Speaker 1 (00:00):
… Back to our state. Having Kamala back in the state again makes it clear that this campaign knows that the path to the presidency and to control of the United States Senate runs directly through our state because we are the battleground state in this election. Wisconsin will decide who our next president is, and Wisconsin will decide which party controls the United States Senate. No pressure. No pressure.
(00:45)
Speaking of that US Senate seat, I'm being challenged by a self-funding multimillionaire by the name of Eric Hovde. Just let me tell you a little bit about Eric Hovde. He owns a $3 billion California bank and he owns a $7 million ocean view, Laguna Beach, California home, and he has been named among the more influential residents of Orange County three years in a row.
(01:19)
Now Wisconsin, we have a Green County, we have a Brown County. We do not have an Orange County, Wisconsin. You may laugh, but the stakes of this race are incredibly high. Eric Hovde celebrated when Roe was overturned. He said that he was 100% anti-choice. Meanwhile, I'm leading the efforts to restore reproductive freedoms with my Women's Health Protection Act. I want women, not politicians, to decide their own healthcare.
(02:16)
On the topic of healthcare, Eric Hovde wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act and kick millions off of their health insurance. Just a little bragging here, but I actually wrote the provision in the Affordable Care Act that allows young people to stay on their parents' health insurance until they turn 26. If you're on your parents' health insurance, I made that possible. I will always fight to protect our healthcare.
(02:54)
On the economy. Eric Hovde is running on something we're calling the Hovde Plan. His plan cuts social security by 28%. That would mean the average retirees would be docked about $6,000 per year. Why? So he can give a $4 trillion new tax cut to big corporations and multi-millionaires like himself. With Eric Hovde, it's more than that. He has insulted just about every one of us. He has insulted farmers, single moms, kids of single moms, the LGBTQ community, seniors in nursing homes, young people, immigrants in our state, people struggling with their weight, you name it. It seems to me that if you're not a rich guy like him, he doesn't think much of you. It's clear that he has spent much more time on his private beach in California than on a factory floor or family farm here in Wisconsin.
(04:05)
I think here in Wisconsin, we deserve a senator who understands us, who fights for us, who likes us, not one who insults us. The stakes could not be higher for our reproductive freedoms, for our healthcare, for our economy. We have the choice to embrace our state motto, which is, "Forward," or let Eric Hovde take us backwards. You know what? We're not going back.
Crowd (04:52):
We're not going back home. We're not going back. We're not going back. We're not going back.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
It is amazing to see all of you here. This is so exciting to be in Wisconsin with all of you and of course, our special guests. With the energy that we have in this room, with this crowd, I know you could say it with me, that together we will fight, and together we will win.
Crowd (05:19):
We will win.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
(music)
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Please welcome Jennifer Neary.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
(music)
Jennifer Neary (07:58):
Hello everybody. My name is Jennifer Neary and I am a mom from Oshkosh. It is such an honor to be here to welcome Vice President Kamala Harris to our community.
(08:14)
On November 8th, 2016, the night Donald Trump was elected president, I was in Children's Hospital with my son, Kasmir. He was 17, and he had recently been diagnosed with a type of cancer called non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He was going through his third round of chemotherapy.
(08:45)
Before that night it didn't cross my mind that Donald Trump could win that election, but as I sat there at Kasmir's bedside, watching the returns come in on the TV, it felt like the floor had dropped out underneath me. Our country would now be in the hands of this man who campaigned entirely promising to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare as we may know it, something millions of Americans, including my son, really, really desperately needed.
(09:26)
Well, today, Donald Trump is making it clear that a second term would be even worse for families like mine who rely on the ACA. His extreme Project 2025 agenda would take us back to a time when Americans could be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions or disabilities. Worst of all, he doesn't even know how he's going to do it. Declaring he has concepts of a plan. Well, America needs more than a concept, and Kamala
Jennifer Neary (10:00):
Kamala Harris has a plan. When elected, Kamala Harris will protect the ACA, ensuring that every American, regardless of pre-existing condition or employment status, will keep their life-saving insurance. Since being elected Vice President, Kamala Harris has strengthened the ACA. She negotiated with big drug companies to cap out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs for those seniors on Medicare. And she won't stop there as president. This election is a choice between two very different visions for the future, and I am so proud to introduce a champion for all Americans, our next President of the United States, Kamala Harris.
Kamala Harris (12:06):
We're here for Jennifer. Thank you. It's good to be back in Wisconsin. Hi, everyone. Hi, everyone. Jennifer, I want to thank you. Jennifer and I had a time to visit backstage and we first met in 2020 on a Zoom talking about the Affordable Care Act. And your son is doing well now. You are an incredible leader and I thank you. Cheer for Jennifer, please. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. All right, Wisconsin, are we ready to do this? Are we ready to vote? Are we ready to win? Oh, it's good to be back and I want to thank all the leaders, everyone, and thank you for taking the time out of your busy lives to be here this afternoon. We are all here because we care and we know that this is about community and all of us being here together at one time. And I thank you all and I want to thank my dear friend, Tammy Baldwin.
(13:25)
Send her back to the United States Senate. Lieutenant Governor Rodriguez, County Executive Nelson, and the chair of our Democratic Party, Ben Wikler. All right, we have work to do. Okay, Wisconsin four days left in probably one of if not the most consequential elections of our lifetime. And we have work to do still. We have a lot of work to do, but we like hard work. Hard work is good work. Hard work is joyful work. And make no mistake, we will win. We'll win. We'll win. We'll win. And one of the reasons, yes… We will win. And we will win, and we will win because we are the type of people who we know when you know what to stand for, you know what to fight for, you know what to fight for.
(14:42)
And in this election we have an opportunity to finally turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump trying to keep us divided and afraid of each other. We're done with that. We're done. We're exhausted with that and we know that's who he is. But Wisconsin, that's not who we are. That's not who we are. That's not who we are. And it is time for a new generation of leadership in America. And I am ready to offer that leadership as the next President of the United States of America. And Wisconsin, you know me, I'm not afraid of tough fights.
(15:40)
For decades… Clearly. For decades, I was a prosecutor and the top law enforcement officer of the biggest state. And I won fights against the big banks who ripped off homeowners, against for-profit colleges that scammed veterans and students, against predators who abused women and children, against cartels that trafficked in guns and drugs and human beings. And I pledge to you, if you give me the chance to fight on your behalf as president, there is nothing in the world that will stand in my way. And on the other side, we know who Donald Trump is. Now this is not someone who is thinking about how to make your life better. He is someone who is increasingly unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance, and the man is out for unchecked power. He's out for unchecked power.
(16:55)
And in less than 90 days… You can picture the Oval Office. In less than 90 days, it's either going to be him or me sitting in the Oval Office… With your help. Okay. But let's help the friends and family and neighbors who are not here right now. Imagine that for a minute, right? January 20th, Oval Office. It's either going to be him sitting in there, pouring over and stewing over his enemies list. Or when I am elected, it will be me walking in there on your behalf, working on my to-do list because we got work to do, because we have work to do. And at the top of my list is bringing down the cost of living for you. That will be my focus every single day as president, including I will give a middle class tax cut to over a hundred million Americans.
(18:18)
We'll enact the first ever federal ban on corporate price gouging on groceries and fight to make sure that hardworking Americans can actually afford a place to live. And one of the things that we were talking about backstage is about the importance of people being able to care for their family members and including and in particular their elder family members. And some of you may know, and this is personal for me, as are so many of these issues, I took care of my mother when she was sick and I know what it is in terms of taking care of someone and just trying to cook the things that they feel like eating, just trying to help them put on a sweater, trying to think from time to time, "What can I do to put a smile on their face to make them laugh?"
(19:22)
It is important work, and it is work that is about dignity. It's about dignity. And if you are caring then for an elderly parent or relative, my plan is to cover the cost of home care under Medicare so you don't have to worry about either spending down whatever savings you have to qualify for Medicaid or quitting your job and cutting off a source of income to be able to stay at home. In particular, if you're in the sandwich generation,
Kamala Harris (20:01):
… [inaudible 00:20:01], meaning that you are taking care of your kids while you are taking care of a parent. It's about dignity. And my plan will also lower the cost of child care. Again, about dignity. About dignity.
(20:20)
My plan is to prioritize cutting taxes for small businesses. Do we have small business owners here? I love our small businesses. You are part of the backbone of America's economy. And that's the work we will do. We do the work of lowering healthcare costs because I believe, I believe so deeply and strongly, access to healthcare should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it. It's about values. It's about values. On the other hand, Donald Trump's answer to the financial pressures you face are the same as they were last time. Another trillion dollars in tax cuts for billionaires and the biggest corporations. And this time, he will pay for it with a 20% national sales tax on everything that you buy that is imported, clothes, food, Toys, Cellphones. A Trump sales tax that would cost the average American family, economists have measured it, more than $4,000 a year that you are not paying you would have to pay because of that tax.
(21:41)
And on top of that, as we have discussed, he still wants to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, which would throw millions of people, millions of Americans off of their health insurance. And take us back to the time when insurance companies could deny people with pre-existing conditions. You remember what that was? Well, you are correct. We are not going back. We are not going back.
Audience (22:04):
We're not going back. We're not going back. We're not going back.
Kamala Harris (22:04):
We're not going back.
Audience (22:04):
We're not going back.
Kamala Harris (22:17):
And we are not going back because just like Wisconsin state motto tells us, we will move forward. We will move forward. You guys know that best. So ours, ours is a fight for the future, and it is a fight for freedom. Like the fundamental freedom of a woman to be able to make decisions about her own body, and not have her government tell her what to do. And we remember how we got here. Donald Trump, when he was president, hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe, V. Wade. They did as he intended. And now, over 20 states have a Trump abortion ban. Imagine in America today, one in three women lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban. Many with no exceptions, even for rape and incest, which is immoral.
(23:31)
And Donald Trump's not done. He would ban abortion nationwide. Yes, even here in Wisconsin, were that to happen. And he would restrict access to birth control, put IVF treatments at risk, and force states, get this, to monitor women's pregnancies. Just Google Project 2025, which I still can't believe they put in writing. And let us agree, one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government shouldn't be telling her what to do. Not the government, not the government, not the government. And when Congress together with Tammy's leadership, passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom nationwide, as President of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law, I will proudly sign it into law.
(24:37)
So Wisconsin, I am asking for your vote. I am asking for your vote. And here is my pledge to you. Here is my pledge to you. As president, I pledge to seek common ground and common sense solutions to the challenges you face. I pledge that I am not looking to score political points. I am looking to make progress. And I pledge, I pledge to listen to those who will be impacted by the decisions I make. I will listen to experts, I will listen to the people who disagree with me. Because you see, unlike Donald Trump, I don't believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail, I'll give them a seat at the table. That's what a democracy is about. That's what leaders do. And it is my pledge to always put country above party and self, and to be a president for all Americans, for all Americans. That is my pledge to you, Wisconsin. So, let me ask, we're four days out. Who here has already voted? Oh, wow. Oh, my goodness. That's great. Thank you. Okay, well here's what I want to ask. I want to ask a little more of you. Please talk to your friends and family neighbors, and share your perspective. Share why you have taken the time out of your lives to spend this time here when there's so many other things you could do. Let them know because this moment I think really is our opportunity to reconnect with people and remind them they're not alone and build community. And so please, share with them why this election is important to you and encourage them to make their voices heard.
(27:12)
And for anyone who's not yet voted, no judgment. But please take a moment now to just think about what your plan will be for when and where you will vote. And please go to Iwillvote.com, yes, I have a website, for all the information you might need about when and where you can go to vote and where to drop off your absentee ballot.
(27:33)
And Wisconsin, truly, we need everyone to vote here. You, Wisconsin, are going to make the difference in this election. You will make the difference. You will make the difference.
(27:53)
And so, it all comes down to this. We are here together because we love our country. We love our country. And when you love something, you fight for it. And I do believe it is one of the highest forms of patriotism, an expression of our love of our country to then fight for the ideals of our country. That's what this is about. And it is fighting for the promise of America.
(28:23)
And I'll tell you, I have always believed in our nation's promise, because I have lived it. I grew up as a child of the civil rights movement. My parents took me to the marches when I was in a stroller. And there were people there from every walk of life who came together to fight for freedom and for opportunity. Growing up, I saw how hard my mother worked to raise my sister and me, and to give us the same chances that our country gave her. And I was blessed to have family by blood and family by love who instilled in me… You know what I'm talking about. And instilled in me the values of community and compassion and faith.
(29:20)
And I've spent my life fighting for people who have been hurt and who have been counted out, but who never stopped believing in our country, that anything is possible. I have lived the promise of America, and I see the promise of America in everyone who is here. In all of us, in all of us, in all of us. This is the promise of America. This is the promise of America. In the fathers and mothers and grandparents who work hard every day for the future of their children.
Kamala Harris (30:00):
… children and the women who refuse to accept a future without reproductive freedom, and in the men who support them. In Republicans who have never voted for a Democrat before, but are putting the Constitution of the United States above party. Right? The promise of America is all around us. It is in the young leaders who are voting for the very first time. Where are you? Where are you? Oh, I love Gen Z, I really do. You know what I love about this generation? You all are rightly impatient for change. You know? You are determined to live free from gun violence, to take on the climate crisis. You guys are going to shape the world you inherit.
(31:18)
And for this generation, none of these issues is theoretical for them. It's not political for them. For you all, it is a lived experience. It is a lived experience. That's right. And I see you and I see your power and I am so proud of you when I think about the future of our nation. So can we hear it for our first-time voters? Right, right, right. All right, so Wisconsin, four days. Four days to get this thing done. And no one can sit on the sidelines. Well, let's spend the next four days so that when we look back on these four days, we have no regrets, that we did everything that we could. So, let's knock on doors, let's text and call voters. Let's reach out to family and friends and classmates and neighbors and coworkers.
(32:24)
And as we do, please, I do ask you, let us be intentional about building community. Let us be intentional about building coalitions. Let us remind each other and others that we have so much more in common than what separates us. Let us do that. There is power in that. It will strengthen our country. And we'll remind folks also, your vote is your voice. And your voice is your power. It is your power. And so Wisconsin, today I ask you, are you ready to make your voices heard? Do we believe in freedom? Do we believe in opportunity? Do we believe in the promise of America? And are we ready to fight for it? And when we fight, we win. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.
MUSIC (35:38):
Freedom, freedom.
(35:38)
I can't move.
(35:38)
Freedom, cut me loose.
(35:38)
Freedom, freedom.
(35:38)
Where are you?
(35:38)
'Cause I need freedom too.
(35:38)
I break chains all by myself.
(35:38)
Won't let my freedom rot in hell.
(35:38)
Hey, i'ma keep running.
(35:38)
'Cause a winner don't quit on themselves.
(35:38)
I'ma wade, I'ma wave through the waters.
(35:38)
Tell the tide, "Don't move".
(35:38)
I'ma riot, I'ma riot through your borders.
(35:38)
Call me bulletproof.
(35:38)
Lord forgive me, I've been runnin'.
(35:38)
Runnin' blind in truth.
(35:38)
I'ma wade, I'ma wave through your shallow love.
(35:38)
Tell the deep I'm new.
(35:38)
I'm telling these tears, go and fall away, fall away.
(35:38)
May the last one burn into flames.
(35:38)
Freedom, freedom.
(35:38)
I can't move.
(35:38)
Freedom, cut me loose.
(35:38)
Freedom, freedom.
(35:38)
Where are you?
(35:38)
'Cause I need freedom too.
(35:38)
I break chains all by myself.
(35:38)
Won't let my freedom rot in hell.
(35:38)
Hey, I'ma keep running.
(35:38)
'Cause a winner don't quit on themselves.
(35:38)
Ten Hail Marys, I meditate for practice.
(35:39)
Channel nine news tell me I'm movin' backwards.
(35:40)
Eight blocks left, death is around the corner.
(35:45)
Seven misleadin' statements 'bout my persona.
(35:48)
Six headlights wavin' in my direction.
(35:50)
Five-0 askin' me what's in my possession.
(35:53)
Yeah, I keep runnin', jump in the aqueducts.
(35:55)
Fire hydrants and hazardous smoke alarms on the back of us.
(35:58)
But mama don't cry for me, ride for me.
(36:00)
Try for me, live for me.
(36:00)
Breathe for me, sing for me.
(36:02)
Honestly guidin' me, I could be more than I gotta be.
(36:04)
Stole from me, lied to me, nation hypocrisy.
(36:07)
Code on me, drive on me.
(36:08)
Wicked, my spirit inspired me.
(36:09)
Like yeah, open correctional gates in higher desert.
(36:12)
Yeah, open our mind as we cast away oppression.
(36:15)
Yeah, open the streets and watch our beliefs.
(36:18)
And when they carve my name inside the concrete.
(36:19)
I pray it forever reads.
(36:19)
Freedom, freedom.
(36:19)
I can't move.
(36:19)
Freedom, cut me loose.
(36:19)
Freedom, freedom.
(36:19)
Where are you?
(36:19)
'Cause I need freedom too.
(36:19)
I break chains all by myself.
(36:19)
Won't let my freedom rot in hell.
(36:19)
Hey, I'ma keep running.
(36:19)
'Cause a winner don't quit on themselves.
(36:19)
What you want from me?
(36:19)
Is it truth you seek?
(36:19)
Oh, Father, can you hear me?
(36:21)
What you want from me?
(36:21)
Is it truth you seek?
(36:21)
Oh, Father, can you hear me?
(36:21)
Hear me out.
(36:21)
People.
(36:21)
Keep on learning.
(36:21)
Soldiers.
(36:21)
Keep on warring.
(36:21)
World.
(36:21)
Keep on turning.
(36:21)
Because it won't be too long.
(36:21)
Powers.
(36:21)
Keep on lying.