Video Remarks Announcing Candidacy for President

Amy and I are happy to share with you that I'm running to serve you as the next president of the United States of America.

This is a defining moment of truth for this country and for every single one of us.

The challenges that we face right now; the interconnected crises in our economy, our democracy and our climate have never been greater.

and they will either consume us, or they will afford us the greatest opportunity to unleash the genius of the United States of America.

In other words this moment of peril produces, perhaps the greatest moment of promise for this country and for everyone inside of it.

We can begin by fixing our democracy and ensuring that our government works for everyone and not just for corporations.

We can invest in the dignity of those who work and those who seek to work.

We can ensure that every single American can see a doctor and be well enough to live to their full potential.

And all of us, wherever you live, can acknowledge that if immigration is a problem, it's the best possible

problem for this country to have, and we should ensure that there are lawful paths to work, to be with family and to flee persecution.

We can listen to, and lift up rural America.

We can work on real justice reform, and confront the hard truths of slavery, and segregation, and suppression in these United States of America.

We can reassert our global leadership and end these decades-long wars, and be there for every woman and man who've served in them.

Perhaps most importantly of all, because our very existence depends on it. We can unleash the ingenuity and creativity of millions of Americans who want to ensure that we squarely confront the challenge of climate change before it's too late.

This is going to be a positive campaign that seeks to bring out the very best from every single one of us; that seeks to unite a very divided country.

We saw the power of this in Texas, where people allowed no difference, however great or however small, to stand between them and divide us. Whether it was religion, or gender, or income, or geography.

We put our labels and our differences aside to come together for the only thing that matters: the future of this country and the generations that will follow us.

Over the coming days I'm going to travel this country and listen to those who I seek to serve: To understand from your perspective how we can best meet these challenges.

On March 30, I will be back here in El Paso, Texas, and I invite you to join us in a kickoff for this campaign. But even if you cannot be here on March 30, I still want your help organizing where you live, bringing in friends and family and neighbors to the greatest grassroots campaign this country has ever seen.

There's a lot more to come, but I want to leave you with this.

The only way for us to live up to the promise of America is to give it our all and to give it for all of us. We are truly now more than ever, the last great hope of Earth.

At this moment of maximum peril and maximum potential let's show ourselves and those who will succeed us in this great country. Just who we are and what we can do. Thank you.