18There's some things that we can just see, we can see for ourselves, Democrats and Independents,
07:22and a lot of people who are used to voting Republic. And so many of those things are on the
07:27ballot
07:27this fall. War is on the ballot this fall. We are all paying more at the pump,
07:36and service members are paying with their lives because Donald Trump launched a war on Iran with
07:42no plan for how to get us out of it. And Congressman John James voted to send your money into
07:50that
07:50conflict, which tells you a lot about the kind of governor that he would be if he got elected.
07:58But Jocelyn Benson showed integrity under enormous pressure as Secretary of State,
08:03which shows you the kind of governor she'll be when we send her to that office in just a few
08:09weeks.
08:09We need to get Jocelyn Benson elected.
08:15Corruption and integrity are on the ballot this fall. A first family making crypto billions,
08:23which is not a sentence I ever thought I'd have to say.
08:27Members of Congress trading stocks, politicians enriching themselves on the job. It does not have
08:33to be this way. Which is why we need to make sure we follow our great Attorney General, Dana Nessel,
08:40with a proven fighter like Elie Savitt who understands how to take on corruption.
08:49And with our political system under the pressure that it's under, we need a proven
08:54statewide leader of integrity to be our next Secretary of State following Jocelyn Benson.
09:00And that is somebody who doesn't just stand tall, he thinks big. And that is Garland Gilchrist.
09:12Common sense is on the ballot this fall. We need to keep investing in infrastructure.
09:19We need to support schools. We need to protect clean air and clean water. And we have a clear choice
09:24difference between those priorities in Lansing and the endless culture wars that seem to consume
09:30the consciousness of state legislative Republicans. Only one set of candidates is in line with the
09:36priorities of Michiganders, which is why we must preserve the state Senate majority and bring that
09:42House into Democratic hands so that Governor Benson can work with that trifecta.
09:52And when it comes to the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate, the choice could not be clearer.
09:58When it comes to the U.S. Senate, we have Abdul El-Sayed who insists that money and politics has
10:04gone too far.
10:11And we have him running against Mike Rogers who insists on being part of the problem.
10:19We have one candidate in Abdul El-Sayed who wants to expand affordable health care and keep more money in
10:25your pocket.
10:28And we have another candidate, Mike Rogers, who literally voted against the Affordable Care Act,
10:34and you better believe he will cut health care one more time if you give him a chance in the
10:38United
10:39Senate. So we will not let that happen. Mike Rogers has disqualified himself from going back to Washington.
10:47You got Mike Rogers and John James and congressional Republicans on the ballot right now in all of these
10:53key House districts who think it's perfectly fine to cut schools and close hospitals and shut down road
11:02projects. All in order to be able to make sure that the richest individuals and the largest corporations
11:08in the land pay a lower tax rate than the teachers who teach in those schools, the workers who pave
11:14those
11:14roads, and the nurses who serve in those hospitals. We know that we can do better than that.
11:25We know that investing in health care and funding not slashing SNAP and supporting not gutting Head Start
11:32and making sure that the best and wealthiest economy in the United States actually has the best funded public
11:39schools in the United States. We know the leaders who will do that.
11:49The American people are with us. The people of Michigan are with us. And we are with each other on
11:53issue
11:54after issue after issue. You are either for or against a woman's right to choose. And we know what side
12:02we are on in the state of Michigan and in this party.
12:08You are either for or against the right to be who you are and love who you love without somebody
12:14telling you
12:14what you're supposed to do. And most people are with us on that.
12:22And I would just add that we are a practical people in this part of the country. We pay attention
12:27above all to results.
12:29So today we woke up to news that the US economy is losing jobs. Remember when they promised that those
12:35tax cuts
12:35for the wealthy were worth it because they would speed up the economy? The opposite happened.
12:40Remember when they told us we had to pay those tariffs that cost us a thousand bucks a household
12:46because it would bring back manufacturing? The opposite is happening. Just like when they told
12:51us they would drain the swamp only for the swamp to be the swampiest it has ever been. And the
12:57only thing
12:57they drained was the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. We can do better than that,
13:03Michigan Democrats.
13:08And there's a lot of folks asking questions, people who did not vote the way we would have
13:13liked them to vote the last few times. People who actually believed it when they heard no new wars,
13:18who believed it when they were told that costs were going to come down. And the time has come to
13:22reach
13:23out to them. And we are not there to say, we told you so. We are there to say, those
13:27guys don't
13:28deserve you. Join us and together, let's do something better.
13:37No two people in a party or a country or a county or a family agree on absolutely everything, but
13:45on
13:45every one of those big issues. Democrats agree on what we ought to do. Most Michiganders agree on what we
13:50ought to do and we got a chance to do something about it so we know what we've got to
13:54do these
13:55next 88 days and that's get the word out to everybody who will listen.
14:02And based on the energy in this room, I think we're going to do just fine in November.
14:07But we got to keep doing the work. Now as soon as we're done here, I'm going to head right
14:11back
14:11up north so that I can be there for the birthday party we're throwing for our twins tomorrow morning
14:16back home. Thank you.
14:27They're about to be five.
14:31Which means if you've ever had kids that age, they're starting to ask a lot of questions.
14:35Some are easier than others. Is a pineapple bigger than a grapefruit?
14:42What happened to our old dog?
14:45Is Taylor Swift real?
14:50Do the good guys always win?
14:53Even at this age, I'm starting to find it challenging to answer some of the questions
14:59that come my way. They're starting to ask Chaston and me about the American flag.
15:04Why we don't have kings and queens where we live.
15:07You're asking some pretty pointed questions about why I keep going to the airport every few days.
15:11But this right here is why. I'm on the road for the same reason that you're working so hard for
15:17this election because one day those questions are going to get even more intense.
15:21They're going to be saying, hey, Papa, back in the 2020s,
15:26what were you doing? When things were so crazy in this country, what did you do about it?
15:33And I want to be able to tell them that back then, back in the 2020s, back when politicians
15:39drew maps where they could pick their own voters instead of the other way around.
15:43Back when one job was not enough for so many hardworking Americans.
15:48Back when some people barbarically had to choose between health care and a mortgage payment.
15:54Back in the 2020s, when the American dream was slipping away,
15:58we decided to turn things around before it was too late.
16:06When we stopped pretending things that could go on like that would go on forever,
16:10and we made sure something better took their place. And I'm going to tell them about the work
16:15we did right here in Michigan in the general election of 2026.
16:21So my only question is, are you ready to make sure that that's the story we get to tell our
16:26kids one day?
16:28Are you ready to call people into our coalition while there's still a chance?
16:32Are you ready to do the work? Knock on doors, pick up the phone and call for something better?
16:40Then we will be proud of this moment because of what we were about to do next.
16:44Thank you so much for showing up, Michigan. Let's get to work and let's get this done.
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