James Talarico

We had to move venues a few times because we had so much interest out in deep red Longview.

And I remember I asked the audience, I said, uh,

Instead of, are you on the blue team or the red team?

I asked, do you have a parent or grandparent who needs care?

And you heard people agreeing.

I said, do you have a child or a grandchild who needs some kind of childcare, early childhood education and can't get it?

And there were nods of agreement.

I asked how many people here struggle with the burden of medical debt or credit card debt or student debt.

And you saw just heads nodding all over the room.

And I told the people there in Longview that I also know those things.

I have also struggled with those same burdens.

And so we're on the same team.

You're on my team and I'm on your team.

And the people at the very top who own the algorithms, who own the cable news networks, who own the politicians fighting on our screens, they wanna divide this team.

They want to pit us against each other.

They want us to be focused on how we're all different instead of on how we're all the same.

Because whether you're black, white, brown, whether you're a Christian, Jew, a Muslim, an atheist, whether you're urban, suburban, rural, blue team, red team, I don't care.

Like you can't afford anything.

You can't get ahead, no matter how hard you work.

And like, that's the real fight.