Kathy Hochul speaks at 2024 Democratic National Convention

Speaker 1 (00:00):Welcome New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

Kathy Hochul (00:13):Hello, Democrats.

Speaker 3 (00:15):Kathy, Kathy, Kathy, Kathy.

Kathy Hochul (00:19):

Are you ready to elect Kamala Harris President of the United States? Yes, you are. Yes, you are. Friends, like so many of us, my grandparents came from Ireland as teenagers with nothing but hope in their hearts and fire in their bellies. They built their lives in the promise land of Buffalo, New York. A union card meant good work at the steel plant, the steel plant that lifted my parents from living in a trailer to the middle class. Like other families in my blue collar community, they believed that with hard work, they could build a better future not just for themselves, but for those with less hope and less opportunity.
I’m proud of my roots and the values I learned: grit, determination, compassion. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz grew up with those same values, and those values have always defined the people of my state. Well, most of us, anyway. Donald Trump was born a New Yorker but ended up a fraud, a philanderer, and a felon. He wasn’t raised with the New York values that I know. He never had to worry about childcare costs or groceries or rent. He never had to worry about anything or anyone but himself.
Trust me, America, if you think you’re tired of Donald Trump, talk to a New Yorker. We’ve had to deal with them for 78 long years, the fraud, the tax dodging, the sham university, the shady charities. We’ve seen him stiff contractors, rip off workers. He abuses women, brags about it, and then takes away their rights, and New Yorkers are sick of it. It’s no wonder he had to flee to Mar-a-Lago. Sorry about that, Florida. Sorry about that.
Trump hasn’t spent much time in New York lately except, that is, to get convicted of 34 felonies. And that’s just fine with us because New York’s motto is excelsior ever upward, and Trump takes us ever downward because here’s what Trump never understood: America isn’t a luxury good to be bought and sold by the privileged and powerful few. America, we just can’t afford another four years of that. We have kids to feed, roads to build, jobs to create, real problems to solve, and we need leaders who can get it done.
Trump talked big about bringing back manufacturing jobs, but you know who actually did it? President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Thank you, Joe. Thank you, Kamala. And look no further than the city of Syracuse where a company called Micron is building a $100 billion microchip factory with union labor. It’s the largest private investment in American history, and it’s going to create 50,000 good paying jobs. The Biden-Harris administration has made the most significant investments in our economy and generations. And as president, Kamala Harris will continue to build an opportunity economy for all.
My friends, history’s watching us. Together, we must protect abortion rights. Together, we must protect the middle class. Together, we must protect the American dream. And together, we must elect Kamala Harris, president of the United States. Thank you.

 

Nancy Pelosi (00:20):Hello, California. Hello, Maryland. Hello, Democrats.
On January 20th, 2021 with the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, we established one of the most successful presidencies of modern times, and we quickly proved that Democrats deliver. Millions of jobs, stronger infrastructure on rural broadband, a Biden child tax credit, rescuing human pensions, honoring our veterans, bold climate action, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, all thanks to President Biden’s patriotic vision of a fair America, doing so with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Joe. And I know that Vice President Harris is ready to take us to new heights.
I’ve known Kamala Harris for decades. Personally, I know her a person of deep faith, which is reflected in her community care and service. Officially, she is a leader of strength and wisdom and eloquence on policy; most recently demonstrated fighting for women’s right to choose. Politically, she is astute and strategic in winning difficult elections; quickly securing the nomination with dignity and grace and choosing Tim Walz as our Vice President.
I had the honor of serving with Tim for 12 years in the Congress. He united Democrats, Republicans, and Independents to turn a red district blue. He showed courage when he came to Congress in voting for the Affordable Care Act, meeting the needs of his constituents despite Republicans’ lies and misrepresentation. When he went home, won the election, he returned to Congress; he fought for America’s heroes as the Democratic leader of the Veterans Affairs Committee. Thank you, Tim.
January 6 was a perilous moment for our democracy. Never before had a President of the United States so brazenly assaulted the bedrock of our democracy, so gleefully embraced political violence, so willfully betrayed his oath of office. Let us not forget who assaulted democracy on January 6. He did. But let us not forget who saved democracy that day. We did. And thank God we had a Democratic House of Representatives then. We returned to the Capitol that very same night. We insisted on certifying the election results on the floors of the House and the Senate, and we demonstrated to America and to the world that American democracy prevailed.
The parable of January 6 reminds us that our democracy is only as strong as the courage and commitment of those entrusted with its care and we must choose leaders who believe in free and fair elections, who respect the peaceful transfer of power. The choice couldn’t be clearer. Those leaders are Vice President Harris and Governor Walz.
When the sun rose on January 7, as our national anthem declares, we gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Now, in this election, we are called upon to do the same; to stand together, to reject autocracy, to choose democracy. And we will do so by electing a Democratic House with Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker of the House, electing a Democratic Senate, electing Tim Walz as Vice President of the United States, and electing Kamala Harris as the President of the United States. Onward to victory.

 

 

Speaker 1 (01:15):

You know what I love best about Kamala Harris? Kamala Harris can’t be bought, and she can’t be bossed around.

(01:29)
Now, I first met Kamala in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash. The banks had flat-out broken laws, cheated people, and stolen homes. Millions of Americans had lost their jobs, their savings, their homes. Now I was setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, go CFPB, Kamala was protecting families as California’s Attorney General, you bet, and Donald was scamming students at Trump University and trying to make money off people losing their homes. Kamala Harris stepped up. She enforced the law, she fought the giant banks, and she delivered billions of dollars of help for families.
That is the difference between a criminal and a prosecutor. You know what else I love about Kamala? She gets it. We need to make life more affordable for working people. Yeah. Donald Trump, the felon, has no plans to lower costs for families. He doesn’t know how. Basically, he doesn’t really care. When did he ever fill up a gas tank or worry about a grocery bill? The only bills he worries about are from his criminal defense lawyers. But Kamala, she cares deep down, and she will take on the giant corporations that are squeezing American families. In fact, it’s something she’s done before. During the California wildfires, she went after the price gougers. During the pandemic, we worked together in the Senate to stop price gouging, and as president, she will lower costs for your family.
She’ll take on the Wall Street firms that buy up millions of houses and apartments and then jack up the rent. She’ll take on drug companies that charge an arm and a leg for prescriptions. She’ll take on corporate monopolies that rip off consumers and billionaires who don’t pay taxes, and she’ll take on right-wing extremists who think they should decide who has access to abortion or IVF. Kamala will protect abortion rights nationwide. There it is, groceries, gas, housing, healthcare taxes, abortion. Trust Donald Trump and JD fans to look out for your family. Shoot, I wouldn’t let those guys. I wouldn’t trust them to move my couch.
We need Kamala Harris. This election is about your family and your future. I’ve seen Kamala Harris fight. I’ve seen her win, and when it comes to our families and our futures, Kamala Harris is someone we can trust. So here it is, with joy in our hearts. Let’s elect Kamala Harris, the next President of the United States.