Thank you. Today, today you proved once again there’s no place
like home. You know, in this campaign we’ve won in every region
of the country. From New York to the South to the East to the
West. But this one’s personal. New Yorkers, you’ve always –
you’ve always had my back. And I’ve always tried to have yours.
Today, together, we did it again and I am deeply, deeply grateful. I
want to thank everyone who came out and voted, and to all of you
across New York who’ve known me and worked with me for so
long. It is humbling that you trust me with the awesome
responsibilities that await our next president. And to all the
people who supported Senator Sanders, I believe there is much
more that unites us than divides us.
You know, we started this race not far from here on Roosevelt
Island. Pledging to build on the progressive tradition that’s done
so much for America, from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama.
And tonight, a little less than a year later, the race for the
Democratic nomination is in the home stretch and victory is in
sight.
I want to say to all of my supporters and all of the voters, you have
carried us every step of the way with passion and determination
that some critics tried to dismiss. Because of you, this campaign is
the only one, Democrat or Republican, to win more than 10
million votes. I’m going forward because more voices remain to be
heard, and tomorrow it’s on to Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. We need you to be volunteering.
I hope you will join the 1.1 million people who’ve already
contributed at hillaryclinton.com – and by the way, most with less
than $100 – because we have more work to do.
Under the bright lights of New York, we have seen that it’s not
enough to diagnose problems. You have to explain how you have
to resolve them. That’s what we have to do together for our kids,
for each other, for our country. So I want you with me to imagine
a tomorrow where no barriers hold you back, and all of our people
can share in the promise of America. Imagine a tomorrow where
every parent can find a good job and every grandparent can enjoy
a secure retirement, where no child grows up in the shadow of
discrimination or under the specter of deportation, where hard
work is honored, families are supported, and communities are
strong, a tomorrow where we trust and respect each other despite
our differences because we’re going to make positive differences
in people’s lives. That is what this is supposed to be about,
actually helping people.
Now, we all know – we all know many people who are still
hurting. I see it everywhere I go. The Great Recession wiped out
jobs, homes, and savings, and a lot of Americans haven’t yet
recovered. But I still believe with all my heart that as another
greater Democratic President once said, there’s nothing wrong
with America that can’t be cured by what’s right with America.
That is, after all, what we’ve always done. It’s who we are. America
is a problem-solving nation. And in this campaign, we are setting
bold progressive goals backed up by real plans that will improve
lives, creating more good jobs that provide dignity and pride in a
middle class life, raising wages and reducing inequality, making
sure all our kids get a good education no matter what zip code
they live in, building ladders of opportunity and empowerment so
all of our people can go as far as their hard work and talent will
take them.
Let’s revitalize places that have been left out and left behind, from
inner cities to coal country to Indian country. And let’s put
Americans to work rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure,
including our failing water systems like the one in Flint, Michigan.
There are many places across our country where children and
families are at risk from the water they drink and the air they
breathe. Let’s combat climate change and make America the clean
energy superpower of the 21st century. Let’s take on the challenge
of systemic racism, invest in communities of color, and finally
pass comprehensive immigration reform. And once and for all,
let’s guarantee equal pay for women.
And we are going to keep our families safe and our country strong,
and we’re going to defend our rights – civil rights, voting rights,
workers’ rights, women’s rights, LGBT rights, and rights for
people with disabilities. Those are, after all, New York values, and
they are American values. And just as we did in this primary
campaign, we need to stand up for them through the general
election and every day after that.
You know, it’s becoming clearer that this may be one of the most
consequential elections of our lifetimes. Donald Trump and Ted
Cruz are pushing a vision for America that’s divisive and frankly
dangerous, returning to trickle-down economics, opposing any
increase in the minimum wage, restricting a woman’s right to
make her own health care decisions, promising to round up
millions of immigrants, threatening to ban all Muslims from
entering the country, planning to treat American Muslims like
criminals. These things go against everything America stands for.
And we have a very different vision. It’s about lifting each other
up, not tearing each other down. So instead of building walls,
we’re going to break down barriers. And in this campaign, I’ve
seen again our remarkable diversity and determination. This is a
state and a country. A bighearted, open-minded, straight talking,
hard-working people. Like John, the firefighter from the South
Bronx that I met shortly after 9/11 as he searched for survivors at
Ground Zero, and like so many others, John got sick breathing the
toxic air. When we met again last week, he gave me a replica of his
FDNY badge and thanked me for helping our first responders get
the healthcare they need. We have to keep fighting for John and
all of our firefighters and our police officers, our emergency
responders, and the construction workers who did so much.
Or Maxine. Maxine, a 27-year-old single mom from Staten Island
who’s here tonight. She shared with me how she her way out of
poverty, graduated from college. Thanks in part to the help she
got for her child from the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Or Mikey, from Stuyvesant Town, who spent – is Mikey here?
Well, I’ll tell you, Mikey spent six months in Rikers for a low-level
drug offense, and he found out how hard it is for people who’ve
done their time to find jobs when they get out. Mikey managed to
start his own ice cream shop. I took a lot of in or [...] through the
media there yesterday. I highly recommend it, as you might have
seen. I couldn’t stop myself from eating it, as soon as I had it. By
the way, he made a concoction for me called “Victory.”
But Mikey is one of the many reasons why we have to reform our
criminal justice system. And ban the box so others have a fair
chance of succeeding. New Yorkers and Americans speak every
language, follow every faith, hail from every continent. Our
diversity is one of our greatest strengths in the 21st century. Not a
weakness. As Robert Kennedy, whose Senate seat I was honored
to hold, once said, we are a great country, an unselfish country,
and a compassionate country. And no matter what anyone tells
you, or what you might hear from others running for president,
that is still true today. America is great, and we can do great
things if we do them together. So please join us. Text “JOIN,”
47246, go to hillaryclinton.com. Be part of this campaign.
I know how important it is that we get the campaign’s resources
from people just like you, who go in and chip in $5, $25. I am
grateful to every one of you. And to the volunteers who have
worked their hearts out, to the community leaders, members of
the state Senate and assembly, county executives, mayors of cities
large and small, and to the mayor of New York. Our borough
presidents, and our city council members. And to our governor,
our senators, our congressional members. And all of my friends
across this wonderful state of ours, thank you. We’re going to go
up against some powerful forces that will do, say, and spend
whatever it takes to stop us. But remember, it’s not whether you
get knocked down, it’s whether you get back up. And finally,
finally, let me say this.
Finally, let me say this. There is a remarkable young woman here
tonight. Her name is Erica. She lives the truth of what I’ve been
saying every day. Erica’s mother, Dawn, was the principal of
Sandy Hook Elementary School. And she died trying to protect
children, her students. Erica was devastated, as any family
member is, and she couldn’t imagine life without her mom but
then she got thinking. She got back up. She’d never been involved
in politics before, but she has made it her mission to advocate for
common sense gun safety reform. Like the mothers of Eric
Garner, and Trayvon Martin, and so many others, Erica has
turned her sorrow into a strategy, and her mourning into a
movement. It isn’t easy, but as Erica said the other day, what if
everyone who faced tough odds said, it’s hard, so I’m going to
walk away? That’s not the type of world I want to live in. Erica, it’s
not the type of world we want to live in, and we refuse to live in
that.
So, my friends, that’s the spirit that makes this country great. It’s
how New Yorkers pull together and rebuild our city after the worst
terrorist attack in our history. It’s how Americans worked our way
back from the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes, and it is how
we’re going to break down all the barriers holding us back. The
motto of this state is “Excelsior, ever upward.” So let’s go out and
win this election.