# Kamala Harris speech in Madison, Wisconsin | September 20, 2024 Auto-transcribed by https://aliceapp.ai on Sunday, 29 Sep 2024. Synced media and text playback available on this page: https://aliceapp.ai/recordings/3jAorv0S8D5X7ZVlFRys6Pp49HIYOaKi * Words : 3,021 * Duration : 00:28:40 * Recorded on : Unknown date * Uploaded on : 2024-09-29 18:00:41 UTC * At : Unknown location * Using : Uploaded to aliceapp.ai ## Speakers: * Kamala Harris - 100.0% ---------------------------- Kamala Harris [00:00:00] Good evening, Wisconsin. Kamala Harris [00:00:13] And it's great to be back in Madison. Kamala Harris [00:00:26] And you know I got some Madison cred, right? Kamala Harris [00:00:33] Oh, thank you all. Uh, it really is great to be back. Thank you all for being here. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Kamala Harris [00:00:42] Thank you. And can we please thank Bill for fighting every day for the working people of America. Uh, and to everyone at Teamsters Joint Council 39. I am so honored, honored and grateful for your endorsement. I will work so closely with you as we always have. Kamala Harris [00:01:05] And we will win, and we will win, and we will win. Kamala Harris [00:01:16] And it's so great to be with all of the leaders who are here. Just this is an auditorium full of leaders, um, including our dear friend and your governor, Tony Eversley, Senator Tammy Baldwin, who you will reelect to the United States Senate, Representative Pocan, Mayor Rose Conway. Kamala Harris [00:01:51] And I have to give a special thanks to the mayor, because the last time I was in Madison, we went to the house where I lived when I was five years old here in Madison. So many of you know, my sister Maya is here. So our parents taught at the University of Wisconsin Madison. And so we lived here for a period of time. Kamala Harris [00:02:19] So every time I land, the governor says, welcome home. So, thank you all to all the leaders who are here, elected leaders and community leaders, and just neighborhood leaders, family leaders, all that you are. Thank you. So here we are. Kamala Harris [00:02:39] All right, we got work to do. 46 days until the election. 46 days until the election. And what we know, this is going to be a tight race until the very end. So let's not pay too much attention to the polls, because let's be clear, we are the underdog in this race, and we have some hard work ahead of us. Kamala Harris [00:03:05] But here's the thing. We like hard work. We like hard work. Hard work is good work. Hard work is joyful work. Kamala Harris [00:03:22] And with your help in November, we will win. Kamala Harris [00:03:30] We will win. Kamala Harris [00:03:35] So some of you might have seen the debate last week that I had with Donald Trump. Kamala Harris [00:03:43] It was fun. Kamala Harris [00:03:47] And I talked about issues that matter to families across America, like bringing down the cost of living, investing in America's small businesses, protecting reproductive freedom, and keeping our nation safe and secure. But that is not what we heard from Donald Trump. Instead, it was the same old tired show, the same old tired playbook we've heard for years, with no plan on how he would address the needs of the american people. Well, folks, uh, it's time to turn the page. Kamala Harris [00:04:40] Time to turn the page. Kamala Harris [00:04:44] And America is ready to chart a new way forward. We are ready. We are ready. We are ready for a new generation of leadership that is optimistic about what we can do together because we're tired of all that division and hate they're pushing. We here know the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us. Kamala Harris [00:05:22] And that's what our campaign is about. Understanding that this is a people powered campaign, that this is a campaign about building community, building coalitions, reminding us all that we are all in this together and that we're gonna be good and all right, we're in this together. Kamala Harris [00:05:52] Which is why Democrats, Republicans, and independents are supporting our campaign, because they want a president. We want a president who works for all the american people. And I promise you that is the kind of president I will be. Kamala Harris [00:06:11] I promise that. Kamala Harris [00:06:17] Now, many of you know my background. My entire career, I have fought for the people. As a young courtroom prosecutor in Oakland, I stood up for women and children against predators who abused them. As attorney general of California, I took on the big banks and delivered $20 billion for middle class families who faced foreclosure because of predatory lending practices. Kamala Harris [00:06:46] I stood up for veterans and students who were being scammed by the big for profit colleges and for workers who were being cheated out of the wages they were due and for seniors facing elder abuse. Kamala Harris [00:07:09] And as president, I will fight on m behalf of all communities and all Americans. And together, we will build a brighter future for our nation. Kamala Harris [00:07:28] Together, we will build a future where we build what I call an opportunity economy. So every American has the opportunity to own a home, to build wealth, start a small business. Kamala Harris [00:07:49] And I'll, uh, tell you, I love our small businesses. For the small business leaders who are here, can you raise your hand? Our small business leaders are extraordinary. Kamala Harris [00:08:06] So, you know, growing up, uh, before our mother could afford to buy a house, we lived in an apartment above a childcare center. It was owned by a woman by the name of Misses M. Shelton. And she helped raise my sister, Maya, and me because my mother worked long days and sometimes on weekends. We called Miss Shelton our second mother, and she was a small business owner. Kamala Harris [00:08:31] So from childhood, I have known the character and work ethic. Our small business owners. And I know small business owners are the backbone of America's economy, which is why my plan offers a new way forward and will give a $50,000 tax deduction to help entrepreneurs start their small businesses. Kamala Harris [00:09:12] I also know we need to build more housing in America. You know, my mother saved up for years. And when I was a teenager, she was finally able to buy her first home. I know what that dream is like. I know what it is like for people to work hard and to save up and have a dream that is about the dignity of their work and an investment in their future, the future of their family, an investment in the pride they so rightly deserve because of their hard work. Kamala Harris [00:09:53] But right now, on the affordable housing issue, look, we have a shortage of housing in America, and it's contributing to driving up prices. So with my plan, we are going to cut red tape and work with the private sector to build 3 million new homes by the end of my first term and. And provide first time homebuyers with $25,000 in down payment assistance. So they can just get their foot in the door. Kamala Harris [00:10:34] Cause unlike my opponent, who was basically handed $400 million on a silver platter and then filed bankruptcy six times, we know that most people need to just have the opportunity to actually get their foot in the door to achieve their dream and their aspirations. Kamala Harris [00:11:05] We also need to lower the cost of living. Because while our economy is doing well, by many measures, prices for everyday necessities like groceries are still too high. You know it and I know it. So I have a plan to lower costs on everything ranging from healthcare to groceries, including taking on corporate price gouging. Kamala Harris [00:11:31] And my plan includes giving a tax cut to 100 million Americans, including $6,000, by expanding the child tax credit for the first year of a child's life to help young and new parents buy a car seat, a crib, baby clothes in that most significant phase of their development. Kamala Harris [00:11:59] And all of this is to say, I will always put the middle class and working families first. I come from the middle class, and I have never forgotten where I come from, and I never will. And I never will. Kamala Harris [00:12:17] Now, Donald Trump, well, he has a different plan. And in many ways, you've heard me say before, he is an unserious man. Kamala Harris [00:12:29] But the consequences of putting him back in the White House are extremely serious. Extremely serious. Just Google project 2025, by the way. Can you believe they put that thing in writing? I mean, they put it in writing, they had it bound, and they handed it out. Kamala Harris [00:12:55] And if you get your hands on it or just Google it, let me tell you, it's a detailed and dangerous blueprint for what he will do if he were elected president again. If Donald Trump. Well, uh, you know what? The courts will take care of that. Let's take care of him in November. Kamala Harris [00:13:16] We'll take care of him in November. How about that? Kamala Harris [00:13:27] But if you look at what he's up to, Donald Trump will give billionaires and big corporations massive tax cuts. He intends to cut Social Security and Medicare, and he wants to impose what I call a Trump sales tax. Because here's the thing. What he is proposing would be a 20% tax on everyday necessities, basic necessities, which economists estimate will cost most working families more than $4,000 a year extra. Think about that. Kamala Harris [00:14:04] And, uh, on top of all of that, he intends to end the Affordable Care act. Kamala Harris [00:14:11] Remember, he tried 60 times when he was president. In fact, together with Tammy, I was a United States senator on the floor. I don't know where she is right now, but she'll remember. And we've talked about this. We were on the floor of the United States Senate in the middle of the night when one of those votes was up, when they were trying to get rid of the Affordable Care act. Kamala Harris [00:14:35] And we were all standing around after we all voted to protect the Affordable Care act, and we were all standing around, and then the big wooden doors to the Senate, well opened, and, and in walked the late, great John McCain. Remember that? And he said, no, you don't. He said, no, you don't remember that? Kamala Harris [00:15:03] But we were up against those kinds of attacks when he was president last time. And as he said in the debate, he intends to replace it, but has no plan. In fact, he has, quote, concepts of, uh, a plan, no actual plan concepts. Kamala Harris [00:15:29] So aside from that being laughable, it's very serious, because he's basically saying he would threaten the health insurance of 45 million people in our country based on a concept and take us back. Remember those days when insurance companies could deny people with preexisting conditions? Remember what that was like? Well, brother, we are not going back. We are not going back. Kamala Harris [00:16:04] We are not going back. We will not go back. Kamala Harris [00:16:20] No, we are not. We will move m forward. And just like Wisconsin state motto tells us, forward is where we go. Forward is where we go. Kamala Harris [00:16:38] Because ours, ours is a fight for the future, and ours is a fight for freedom, like the fundamental freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government telling her what to do. Kamala Harris [00:17:14] And we remember how we got here. Donald Trump, huh? Handpicked three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade, and they did exactly as he intended. And now, in more than 20 states, we have Trump abortion bans, many with no exceptions, even for rape and incest. Kamala Harris [00:17:36] It is immoral. It is immoral. Kamala Harris [00:17:46] And let us agree. Let us agree. One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree. The government should not be telling her what to do. Not the government, not the government. Kamala Harris [00:18:13] And yet, and yet, in our, uh, debate, Donald, um, Trump, huh. Said that everyone wanted to overturn Roe. Kamala Harris [00:18:26] I have talked with folks who are here. I have talked with women around our country and the people who love them. Women are being denied care during miscarriage marriages, some only being treated once they develop sepsis. They didn't want this. And we know that women have died because of Trump abortion bans. Kamala Harris [00:18:50] I was with a mother and the two sisters of a woman who died because of Trump abortion bans just last night, you know, and her mother said, the worst thing among the pain that she's experiencing is when she heard and reflects on what she was told, that it was preventable. Uh, preventable. Kamala Harris [00:19:23] And, you know, when that decision came down just over two years ago, we predicted this would happen. And it's preventable. You know, the young woman, she was a vibrant 28 year old young woman with a mother of a six year old son. Her name, Amber Nicole Thurman, who I promised her mother, I will say her name every time. I will say her name every time. Kamala Harris [00:19:56] And so Amber was a medical assistant. She had just learned that she was accepted to nursing school. She had her whole future planned out. And her sisters and her mother were describing her to me, and they said, you know, um, she had such light, and she had ambition, and she had drive, and she was so proud that she had worked so hard and she was finally gaining independence that she found an apartment in a safe community. It had a little pool where her son could play. Kamala Harris [00:20:30] And she was so proud. She was so proud and so hopeful. And then she discovered she was pregnant, and she decided to have an abortion. But because of the Trump abortion ban in Georgia, she was forced to travel out of state to receive the healthcare that she needed. And when she returned to Georgia, she needed additional care. Kamala Harris [00:20:51] So she went to a hospital in Georgia. But under the Trump abortion ban, her doctors could have faced up to a decade in prison for providing Amber the care she needed. And so she waited. For 20 excruciating hours. She waited as she deteriorated, and then she reached such a state, a critical state, that the doctors finally operated, and it was too late. Kamala Harris [00:21:29] And she died of sepsis. And recently, medical experts determined that Amber's death was preventable. Preventable. So understand what a law like this means, what these kinds of laws mean. These kinds of laws. Kamala Harris [00:21:47] Under Trump abortion bans, it means doctors may have to wait until the patient is at death's door before they take any action. Nobody wants that. What is he talking about? Nobody wants that. Are we saying going to craft now public health policy so that doctors only kick in when you're about to die? Kamala Harris [00:22:17] This is one example of what is happening around our country right now, and this is a health care crisis, and Donald Trump is the architect. So I will say to you, because of why we are here, we're going to get Tammy reelected to the United States Senate. Kamala Harris [00:22:40] And when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, as president of, uh, the United States, I will proudly sign it into law. Kamala Harris [00:22:57] Proudly. Kamala Harris [00:23:06] And across our nation, we are witnessing a, uh, full on assault on other hard fought, hard won fundamental rights and freedoms, like the freedom to vote, the freedom to be safe from gun violence, the freedom to join a union, the freedom to love who you love openly and with pride. Kamala Harris [00:23:37] So we know what we are up against. We are clear eyed about what we are up against. And we remember that generations of Americans before us, uh, led the fight for freedom. And now the baton is in our hands. Kamala Harris [00:24:00] Now it's an hour hand. It's an hour hand. Kamala Harris [00:24:09] And so much is on the line in this election, and this is not 2016 or 2020. The stakes are even higher, because remember, two months ago, the United States Supreme Court basically told the former president that he will effectively be immune no matter what he does in the White House. Kamala Harris [00:24:30] But think about that. Think about what that means. So before, at least, there was some threat of consequence, and now the court has made this decision. Think about that. Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails, he who has vowed to be a dictator on day one, he who has called for, quote, the termination of the constitution of the United States of America. Kamala Harris [00:25:03] And let us be very clear. Someone who suggests we should terminate the constitution of the United States should never again stand behind the seal of the president of the United States. Never again. Never again. Kamala Harris [00:25:32] Never again. Kamala Harris [00:25:39] So, Wisconsin, it all comes down to this. We are here together because we love our country. We love our country. And we understand the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on earth, the privilege and pride of being an American, the privilege and pride of being an American. Kamala Harris [00:26:12] And I do believe that it is one of the highest forms of patriotism to fight for the ideals of our country and to fight to realize the promise of America. Kamala Harris [00:26:35] So, Madison, election day. Yes, in 46 days. And early voting has already started in some states. Kamala Harris [00:26:48] Early voting in Wisconsin starts in just 32 days. And in fact, many of you may have already received your mail in ballots. Kamala Harris [00:27:00] Check this out. Early voting begins in Virginia and Minnesota today. Today. And don't we love Tim Holl. Kamala Harris [00:27:15] He's so good. He's so good. So all that to say, the election is basically here. It's basically here. And we have work to do to energize, to organize and to mobilize, and to remind everyone your vote is your voice, and your voice is your power. Kamala Harris [00:27:37] And never let anyone take your power from you. Kamala Harris [00:27:49] So, Madison, today I ask you, are you, are you ready to make your voices heard? Kamala Harris [00:27:57] Do we believe in freedom? Kamala Harris [00:28:01] 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 to, we win. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.