Remarks at the New Hampshire Democratic Party Convention in Manchester

Hello New Hampshire Democrats!

Thank you. This means the world to me.

So I never thought I would get into politics, but the first lesson I learned is no one does this on their own. So thank you to every volunteer, every organizer, every door knocker, every phone banker, every five dollar donor, thank you from the bottom of my heart. This is how we build a movement.

And thank you to our Chair Ray Buckley who makes it happen every day. And my great partners in the United States Senate, Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen. Go Jeanne.

So I grew up out in Oklahoma in a paycheck-to-paycheck family. I've had the same dream since I was in second grade. I wanted to be a public school teacher. There it is. My path was a little bumpy, my family didn't have any money, I dropped out of school at 19 and got married. But my big chance was what was then a commuter college that was about 45 minutes away and cost 50 dollars a semester. I held on for dear life. I've lived my dream job, I've been a special needs teacher.

And for anyone here who doesn't really know teachers, let me tell you two things about us. And that is we aren't afraid and we never give up.

So here's the fight we are in right now. We need to win in 2020 – anybody in here want to win in 2020?

So let's talk about how it's done. Part one, we need to talk honestly about what is broken in America. We have a country that is working great for the wealthy and leaving everybody else behind. We have a country where our economy, our democracy, our government are working for those with money and not so much for anyone else. When you see a government that works for the rich and not for anyone else, that is corruption pure and simple and we need to call it out for what it is: corruption.

Pick any issue: tax breaks that favor the rich, environmental regulations that favor polluters, racial wealth gap that holds back families, and the list goes on. Child care, housing, guns, health care. Whatever decision gets you up in the morning, whatever issue brings you into the fight, here's what I guarantee: if there's a decision to be made in Washington, it's been influenced by money. It's been shaped by money. It's been decided by money. So here's what we have to do. We start by calling out, honestly, what is broken, the corruption in the system. And then we show we've got plans to fix it.

You know, here's my view: you really want to change something, then you better have a plan to get it done. And here's what I want to change, I want an economy that doesn't just work for those at the top. That means we need more power in the hands of workers. Make it easier to join a union and give unions more power when they negotiate.

Unions built America's middle class, and unions will rebuild America's middle class.

And there's another way we can make this economy work for everyone. It's time for a wealth tax in America.

[Crowd chants: "Two cents!"]

Two cents. You got it.

So, so here's how it works. Your first 50 million dollars free and clear. Whew, said some of you.

But your 50 millionth and first dollar, you've gotta pitch in two cents and two cents for every dollar after that. Two cents!

This hits the top one-tenth of 1% of great fortunes in this country. And what can we do with two cents? We can do universal child care for every baby in this country age zero to five – two cents! Universal pre-K for every three year old and four year old in this country – two cents! Raise the wages of every child care worker and preschool teacher in this country – two cents! We can do all of that, and we can make technical school, community college, and four-year college free for everyone who wants an education – two cents!

And we can be real about leveling the playing field. We can put $50 billion into our Historically Black Colleges and Universities – two cents. And just one more I'll mention. We can do all of that and cancel student loan debt for 95 percent of the folks who got it – two cents. Two cents.

So, there it is. We talk about what's broken, and we show our plans to make real change. Plans that touch people's lives. And third, we build a movement to make it happen all across this country.

Now, you know me and you know the kind of campaign I'm running. I don't go behind closed doors to fancy fundraisers with corporate CEOs and millionaires. Instead, I spend time with you. Isn't that right? So far, 26 states and Puerto Rico, 129 town halls, thousands of unfiltered questions, and the real measure of democracy – more than 50,000 selfies. There it is.

You know, I get it that in America, there are gonna be people who are richer and people who are not so rich. And the rich are gonna own more shoes and they're gonna own more cars and they may even own more houses. But they shouldn't own more of our democracy.

And that's what this movement is all about. That's what this movement is all about. Since January, we've gotten more than a million contributions to this campaign. We're building a grassroots movement.

And here's the key. It's a grassroots movement not just so we can win at the top, but grassroots movement so we win up and down the ticket, Jeanne Shaheen I'm looking at you.

And one more. A movement that says let's get rid of Governor Veto. C'mon!

I get it. I get it. There is a lot at stake and people are scared. But we can't choose a candidate we don't believe in because we're scared.

And we can't ask other people to vote for someone we don't believe in. We win when we call out what is broken, when we show how to fix it, and when we build a grassroots movement to get it done.

[Crowd chants: "Win with Warren!"]

I am not afraid and for Democrats to win, you can't be afraid either. This is our moment in history. This is our moment to dream big and fight hard. Thank you.