LIVE: Harris, Walz Campaign in Las Vegas 2024-08-11 01:38

Excited to be here with all of you, and also kind of nervous. I'm excited to see the next President of the United States, and Vice President. My name is Tilly Torres, and I'm an English teacher right here in Las Vegas. I've been teaching in Clark County for over 24 years. I'm also a mother of three beautiful adult children, and they are all teachers like me. Growing up, I always knew I wanted to be a teacher because I saw education for what it really was, the greatest instrument of social justice in this country. I grew up in Hawaii, and I worked full time for most of my high school and college. I also took care of my mom who was disabled. We were in and out of homelessness, but as a first generation college student, I needed to take out loans in order to attend university in my home state while working two or three or four jobs. But my education unlocked opportunity for me. Opportunity that led me to becoming a teacher right here in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sadly, life happened a few years after I graduated. I was diagnosed with cancer. Between fighting cancer, caring for my husband, who was injured at the time, and becoming a mom, I wasn't able to make regular payments on those student loans for quite some time. But at 50 years old, after making those regular payments for almost 30 years on a loan of $40,000, I somehow still owed $87,000. I thought, honestly, I would be saddled with that terrible debt for the rest of my life. And it was my daughter who told me about President Biden and Vice President Harris' actions to fix public service loan forgiveness. I didn't think much of it. I had zero hope. But I gotta tell you, when I got that letter from the Department of Education saying I owed zero best day of my life, the wave of relief that I felt is indescribable. Because of the Biden-Harris administration, for the first time, I have financial freedom. As a teacher, I routinely tell my students the same thing I learned growing up, that education is the key to opportunity. And now, thanks to Biden-Harris, I believe it too. But when I look at Donald Trump, I see someone who wants to take away the opportunities from my students and my family. His Project 2025 agenda is calling for completely eliminating the Department of Education. As a public school teacher, that's terrifying. There could not be anything more fundamentally different between Donald Trump's backwards vision for our America and Kamala Harris' vision for our progress. When I look at Kamala Harris, I see someone who represents my family and understands the struggles of everyday Americans like me. She grew up a daughter of a working mother too. She even worked at McDonald's. And in November, we here in Nevada are going to make her the next President of the United States. That's what America is and that's what we stand for. Kamala's vision for America is an America you and I can be proud of. And let me just say, as a teacher, I could not be more excited about future Vice President Governor Tim Walz. Couldn't be. I knew that Tim Walz was the man for the job when I found out that as a teacher, he supervised the lunchroom for 20 years. As a fellow high school teacher, all I can say is that if Governor Walz can handle a high school lunchroom for two decades and coach his football team to state championships, the Vice Presidency should be a piece of cake. We can to get Kamala and Tim over the finish line. Now, I heard it's a little cold up there in Minnesota. That's where Tim's from. So let's give a record-breaking 120 degree welcome to the next Vice President of the United States, Governor! Long time, and a year less long time New Tees Hey! Wow! One more time for Tilly! Thank you! Well, hello Las Vegas! Now, I know some of you spent the week Googling Minnesota a little bit and to figure out who these Minnesotans were here's the one thing I can tell you about us we spend about half our lives talking about the weather it's what we do so I want to say thank you to all of the people since I've been here to remind me that it's a dry heat outside so's your damn oven but you know that's melting like a snowman outside but um look this is incredible and I want to say a thank you to a few folks I had the privilege of working with when I served in Congress you have two of the best senators you could ever hope for Senator Cortez Mascio and Senator Rosen just as a side note there's lots of commonalities here it may not be the weather we walk on water half the year it's so damn cold but that's what we are but we have something in common both Minnesota and Nevada have two women senators and that's a pretty good thing huge thank you to Congressman Horsford Congresswoman Lee and a long time friend I served with Congresswoman Titus grateful a special thank you is for what I'm looking at right here every one of you who took time out of your busy lives you didn't need to be here there's many things you could have been doing you chose you braved 108 degree heat I can't even believe I'm saying that just to be here and I have to tell you I understand because of the heat they had to shut the door early and turn thousands of folks away but don't worry we're going to be back a lot all the things you got babysitters you had to do everything you came here for something bigger than yourselves for one simple eloquent and beautiful reason you love this country I'm so incredibly proud to be on this ticket and I want to give a big shout out with the support of a special group tonight Culinary Workers Union 226 we're here for that love and the end of this road remember 87 days rarely in your life you get an opportunity in 87 days to change the trajectory of not just today or tomorrow but for generations around the world and I keep saying this we can do anything for 87 days and my mantra is we'll sleep when we're dead because when you wake up on that 88th day you're going to get to say welcome madam president Harris this is this is a leader that wakes up every day to try and do things for the American people she will she took on the predators the fraudsters the transnational gangs stood up against the greed of corporate interests stood with working people in organized labor and never failed to reach across the aisle if it meant improving people's lives I was taught a little something about that commitment too I was born in a small town in Nebraska where community was a way of life there's some Nebraskans in the house you think I'm kidding 400 people 25 kids in my class 12 were cousins that's small town but you know what my parents and my community taught me generosity towards my neighbor and to work for the common good my my dad was a chain smoking Korean war era veteran who two days after my 17th birthday took me down to sign up to join the national I was proud for the next 24 years to wear the uniform of this country thank thank you to every single one of you who wore that uniform and I have to tell you like my dad before me and millions of others the GI Bill gave me a shot at a college education and just like Tilly my dad was a teacher my older brother was a teacher my sister was a teacher my younger brother was a teacher and we married teachers so the privilege of my lifetime was spending two decades teaching in public schools and and you might have heard coaching football to a state championship here's don't ever close that yearbook that's my pro tip look my students and my players are the ones who encouraged me to run for office they saw in me what I hope to instill in them a commitment to a common good and something so important the belief that each and every one of you came here as a single person a single person can make a difference can make a difference never planned my life to run for office but I think my life prepared me well and when my neighbors asked if I'd run for office I was pretty clueless I did not know that the district I was running in had only had one of these 1892 performing but my community graced me with the opportunity to represent them in the United States Congress for 12 years where I had the privilege of serving as the ranking member on the VA committee working with Republicans to pass the most extensive veterans package since the GI Bill I learned the art of compromising without compromising my values and as now as governor I bring all those experiences together to tackle the most pressing challenges we have in the great state of Minnesota now each of you came here you came here because you love the country you came here because you know how fantastic a leader is going to walk out those doors in a minute or two the person that you see bringing everything to us but just be very clear here Donald Trump sees the world very differently than all of us here each of you talk about service Donald Trump knows nothing about service it's it's pretty hard to provide service to others when you're too busy looking out for only yourself again and again and again Donald Trump made decisions to weaken this country to strengthen his own hand he mocked our laws he sowed division and chaos amongst our citizens and that's to say nothing of his record as president he froze in the face of the global covid pandemic and our neighbors died because of it by not addressing covid he drove our economy into the ground and I just want to set the record straight because facts do matter and there's not an alternate set of facts here's one for you violent crime was up during the Trump presidency and that's even not counting his crimes some of you some of you gray hair or no hairs in here can actually remember a time when republicans actually talked about freedom and believed it not these guys these are the guys that believe government should be free to invade your exam room with your doctor I'm sure it's true here in Nevada as it's true in Minnesota we respect our neighbors rights to make their own personal choices we don't have to agree with them or make the same choice but we know that this nation things work best when you mind your own damn business I don't need any help I don't need any help from those guys telling me which books to read I sure the heck don't need any lecture about morality from those guys and the last thing they can mind their own damn business is I don't need any help from them talking about my family and this is where it gets personal where they want to dictate things like IVF and reproductive care I know there's a lot of you out there this is the most personal choices we have when my wife and I decided to have children we spent years going through fertility treatments and I said I remember you have somebody to help? you have water? alright thanks for helping your neighbors I remember those waiting for the phone calls you'd go through the treatments I would have my neighbor come over to have to give shots to my wife and things like that and the phone would ring and you would just hope so highly that it would be good news and then when you found out the treatments didn't work it was a darkness that brought out the sun I have to tell you it wasn't by chance when that phone call finally came we named her the most powerful word in the universe hope so when you hear when you hear Kamala Harris and I talk about freedom we're very clear about this we mean the freedom to make your own healthcare decisions and that your children should be free to go to school without worrying about being shot dead in their classroom look again I know Nevada is a lot like Minnesota in Minnesota we believe in the second amendment but we also believe in the common sense gun violence law Vice President Harris believes education should be a ticket to the middle class not crippling student loan debt and we come here today because in 87 days we're going to settle our political differences not through violence we're going to settle it by beating them at the ballot box so look I keep saying this this is a pretty simple thing here this election is about the choice about what direction this country is going and I want to be clear I know very clearly that I am preaching to the choir but here's my words for you the choir needs to sing so the other day I was saying this I started out by saying don't believe Donald Trump when he plays dumb about 2025 but then I remembered you don't believe him on anything because that's what you shouldn't believe but look I coach football for enough years when somebody draws up a playbook they plan on using it and when they do they'll restrict our freedoms when they do they'll do what they've done they'll rig the economy so the middle class gets nothing and the rich get richer if this guy gets an opportunity again he won't only pick up where he left off it will be much worse than it was last time he'll gut social security pull your health care underfund public schools all of it that's damn right we're not going back look this guy's not fighting for you or your family he doesn't give a damn and his running mate shares his dangerous and backward agenda I said this all of my friends went to Yale had billionaires fund our career and then we write a book trashing our neighbors that raised us come on we're better than that and I said it I want to be clear I didn't call anybody names I spent enough years in that lunchroom to know bullies when I see them I just made a very clear observation that they seem to be really concerned about I pointed out that taking away reproductive freedoms banning books raising the price of insulin trying to hurt labor unions nobody's asking for that weird crap no one's asking for it here's the good news we do the work this is about the future we do the work none of that's going to happen vice president Harris believes in those freedoms she knows that every single person should get a chance at the middle class she believes in something so beautiful the promise of America it's that simple madam vice president I want to say thank you for putting the trust in me to be your running mate and I want to say she has done so much and with you together it's reminded us about something it's reminded us that this work can be about goodness it can be about smiling it's tough work but we can be happy doing it and Kamala Harris has done something that we will ever be grateful for she has brought out the joy in our politics Nevada join me in welcoming the next president of the United States Kamala Harris it's so good to be back good evening everyone oh I see lots of friends oh it is good to be back it is good to be back but seriously isn't Tim Walsh fantastic and I know for some folks you just get to know him and you've heard he's had many titles over his life governor, congressman dad, husband coach but in 87 days our nation is going to know Coach Walsh as vice president of the United States of America and it is so good to be here with so many incredible leaders including my dear friends Senator Catherine Cortez Masto Senator Jackie Rosen who we will re-elect Senate members Dina Titus Stephen Horsford Elie and I know culinary 226 is in the house and the culinary unions they have helped lead the way in our country for workers rights and workers dignity and I have to say for years I've been so proud to work by your side when I was attorney general of California we worked together to crack down on wage theft when I was a United States senator we fought together for paid family leave and medical leave and earlier this year right here in Vegas we celebrated your historic contract win and it is my promise to everyone here when I am president we will continue our fight for working families of America including to raise the minimum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers in Nevada today I also bring greetings from our incredible president Joe Biden we love Joe and I know and I know we are all so deeply grateful to Joe Biden for his lifetime of service to our nation and he's not done so as I said it's so good to be back in Las Vegas the last time I was here I stopped by the practice for the men's national basketball team before they headed out to the Olympics and maybe you saw it on your phone but just a few hours ago in Paris they won the gold a few hours before so in one sport after another Team USA continues to make our nation proud so much to celebrate so Nevada we have 87 days until the election 87 days and here's the thing but here's the thing here's the thing we know this will be a tight race until the very end and so let's not pay too much attention to the polls because we have some hard work ahead of us but we like hard work and with your help this November we will win we will win and I know we are all clear toward that win we are all clear about what we are up against as many of you know before I was elected Vice President before I was elected United States Senator I was an elected Attorney General and before that District Attorney and before that I was a Courtroom Prosecutor in those roles I took on perpetrators of all kinds predators who abused women fraudsters who ripped off consumers scammers who broke the rules for personal gain so Nevada hear me when I say Trump's tight the court's going to take care of that we're just going to beat him in November we'll beat him in November but I've certainly been dealing with people like you my entire career for example as Attorney General of California I took on one of our country's largest for profit colleges that scams students well Donald Trump ran a for profit college that scams students as a prosecutor I specialize in cases of sexual abuse well Donald Trump was found liable for committing sexual abuse as Attorney General I held Wall Street banks accountable for fraud well Donald Trump was just found guilty of fraud 34 counts all of this is to say in this campaign I will proudly put my record against his every day of the week that being said let's make no mistake this campaign is not just about us it is about two different visions for our nation one focused on the future the other focused on the past we fight for the future a future with affordable health care and paid leave we fight for a future where we build a broad based economy where every American has an opportunity to own a home to start a business and to build wealth we fight for a future where we lower the cost of living for America's families so they have a chance not just to get by but to get ahead because look while our economy is doing well by many measures prices for everyday things like groceries are still too high you know it and I know it when I was attorney general I went after price fixing teams and when I am president I will continue that work to bring down prices I will take on big corporations that engage in illegal price gouging corporate landlords that unfairly raise rents on working families and take on big pharma and cap the cost of prescription drugs for all Americans unlike Donald Trump I will always I promise you put the middle class and working families first because you see Tim Miles and I may not appear to have a whole lot in common but we have so much in common and I'll tell you what he and I know the middle class built the United States of America and when the middle class is strong America is strong and so while we together work to move our nation forward just look at his project 2025 agenda which I keep saying I can't believe they put that in writing so if he is elected Donald Trump intends to give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations he intends to cut social security and medicare and he intends to surrender our fight against the climate crisis and I don't need to tell Nevada every day because you feel the impact of extreme heat and drought you know the climate crisis is real but Donald Trump well he claims it's a hoax and on top of this if Donald Trump were to win in November he won't but if he were to win in November he intends to end the Affordable Care Act think about that to take us back to a time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with pre-existing conditions children with asthma breast cancer survivors grandparents with diabetes look America has tried these failed policies before and we are not going back we are not going back and we are going to move forward we will move forward and in moving forward we will take on the biggest issues facing our nation for example we will address the issue of immigration I was the attorney of a border state I went after transnational gangs drug cartels and human traffickers I prosecuted them case after case and I won we know our immigration system is broken and we know what it takes to fix it comprehensive reform that includes yes strong border security and an earned pathway to citizenship but Donald Trump want to fix this problem he talks a big game about a lot of things but he talks a big game about border security but he does not walk the walk earlier this year we had a chance to pass the toughest bipartisan border security bill in decades but Donald Trump tanked the bill because he thought it would help him win an election if I am president I will sign that bill into law Nevada ours is a fight for the future and it is a fight for freedom across our nation we have been witnessing a full on assault on hard won hard fought freedoms and fundamental rights the freedom to vote the freedom to be safe from gun violence the freedom to love who you love openly and with pride a fight for freedom and on that last point we all know how we got here when he was president Donald Trump handpicked three members of the United States Supreme Court because he intended for them to undo the protections of Roe v. Wade and as he intended they did now in more than 20 states there is a Trump abortion ban many with no exceptions even for rape and and be sure if he were to win he would sign a national abortion ban which would outlaw abortion in every state even Nevada but we are not going to let that happen because we trust women and when I am president of the United States and Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedoms I will sign it into law so I know the folks who are here I know the people of Nevada you are battle born you are battle born and if Donald Trump wants to pick a fight over our most fundamental freedoms we say bring it on so Nevada generations generations of Americans before us led the fight for freedom now the baton is in our hands each and every one of us so we who believe in the sacred freedom to vote will finally pass the John Lewis voting rights act and the freedom to vote out and we who believe in the freedom to live safe from gun violence will finally pass an assault weapons ban so much is on the line in this election and understand this is not 2016 this is not 2020 this time around the stakes are even higher and that's because last month the supreme court of the united states basically told the former president that going forward he will effectively be immune no matter what he does in the white house but think about what that means think about what that means so Donald Trump has vowed to be a dictator on day one of re-election he said he will weaponize essentially the department of justice against his political enemies and even called for the termination of the constitution of the united states be very clear someone who suggests we should terminate the constitution of the united states should never again stand behind the seal of president we know what we stand for as americans and you know it all comes down to this we are here together because we love our country we love our country and i do believe it is the highest form of patriotism to fight for the ideals of our country that is how we preserve the promise of america and think about it after all the promise of america is what makes it possible for you and me to be together on this stage today think about that think about it two middle class kids one a daughter of oakland california who was raised by a working mother i had a summer job at mcdonalds the other a son of the nebraska who grew up working on a farm think about it only in america is it possible that the two of them would be running together all the way to the white house only in america so look and i love you back i love you back so look we are together we are running this campaign on behalf of all americans from red states to blue states from the heartland to the coast and when elected we will govern on behalf of all americans so nevada ultimately in this election i believe we each face a question what kind of country do we want to live in a country of chaos fear and hate or a country of freedom, compassion and rule of law and the beauty of our democracy here's the thing the beauty of our democracy is we each each person has the power each person has the power to answer that question the power is with the people with the people and so in the next 87 days we need you to use your power to knock on doors register folks to vote and make your voices heard nevada today i ask you are you ready to make your voices heard do we malignity ready to fight for it when we fight we win govern