It is so great to see you – those of you here in the hall, those of you at home, online. I love seeing all of you.
I want to begin by thanking my nominators, Danielle Allen, Grace, and my brother, Terrence.
I also want to begin by thanking two special women – Suzanne Bob for her service – thank you, Suzanne, for your service and – congratulations, Deb Goldberg, for your nomination as treasurer. Two strong women and friends who've been on the front lines fighting for all of us.
And speaking of strong women, I also want to take a moment to thank Senator Chang-Diaz. I am proud to stand with you in service and to be part of this historic campaign.
There's one more person I want to mention – my mother, Tracy, who's here today. As you saw, I’m the oldest of five and when I was 10 my parents split up and I remember two things happening. The first thing my mom did is she sold her wedding ring and she used the money to pave half a basketball court out behind our old farmhouse. The next thing she did is she went back to work as a nurse. I remember as a child listening to her car pull out of our gravel driveway early in the morning. She'd be going down to take care of an older man down the way. She'd hustle home to get us breakfast, get us off to school, and then she would go to work as a school nurse. From her I learned about caring, empathy, hard work, selflessness, and sacrifice. I would not be here today without my mom. Thank you, Mom.
Eight years ago in this very hall, I stood before you as a first-time candidate and asked for your support. I remember it like it was yesterday. Running up and down the concrete steps, jumping over railings. I was excited, full of energy and urgency and well, yeah, I’m a little older. I have even more energy, more excitement, more urgency, and I am more prepared than ever to do what needs doing.
I told you then that if you joined our team and we won that race that we'd stand for equality and justice, that weld tackle our biggest problems, we'd never shy away from taking on powerful interests or forces or challenges.
With your help we won that race and we made history, and since then we've worked every day together to make good on those promises, right. It's why we took on the NRA and enforced strong gun laws in this state. We took on Exxon Mobil for lying about climate change and we took down the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma for fueling the opioid epidemic.
Now, I don't think, I don't think that any of us could have predicted that Donald Trump would become our president. So we all got to work. Democrats got to work and we worked together to protect Dreamers and the Affordable Care Act; to stand for our climate, labor, women, children, and fairness and decency.
It's been the honor of my life to serve as your attorney general and I would not be here without all of you. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
But I’m here today because we got a lot more to do. We got a lot more to do. I am asking for your support in a new role, in a new responsibility.
You see, we're in a moment, a moment of great challenge, but also a moment, Massachusetts, of great opportunity. And we've seen the loss, the heartache, the hardships, the problems only made worse throughout this pandemic.
We've also seen it bring out the best in us.
And you see, at the end of the day I believe, I believe in our people and I believe in our state. I believe in our promise and in our potential. And I believe that this is our moment right now to tear down the barriers that have held too many back for far too long, to come together to lift one another up, to bring opportunity to every person in every region all across this state.
And that is why I’m asking for your endorsement to be the next governor of Massachusetts. [Applause]
Now, when I’m out traveling this state, I see it and you see it. People are hurting – the single mom struggling to stay in her home, the senior who can't afford groceries, the small business owner who's had to make hard decisions and lay people off, and everyone who's paying 70 bucks for guests.
You know, I think about the women right now who can't afford to return to work because of the high cost of childcare, about our residents breathing polluted air, families without access to mental healthcare, parents wondering if their kids will come home safe from school.
Know that these are the people who drive me, these are the people who fuel our campaign.
I’m going to be a governor for all of you. [Applause]
With everything going on, with everything going on this should be a time for people coming together, and instead across this country, I see people moving further and further apart. The anger, the division, the divisiveness, the rancor. Too many, too many and especially shameless, gutless politicians looking to exploit fear, vulnerability, to marginalize others, all for their own selfish political gain. That's what's happening.
They even say things, they even say things that they're doing, things in the, in the name of freedom.
Now let's be clear – their version of freedom is deciding whose vote can count. Real freedom is making sure that every vote counts.
Their freedom, their freedom is teenagers being able to go buy assault rifles. Real freedom is making sure that our children return home from school safe every day.
Their freedom is telling women what they can do with their bodies. Real freedom is telling them our choice is none of their damn business.
We, we stand for the freedom to vote, to be safe, to love who we choose, and to control our own bodies, and for the belief that freedom is something that belongs to all of us.
Now there are some who say that Republicans in this race are different here in Massachusetts. Give me a break. Look at that convention two weeks ago – so much hatred and vitriol.
They're going to take us backwards on racial justice, immigration, gun violence, reproductive rights and climate change and more.
The choice in this co, in this election could not be more clear. This is going to be a choice between progress or partisanship, between delivering for people or dividing them.
Our campaign, our campaign is about coming together.
I want to be really clear about that. It's about coming together to fight for things that matter, that actually matter to the families and the communities all across Massachusetts. That's, that's what we stand for.
Now, the other side is mobilized. They're fired up. They think that this is their moment. They expect to claim governors’ offices all across the country, including here.
But not here not in Massachusetts, because this is our moment. We're going to win because of our ideas and our urgency to act in Massachusetts. We have the best people, innovation and know-how in the world, but we know that too many people are stuck and falling further behind, unable to build the brighter future because of the barriers in their way.
So we're going to change that, starting with our economy. We're going to put money back in people's pockets by cutting costs of housing, energy and healthcare. We're to create housing all across the state so people who live here and people who come here can actually afford to stay here. We're going to invest in our workforce, because better job training means good-paying jobs for everyone across the state. And while we're at it, we're going to make sure that our workers have the right to organize and earn a living wage.
Let's also make west-east rail a reality and build transportation projects that connect our entire state. Let's pass a fair share amendment. Let's make sure, let's make sure that education in this state starts with early education. And let's pay our childcare workers and make it affordable for all.
Let's declare that mental health is a healthcare need, and let's pass same-day voter registration.
And let's be clear – as long as I’m governor, we're going to protect access to safe, legal abortion. We're going to treat the climate crisis not only as our greatest threat but our greatest opportunity, where Massachusetts could shine, building a climate corridor for the Berkshires to New Bedford.
We're going to do this together folks.
And I’ll tell you what – as a civil rights lawyer, we're gonna center equity in all that we do. We are gonna defeat and dismantle the structural racism that has persisted for centuries. We're gonna do this in Massachusetts and everyone is gonna win. I’ll tell you that.
Remember Massachusetts – we've been the first universal healthcare, marriage equality, first public school, public library in the country. Let's draw upon that great spirit once again. Let's draw upon that, okay?
We never back down when people are counting on us. It's time to tap into who we are by coming together, by working together, by acting together.
Let's get out there and knock doors and elect Democrats up and down the ballot. Because in Massachusetts, we don't follow – we lead.
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