New to slow. Yes. Good to be back in Georgia. Yes, we can Welcome Yes, it's good to be back. Now. My first order of business. I want to find out who's scheduled me
after Baptist Preacher A hard act to follow but I'm going to do my best I'll listen backstage. Spirit was moving me Well, I miss you, too. I'm glad to be back. Oh, there's a reason that we are holding this rally on a Friday
instead of a Saturday. Because the number one team in the country is playing on Saturday,
and nobody wants to go up against the gods right now. The reason I'm here is even simpler than that. I am here to ask you to vote for your next Secretary of state. B win for your next governor. Stacey Abrams for congressman sanford bishop and to keep the reverend Dr.. Raphael Warnock in the United States
Senate you don't have to wait for November eight to cast your ballot. You can vote right now. Take a few minutes. Vote early at your polling place. They're open now until next Friday or you can vote at your polling place
on November 8th. And if you're not sure how or where to go. Just go to
I will vote dot com Let me repeat that. I will vote dot com. Find out where. Make a plan. I love you too,
but I still want you to vote and after you voted, I need you to grab your friends and your family. Round up Cousin Pookie. Make a plan to vote. Take them with you. If you vote early, take them with you. If you vote in person on Election Day. Because this election requires every single one of us to do our part. It is that important Now, I think it's fair to say that this country
has gone through some tough times these past few years. We have been through some stuff that we're just now coming out of a historic pandemic that wrecked havoc on families on schools, businesses, communities. Everybody was impacted A lot of folks lost people that they love. And the pandemic highlight it
and in some case cases made worse problems that we have been struggling
with for years. An economy that too often works for those at the very top,
but not for ordinary people. Communities where too many of our children are out of school and then they're out of work
and then they're out of hope. And that sometimes leads them to violence and despair an erosion of basic civility
and democratic norms in our politics. Not just here and around the world. And I want to take a moment just to say
a prayer for a friend of mine, Mr. Paul Pelosi, who was attacked a politics where were some in office
or who inspired office work to stir up division to to make folks as angry and as afraid of one another for their own advantage? And all of this has been amped up. Hyped up. 24 sevenths on social media on platforms that oftentimes find controversy
and conflict more profitable than telling the truth. So I get why people are anxious and I get why you might be worried I understand why it might be tempting sometimes
just to tune out to watch football
or Dancing with the Stars. But I'm here to tell you that tuning out is not an option And I despair is not an option. The only the only way to make this economy fair is if we all of us fight for The only way to save democracy is if we together
nurture it and fight for it. And that starts with electing people
who know you and see you and care about you. People who will struggle alongside young people who will fight for you. You and that's what you did two years ago when you sent
Joe Biden to the White House. Joe is fighting for you every day. He's got your back. He's doing everything he can
to put more money in your pockets. To make your streets safer and bring more good paying jobs here to Georgia. You did it twice when you voted twice to send Reverend Warnock to the U.S. Senate. Along with Jon Ossoff. And so now you need to do it again. Because there may be a lot of issues
at stake in this election. But but the basic question the fundamental question that you should be asking yourself
right now is who will fight for you? Who cares about you, who sees you, who believes in you? That's the choice in this election. Who who who will fight? Who will fight for working people
who are struggling to pay their bills Look, listen, listen. Inflation is a real problem right now. And by the way, it's
not just here in America. It's worldwide. It's one of the legacies of the pandemic. So the laws of supply and demand
got messed up and wreaked havoc on supply chains. And then you have a war in Ukraine that is not only engaging in incredible cruelty
towards the people of Ukraine, but it also sent energy prices
through the roof. So we're seeing gas prices go up, grocery prices, and that takes a real bite. Out of paychecks. It hurts on balance. But the question you should be asking is, who's
actually going to do something about it? Right. The Republicans talk a lot about it. But but what is their answer? What is their economic policy? I will tell you what it is because it's
the same answer they've got for everything. They want to gut social programs. They want to cut
Social Security, Medicare, and then they want
to give their rich friends a tax cut. Don't vote And the reason I can say with confidence
that they want to cut taxes for the wealthy and for corporations
is because that's the answer to everything when inflation is low. Let's just cut taxes when unemployment's high. Got to cut taxes. If there wasn't asteroid
heading towards Earth, they would all get room
and they'd say, you know what we need? We need tax cuts for the wealthy. That's going to solve it. How is that going to help you? I don't And on the other side,
you have Democrats like Reverend Warnock who have shown that they will take on the drug companies
to lower prices and get the oil industry to clean up
its act and pass laws to make housing more affordable and make sure big
corporations create jobs here in Georgia. Instead of overseas. Serious answers to serious problems. That's the choice in this election. That's what it's about right If you're watching TV, you've heard a lot about crime Violent crime has gone up over the last seven years,
not just the last two years, not just in liberal states,
but in conservative rural states, too. That's a serious problem. Who will fight to keep
you and your family safe? The Republican politicians who want to flood our streets
with more guns, who actually voted against more resources
for our police departments. It is somebody who carries around a phony
badge and says he's in law enforcement like he's a kid playing cops and robbers. Or is it leaders like Reverend Warnock and Jon Ossoff and Sanford Bishop,
who worked with President Biden to pass the first major gun
safety legislation in nearly 30 years? That's the choice in this election. That's what's at stake right now. Who will fight for your freedoms? Is it
some of these folks from the GOP politics as judges
who think they should get to decide? When you start a family,
how many children you have, who you marry, who you love,
do not vote Vote Or is it Democratic leaders who believe that the freedom
to make these personal, intimate decisions
belong to every American? Not politicians in Washington? That's the choice in this election. That's what you have to decide and who's going to fight to actually
make our democracy work for you. Is it some of these folks in the other party
that have promised if they get control of Congress, they'll spend the next two years
investigating their political opponents. Now, how's that going to help you
pay the bills? Or do you stand a better chance
with President Biden and Democratic leaders who work together
sometimes with Republicans, to pass an infrastructure bill
that will create new jobs, who've made health care and prescription
drugs more affordable, who've made the single largest investment
ever in the fight against a warming planet? That's the choice in this election. Between politicians who seem willing to do anything
to get power leaders who share our values, who see you and care about you, leaders who want to help make your lives better,
not theirs. Who want to move this country
forward, not backwards. And let me be clear about this, Georgia. This hasn't always been a partizan thing. My favorite president was a guy
named Abe Lincoln. He helped found the Republican Party. It used to be that there were GOP members who championed progress
and civil rights and rule of law. Even when some Democrats,
especially down in the South, did not That's part of our history. So it has not always
been one party or another. But these days, right now, just about every Republican politician seems obsessed with two things owning the libs and and getting Donald Trump's approval What do you say about both vote But but that's their agenda. It's not long. It's not complicated. And at least to me,
it's not very inspiring. They're not interested in actually solving
problems. They're interested in making you angry
and finding somebody to blame because that way you may not notice
that they've got no answers of their own. And then I can tell you what Stacey Abrams is obsessed with as a small business owner
and the daughter of two ministers, she's focused on making sure every Georgian
has an opportunity to get ahead. That's why she wants to invest Georgia's
surplus in the fundamentals good schools, a higher standard of living, more affordable health care and housing. That's her agenda. I can tell you what Raphael Warnock cares about. As your senator, he hasn't been off chasing wacky conspiracy theories. He hasn't been drumming up
fear in division. He's been working to lower prescription
drug costs and boost manufacturing
jobs and expand health care for veterans who got sick fighting
for the United States of America. That's who Reverend Warnock is. That's his agenda. That's who Stacey Abrams is. That's her agenda. They are both hardworking, God-Fearing community serving people who tell the truth
and stick to their word. Treat everybody with decency and respect Those are the values they bring to bear. Which brings me to Reverend Warnock's,
opponent It's a study in contrasts Now, there are a lot of young people here I love. Yes. That makes me excited. Some of you may not remember, but Herschel Walker
was a heck of a football player. I mean I mean,
some of you are too young to remember, but in college, he was amazing. One of the best running backs of all to But but but here's the question. Does that make him the best person
to represent you in the U.S. Senate? Does that make him equipped to weigh in on the critical decisions about our economy
and our foreign policy and our future? But let let's do a thought experiment. Let's say you're at the airport and you see Mr. Walker and you say, hey,
there's Herschel Walker, Heisman winner. Let's have him fly the plane. You probably wouldn't say that. You'd want to know. Does he know how to fly an airplane? Or let's say you go to the hospital and and you sit. You say, you know that Walker guy,
he sure could turn up at Sanford Stadium, give him a scalpel No, you wouldn't say that. You'd ask at least outward. Has he done surgery before? And by the way, the opposite is true, too. Like, you may have liked me as president,
but you would not want me starting to tell that for the notes. I mean, can you imagine my slow, old,
skinny behind getting hit by some £300 defensive tackle who runs a 46 quarter? You'd have to scrape me off the field. No, I can't No, I can't. I'm good at a lot of things, but that would not be one of those things
that I'm good at. I mean, I can still hit a jump or not. But you wouldn't
want me on a football field running between the tackle and the gun. But my point is not that being a football player
disqualifies you from being a senator. If you had put in the work but in the case of Reverend Warnock's opponent,
there is very little evidence that he has taken any interest bother to learn anything
about or displayed any kind of inclination
towards public service or volunteer work. Or helping people in any way. At least we don't really know about it. And that does make you suspect Seems to me he's a celebrity who wants to be a politician. And we've seen how that goes. We've seen that before. And I'll make one more point as a general rule. I am not big on poking into people's
private lives I've always felt that that stuff is between a candidate and their family. But you know what's not between them and their family? Are issues of character being in the habit of not telling the truth. Being in the habit of saying one thing and doing another, being in the habit of having certain rules
for you and your important friends and other rules for everybody else that says something about the kind of leader you're going to be And if a candidate's main qualification
is that he's going to be loyal to Donald Trump,
it means that he's not really going to be thinking about you and your needs
and you deserve better. Georgia deserves better. You deserve somebody who's independent
and who's going to go work every day
and fight for you. Somebody like Brother Rafael Warnock,
who's been doing it all his life responsibly, conscientiously effectively, not just in the Senate,
but throughout his entire career, You deserve somebody who's also going to stand up for a woman's right to make her own health care decisions. Abortion is controversial in this country and I genuinely believe
there are people of good conscience who may differ from me on this issue. But we should all agree
that women everywhere should be able to control have a say in what happens with their own bodies. It shouldn't be controversial to say that the most personal of health care
choices should be made by a woman and her daughter, not by a bunch of mostly male politicians And that's why when the Supreme Court
struck down Roe versus Wade, it was a wake up call for a lot of people,
especially young women. Who may have taken Roe for granted. All right. It was a reminder
that a politicized court can reinterpret what we thought were well settled. Constitution no rights. Yeah. It's a reminder that history doesn't
just move forward. It can go backward to if Republicans take back the House
and the Senate. We could be one presidential election
away from a nationwide ban on access to abortion. And that might just be the beginning. I taught constitutional law
for over a decade. And I can tell you this if a court does
not believe in a zone of privacy that allows us to make certain decisions without government interference, then other freedoms we take for granted are also at risk. And I'm not just making this up. I'm not trying
to, you know, get everybody anxious. Justice
Thomas wrote as much in the Don's opinion. He said as much. If there is no right to privacy,
then same sex marriage could be addressed almost every
Republican in the House of Representatives has already voted against guaranteeing
a right to use contraception. The basis for that original decision
saying we had a right to contraception was a right to privacy, a zone
in which the government can interfere if they take power back. There's no guarantee that
that won't be next. So all of these issues are at stake in this election. And if that's not worth
15 minutes of your time, I don't know what is I don't know what it is. But just in case you need another reason to vote with me, consider the fact that democracy itself is also on the ballot I have to admit, sometimes going out on the campaign trail
feels a little harder than it used to And not just because I'm older and grayer, little stiffer Michelle says I'm still cute, though, But that back back when I back
when I was first running for office, people didn't agree with me on everything but we could at least talk to each other maybe once in a while. We could persuade each other
we could be civil towards each other. And that's why I ended up getting a whole bunch of Republican votes. And after I won, John McCain, my opponent, graciously
conceded, gave me a call publicly. Wish me luck for the sake of the country. And there was a peaceful transfer of power that basically foundation of our democracy is being called into question right now. Democrats aren't perfect. I'm the first one to admit it. Politicians, just like all of us, can make mistakes but right now, with a few notable exceptions, most of the GOP
and a whole bunch of these candidates are not even pretending
that the rules apply to them anymore. They are just making stuff up Late last year, Stacey's opponent signed one of the most aggressive voter
suppression laws in the country. And later on, he admitted he was, quote, I'm quoting here, frustrated
with the results of the 2020 election. So he, quote,
did something about it, unquote. Yeah. Now, let me tell you something. First time I ran for Congress,
I was already in the state legislature. I ran for Congress. I lost the primary by 30 points. Got what It was embarrassing. I had to go out the next day. I had a big L on my it And let
me tell you, I was frustrated, too. You know what I didn't do, though? I didn't claimed
that the election was rigged. I didn't try to stop votes
from being counted. I didn't inside a mob
to storm the Capitol. I took my lumps. I figured out why my campaign hadn't
connected to voters. I tried to run a better race the next time And by the way,
I won the next time because that's how the system works. Look, I get that. I get the democracy might not seem
like a top priority right now. One of the more depressing headlines
I saw was in a newspaper they've done a survey showed. 75% of Americans
think that democracy is seriously at risk. But it's not their top priority. But I get that folks got bills to pay. They're worried about this. Keep on keeping on getting by and it doesn't always feel like the political process is working for you
when you don't see enough progress on the issues
that matter to you and your family. I understand this But we have seen throughout history. We see now around the world what happens if we give up on democracy. We can see in other countries
where the government tells you what books you can read and cannot read. Countries that put dissidents
and reporters in prison. Countries where it doesn't matter who you vote for, the people in power
will do whatever they want. Where corruption is rampant because there's no accountability When true democracy goes away. People get hurt. Yeah, it has real consequences. And that's why
generations of Americans have fought and some have died for the idea of self-government and set up rules to make it work. That's why folks right here in Georgia and all across this country fought. And some died to make sure that everybody
had the right to participate in this government. That's why that's why we teach our kids, even when they're little certain rules
about what's what's fair and what's honest, rules about how we should make decisions together
as a group. Everybody gets to say
everybody got to turn If you don't get your way,
don't throw a tantrum about it. Don't take your ball and go home. Get over it. Try to do better. In the next year. And that's what I mean when I say democracy's
at stake in this election. That's why it's not enough to elect
Democrats at the top of the ticket. We need to elect
good people up and down the ballot. Across the country. Some of the folks who tried to undermine
our democracy are running for office
that will oversee the next election. And if they win there's
no telling what might happen. And that's why we need to work
just as hard to elect secretaries of state like me when we got to fight for them. Just like we fight to elect
governors and senators who care about you, because if things get close,
they can make all the difference. And guess what? Now you get to make a difference to how you know, we joke in my house. Michelle, chill. Admit this. She can be a little glass half empty sometimes. And the hope and change got so I'm usually a little more optimistic But sometimes Michelle gets down
about the state of the country. In the state of the world, and I'll tell her everything will be okay. And I believe it will But I also know that things will not be okay on their own. We have to fight for this. Democracy is not self-executing. It depends on us. Working, nurturing, caring for it. Not just on Election Day,
but every day in between. It depends on us as citizens
saying This matters. This election matters. Georgia These are tough times. The good news, though, is
we've been through tough times before. The important thing is to resist the temptation
to give up. To turn inward. To see politics as a means zero sum game where anything goes
and rules are made to be broken. And the only way for people like us to win is if people like them lose I don't I don't believe in those politics because even in our darkest moments, and there have been darker moments
in this country before, we have always had more in common than our politics. Suggest Even when times are tough. What unites us has always been stronger
than what divides us. There have always been certain values
that bind us together as citizens, no matter who we are, where we come from,
what we look like or who we love. That's the promise of America. That's who we are. And in this election, you have a chance
to vote for leaders like me win. And Stacey Abrams and Sanford Bishop and Raphael Warnock, who will fight for that big, inclusive, hopeful, forward
looking America that we believe in, an America
that doesn't fear the future, that meets its challenges
honestly and boldly on America, where we may up fix all our problems overnight,
but where we can make things better and Atlanta better is worth fighting for. So if you're scared don't put your head under the covers. If you're anxious, don't put your head in the sand. If you're frustrated right
now, don't complain. Don't you now don't get bamboozled and fall
for the okey doke. Then nothing that you say matters. I need you to get off your couch and vote. Put down your phone and give ticktock a rest and vote. Vote for this whole incredible Georgia Democratic ticket
that help your friends and family members, your neighbors
and your coworkers do the same because enough of us if enough of us make our voices heard, I promise you things will get better. We will heal what ails us. We will restore our democracy. We will build a country
that is more fair and more just and more equal and more free. That's our task. That's our responsibility. Let's go do Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, George. I love the table. About to turn the table back. To turn the table back to turn. Yeah. I haven't done much of my I'm trying to give my my run my city color. I've got to die down. But I'm under pressure to implement
Crisco. Look at what my face goes away in a day
when I'm in a rage. I got to cool down,
but I'm under pressure. I keep my hands to the mine clean. Got a new agenda for the new dream.
