Amy Klobuchar remarks at "First In the West" event in Las Vegas on November 17, 2019

[brooklynite]

Wow. Hello, Nevada Democrats. It is so wonderful to be the sixth woman in a row on the stage. And it is great to be back with a party that knows how to win. You proved that in 2018 when you elected the first Democratic governor in 20 years. And today you are leading the way on voting rights, on gun safety, and standing tall for our unions because when unions are strong, our economy is strong.

You know, we are here tonight to honor my friend Harry Reid. And when I walked around the Nevada legislature I was amazed. Every office I would go into, it would have his picture hanging on the wall. It was as if he was president of the United States. We could only wish. So a lot happened during Senator Reid's 30 years in the Senate, but one thing stayed the same, the true spirit of a man. The considerate leader, who would sit at a presiding desk in the US Senate on a Saturday afternoon because a young senator wanted to get an important bill passed. Landrieu was sick, and Harry said no, I'm going to do this for you. He did that. The kind person who took the time to talk to a little boy with leukemia, and show him his favorite pictures of President Obama right in the middle of a budget debate. The humble senator who never forget where he came from and always served with home in mind. We thank Harry Reid today.

Now, both of our states, Minnesota and Nevada have one very important thing in common. We both have the wisdom to send not one, but two women to the US Senate. And we love Catherine and Jacky. And you gave us that women majority in the legislature. And I, you know, you wouldn't believe this but I am still asked, I was asked twice last week, do you think a woman can beat Donald Trump? And you know what I say? I say Nancy Pelosi does it every single day.


Friends, we have been on a long, long march together. It started the day after the inauguration when millions of people marched across this country, including right here in Las Vegas. The next day 6000 women signed up to run for office, and we never stopped. We marched for immigrants. We marched with union workers. We marched with our heads up and our spirits high. We stood up for people with disability and cancer and for people with Alzheimer's when we said, "no, Donald Trump, you are not going to repeal the Affordable Care Act and kick people off of their insurance for pre-existing conditions." We stood together and we won. We stood with Las Vegas after the 2017 shooting, we stood with students after Parkland and we stood with the moms who demanded action. And then because we stood, because we led, because we were not beaten down by defeat, the people stood with us. And that is why in 2018, you elected Dina, and Susie, and Steven, and we turned the House of Representatives back into the people's house again. You did that. You did that, Nevada. And look what just happened the last few weeks, we flipped the Senate and the House in the state of Virginia. And you know what? Mitch McConnell has a new governor in Kentucky and it's a Democrat. And yesterday, just yesterday, Louisiana reelected their Democratic governor. That's the second, that is the second governor's race in two weeks in a red state where Donald Trump campaigned and a Democrat won right after the president went and rallied his people. So you know what I want to know? Where is the president gonna go next?

I think that election this month was an economic check, yes. It was a vote for the Affordable Care Act, yes. But it was more than that. It was also a values check. It was a patriotism check because many people feel this guy has gotten way far away from where they are. Because we have a president that wakes up every morning and goes after immigrants, uses them as political pawns. He goes after people of color. He allows a foreign country to make mincemeat of our democracy. We have a president who is running the country like a game show, a president who would rather lie than lead. That's why I'm telling you this right now, we have someone that every moment, just watch this, he sides with dictators over allies, tyrants over innocents. Have you noticed how he always puts his private interests before the interests of our country? That's why as your president I will tell you this, I will bring sanity back to our foreign policy. And I will never ever hold an international gathering at one of my resorts. Oh, that's right. I don't own a resort. But let me tell you what I do own. I own an optimistic economic agenda for this country. One that says no, a justice agenda. Mr. President, there are not two sides after Charlottesville, there is only one side. There is only one side and that is the American side. One that says if millionaires can refinance their yachts, then students can refinance their student loans. One that says we stand with our unions and we also stand with our, of course, public sector workers, who thanks to the work of Nevada Democrats have the right to collectively bargain. One that says no more secret nuclear waste shipments to Yucca Mountain. One that says we need mental health care and we have to take on addiction, just like your attorney general has done here in this state. One that says that we believe in science and in facing down the existential threat of our time that is climate change, because as the Ojibwe say, great leaders make decisions not for this generation, but for seven generations from now. Nevada Democrats, we have a president that can't keep his decisions seven minutes from now.

Imagine this: imagine having a presidential candidate when he is always boasting about his support in the heartland that can say, you know what? The Midwest is not flyover country to me. I live here. Imagine having a candidate on that stage that says, no, I will not treat the workers and the farmers like some kind of poker chips, in not this great casino, but one of Donald Trump's bankrupt casinos. I will not do that. I will not do that. You know why? Because I actually have workers and farmers that are my friends and my neighbors. Imagine having someone that will not go down to Mar a Lago and boast after that tax bill, "we just made your friends a lot richer." That is what he did. This is a state that attracts visitors and tourists to build our economy. And one thing you don't know about me is that thanks to Harry Reid's guidance and friendship for the last decade, I have been the co-chair of the Tourism Caucus and the chief sponsor of Brand USA and I understand that an economic agenda means making stuff, inventing things, exporting to the world, and that tourism right here in the great state of Nevada is one of our best exports that our country has to offer.

We are going to win in Nevada, Democrats. And we are going to win in those tough states in the Midwest because you know why? We are going to build a blue wall around those states and we're going to make Donald Trump pay for it. Because we are at our best when we bring people together instead of shutting them out. The people who turned out in Kentucky, the people who turned out in Nevada, the people who stood up for Obamacare, the people who are in our fired-up base yes, but also some independents, some moderate Republicans who are sick and tired of this guy because for them, they have decided they can't stand it anymore. And that is why I leave you with this, we have such a chance here, Democrats— we cannot screw this up. We do not just want to win, we want to win big. And to win big, we need to bring the country with us. That is the only way we not just win the presidency, but that is the way we send Mitch McConnell packing. It is by winning big.

I am the granddaughter of an iron ore miner, I am the daughter of a union teacher and a newspaperman, I am the first woman elected to the state of Minnesota for the US Senate, and I am a candidate for the President of the United States. This is a country of shared dreams, that wherever where you come from, or who you know, that you can make it in the United States of America. That is the country we live in. And that is how we will win. Thank you, Nevada Democrats. Let's go and get this done.