00:00This is something of a homecoming address for me. I've spoken in other countries and states.
00:04However, this is my first time as international president of CWA speaking to a crowd as large in Texas.
00:11Thank you for that honor.
00:13I also want to thank the AFL-CL state president, Leonard Aguilar.
00:17He has been a good friend and a tireless voice for working class people both here in Texas and across
00:22the country.
00:22He has spent a great deal of time at the Texas state capitol fighting for legislation to improve the lives.
00:29And he is a prime example of why labor is at the heart of this coalition because working people are
00:36its heart.
00:37So let's give President Aguilar a round of applause.
00:42I will also acknowledge our military currently serving our veterans wherever I can.
00:48So if you are, would you please stand? Let's give you a round of applause.
01:00Thank each of you for your service and for your commitment to our constitution and our union.
01:05Again, let's give them a round of applause.
01:08Thanks to the efforts of all of you right here at this auditorium, for the first time in decades, Democrats
01:15are competing in every state and federal office across Texas.
01:19You are building infrastructure and overlooked communities and have expanded your reach by opening offices in Amarillo, Austin, Dallas, Eagle
01:28Pass, and my hometown of Houston.
01:32But make no mistake, these expansions are critical because there is a war on workers being perpetrated by the most
01:40corrupt, most cowardly, and most contemptible criminal ever to hold the office of the presidency.
01:46Donald Trump and his billionaire buddies have laid waste to the working class and will not stop until their control
01:52of our political system and our lives is absolute.
01:55We have seen cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, cuts to the Affordable Health Care Act, cuts to medical research funding
02:02and food safety.
02:04In the single biggest union-busting action in American history, Trump terminated the union contracts of nearly a million fellow
02:11workers
02:12and allowed his friend Elon Musk free reign to further decimate federal jobs and programs.
02:19Trump campaigned as the president of peace, but he has since abducted the leaders of Venezuela.
02:24He is currently starving the people of Cuba and has lost a war of desperation in Iran to the tune
02:30of $300 billion.
02:34His war has hit working people the hardest.
02:36We feel the pain at the pump.
02:38Food is more expensive.
02:40Medicine is more expensive.
02:41Owning a home is out of reach for an entire generation and birth rates are plummeting because few can afford
02:47to raise children.
02:48But Texas Democrats have a chance this year to make strides up and down the ballot like we haven't been
02:54able to do in decades.
02:56We have tremendous candidates leading us at the top of the ticket and Gina Hinojosa for governor and James Tallarico
03:03for Senate.
03:05They are getting voters excited with compelling messages.
03:09I'm confident that we're going to make tremendous strides in the legislature as well.
03:13And if we all work hard, we have the chance to even take back the House.
03:18You know, Governor Abbott and other Trump enablers thought they were going to rig the maps to pick up five
03:23seats in the U.S. House to save them from the backlash that's coming against all their corruption and mismanagement.
03:29I'll tell you what, five seats is not going to happen, period.
03:34Some of their incumbents may even start to worry about what they've seen in motion.
03:38And given how badly Abbott and his allies have mismanaged the state, it's all the more important that we win
03:43more local offices to push back against the corruption and the chaos.
03:48This year, we're going to do that.
03:50But in order to elect candidates who are going to stand up for our rights, our communities, and our livelihoods,
03:55we all need to stand together over the coming months to make sure that they cannot divide us and they
04:01cannot defeat us.
04:03I cannot stress enough how important our solidarity and our unity are to the process of winning in November.
04:10We know what happens when we work together, and we know exactly what will happen if we are fighting among
04:15ourselves,
04:16snapping at each other, and undermining our work.
04:18If you take nothing else away from this speech, I ask you to remember this.
04:23The enemy is not in the room.
04:25Turn to your neighbor and say, you are not the enemy.
04:29That statement is 100% correct.
04:32Our enemies are our naysayers, the throes of rocks and hideers of hands,
04:36those driven by greed and personal glory over the common good.
04:40We are called to remember our values and to inspire to inspire.
04:44Now we can inspire dread and anger and selfishness, or we can choose to inspire courage, hope, and determination.
04:52Well, when I see our political activists and legislators working with our labor activists and communities, that inspires me.
04:59And if you're like me, you need more of that, especially right now.
05:03So I'm calling on each of you to focus on our values, work toward our common goals.
05:09And remember, the enemy is not in this room.
05:12Our focus should be on the working people we serve, the lives we are able to change, and the future
05:17we are striving to build.
05:21So we must now focus on spreading the truth instead of fiction, on coalition building and coordination,
05:27on class consciousness and worker solidarity, on economic justice and social justice.
05:32I can speak for the labor movement as a whole when I say we will do everything in our power
05:37to turn out to vote in the coming midterm elections,
05:40and to put pro-worker, pro-people candidates in power that will choose workers over wealth.
05:46We will focus down-ballot on governors, state senators, and elected and local electors.
05:52We will continue to have the one-on-one conversation with voters that only unions can have at scale.
05:58We intend to knock on more doors than ever before, make more phone calls, hand out more flowers,
06:03run digital programs to reach millions more voters, and give them the power to stop the insanity currently affecting our
06:10political system.
06:11Our unity is powerful, more powerful than the bullies and the billionaires.
06:16We are seeing this in political elections across the country as union-backed People First candidates,
06:21many of them union members themselves, are winning races in places we've never seen progressives before.
06:27Now's the time to demand more.
06:29We are not going back. Say we're not going back.
06:33We are called to focus our faith and even our fear on a single goal, freedom.
06:38So you will still believe in democracy.
06:42If you still believe in democracy, I'm asking you to stand up.
06:46If you still believe in the rule of law, stand with me.
06:49If you still believe in the power of unity, I need you to say it with me.
06:53When we fight, when we fight, when we fight, when we fight, when we fight, God bless all of you.
07:02Together, we will win.
07:08Now, keep that energy going, because now I do believe we have a true champion of working people,
07:18a friend of our CWA union, the senator, United States senator from Vermont,
07:24and a leader of the American Progressive Movement, welcome to the stage, Bernie Sanders, Senator Bernie Sanders.
07:40Now, welcome state representative Christina Morales.
07:44The Texas Tribune ranked her as the most liberal member of the entire Texas House during the 89th season.
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