2020 Democratic National Convention Speech - Aug. 17, 2020

Hello, I'm senator Catherine Cortez Masto from Nevada. This year, more Americans than ever before are going to vote from rooms just like this. Marking their ballots at the kitchen table and exercising one of our most fundamental rights from home. But despite what the president says, voting by mail has been a secure, proven option for decades. In 2016, 33 million Americans voted by mail. Even Donald Trump has requested an absentee ballot twice this year. This fall some Americans will choose to vote in a voting booth with a mask on, while many of us will choose to vote by mail. My home state took the advice of scientists and medical experts and listened to the people of Nevada to put in place a vote by mail system so voters have a lot of options this fall. But Donald Trump is trying to divide us by undermining that right. He has threatened to withhold federal funding to Nevada because of our vote by mail system, that's funding our schools and seniors rely on. He has challenged us in court with a meritless lawsuit, one that our republican secretary of state has asked the judge to dismiss. And now he is putting the lives of Nevada's seniors at risk by trying to defund the post office. Here's what that means: seniors won't be able to get their prescriptions because he wants to win an election. Well Mr. President, Nevada is not intimidated by you. America is not intimidated by you. We are united by shared values, shared history and shared rights, including our fundamental right to vote. And this fall we will send Joe Biden to the White House and we'll flip the U.S Senate. With Mitch McConnell out of power and a democratic majority in the Senate, we will expand voting access and protect voting rights. To do this America, we need you on our side. So, go to joebiden.com right now to chip in and then head over to flipthesenate.com to help us take back the Senate. Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell know how to divide, but we know how to stand together and turn this country around.

Cortez Masto, C. M. [The Hill]. (2020, August 17). Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto speaks at the Democratic National Convention [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_DaaJatLZw]. Retrieved on August 30, 2020 from https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPWXiRWZ29zrxPFIQT7eHSA.