Good afternoon, Georgia I am Niki Williams chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia and now proudly the the Congresswoman elect from fifth Congressional District. It’s great to be here this afternoon and it’s also great to be with so many Georgians who are ready to send my friends, John and Rafael Ward to the United States Senate Y’all. We’ve came so far together and Georgia Democrats have done what others thought was impossible. We flipped Georgia Blue Georgians already. Knew it, but we’ve proved it to the entire nation that Georgia is ready for big change last month, We delivered our sixteen electoral college votes to President elect Joe Biden and my soar Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and we’re about to deliver not one but two Georgia Democrats to the United States Senate in January. I couldn’t be more proud of Georgia Democrats and the accomplishments that we’ve made together but Y’all we’re not done yet all eyes are on. We will single-handedly determine the future of our country covet relief health care the John Lewis Voting Rights Act The stakes just couldn’t be higher and it all comes down to Georgia and not only are Georgians counting on us The entire country is counting on us a vote for John and were not doesn’t just mean change for Georgia working families across America will benefit from the hard work that we’re putting in today. Our win in November was not simply look our win is a direct result of the sweat and tears of Georgia Democrats over the years is taking us years of deep organizing and mobilizing voters years of reaching out to overlook Georgians and reminding them of the power of their voice and their vote Their true heroes of the 2020 election cycle, where the Georgia voters who use the power of their voices while I do love to. About our incredible staff and volunteers and all of the hard work that is shaped Georgia for years to come, it was Georgia voters who showed up and showed out at the ballot box. It was the Georgia voters during the early voting period who brought folding chairs and waited hours to cast their ballot. It was the Georgia voters who applied for their absentee ballots and promptly mail them back in it was the Georgia voters who weren’t quite sure that their vote would make a different. But they showed up on election day anyway to make their voices heard Georgia voters did this and we’ll do it again. Don’t get me wrong. It’s gonna be a close election every vote will make a difference and every vote matters. there’s a lot of noise trying to distract us right right now, Democrats are doubling down to engage with and support voters at every level from voter registration to the ballot box. It’s all hands on deck and we need folks to. And volunteer, we need you to help us to reach out to Georgia voters to make sure that they’ve got the tools they need to safely and securely cast their ballot. so visit us at Georgia Democrat. That’s Georgia spelled out Georgia Democrat.org slash events to join the fight. We need every single concern citizen to pitch in and help us make history with your help We will send John and Rafael War to the United States Senate. It’s time for. Republicans to face the consequences of their complicity and on January 5th, we’re gonna send David Purdue and Kelly packing the opportunity to send not one but two Democrats to the United States. Senate is the chance of a lifetime so so not waste it Y’all volunteer and vote, and let’s get it done. Thank you so much. I’m at Mayor Keisha Lance bottoms. I’m reminded of a quote by Atlanta’s native son doctor Martin Luther King junior, who said we are not makers of history. We are made by history I’ve often wondered what he meant by that, but as we are on the eve of one of the most important elections in our country and in our states history, what I know to be true is this generations that come. After us, we’ll ask where did we stand at this time when we’ve asked our grandparents and our parents where they were during the civil rights movement, some said they swept floors, Others said they marched others, said they made sandwiches others have said I voted that’s what we have to be able to tell our children’s children that we stood up and we made a difference that when the opportunity for our nation to. Take a turn for the better was presented to us. We did all in our power to make a difference so all of us may not be able to mobilize and knock on doors and make phone calls, but you can vote you can also take the opportunity to make sure that those in your household go and vote John and Rafael War two men of principle two men of. Conscience two men that can help us change the courts of this nation. All eyes are on Georgia right now, but the power is within us so remember you have until December 7th to register to vote early voting starts December 14th and the election is on January 5th. Let’s do what so many before us have done. They change the world simply by standing up and being counted our votes will reflect our voices and what our voices say loud and clear in this state is that we need people of good conscience so that our children’s children will have a better future ahead. Thank you. Low Georgia Thank you so much for joining us for this extraordinary moment where we will bring together our two candidates for the US Senate Reverend Rafael and John Ossoff with the Forty-fourth president of the United States President Barack Obama. But before I bring them on, I wanna talk about why we’re here you may remember a few weeks ago. We did something no one expected We turned Georgia Blue We won this election decisively and despite the number of recounts it keeps giving us the same answer that Georgia. Showed up that Georgians showed up and that we decided that we wanted to move this nation in the right direction that we needed leadership that understood that the coveted pandemic deserves to be met with the ferocity and the intentionality of both science and a and a moral vision. that says that we can make things better that we deserve justice in this nation nation for every person and that we are at a moment where our economy desperately needs tending and it cannot be simply measured by the stock market. It has to be measured by by what’s happening to at the supermarket we have. Now where we have a president-elect in Joe Biden and the Vice Hadn’t been able to do in 28 years, but in this moment we know what’s going to happen. We know that we can continue to rely on the new voices that have come from young people who search from fourteen to 16% of our electorate. We can increase the participation of Asian American and Pacific Islander voices who between 2016 and twenty increase their participation by 91% our Latino voices were amplified by 72% over twenty African-American voices increased by 20% and the white. Increased by 16% and I list everyone of those communities because no one community can do it alone. We are a nation that is built on our diversity and we are a state that reflects that diversity more than any other battleground state ever has and what we can do in. this moment is recognize that if we elect John Ossoff, if we elect Rafael War, we are electing the future We’re electing two men who have given their lives to service who, despite not having the titles have always been willing to. The work to men that I count not only as my candidates, but as my friends and I look forward to introducing you to each of them. But for now I’m gonna start with my dear friend, The Reverend Rafael warn. I’m at Reverend mono 15 years ago when he came to Pastor Ebenezer Baptist Church, but I got to know him best in 2014 when I launched a little project called the New Georgia Project to register the unregistered 800000 people of color when I reached out to war and said, I need some help. I need someone to stand with me and talk about why this matters he didn’t bulk, He didn’t. He not only stepped up, he stood firm and he defended those voices. He has worked tirelessly throughout his tenure as the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church to ensure that the left behind and the left out do not get forgotten when he is in the room and that’s why we need to send him to the US Senate because he understands that what we’re talking about access to health care access to jobs or access to justice that we need to have someone who’s understood what it means to be without those things and someone who will. Put the people over profit and so please join me in welcoming my friend and our next US Senator Reverend Rafael War Well, thank you so very much Stacey. It’s always great to be with you and I have enjoyed over the years uh getting uh into good trouble as John Lewis used to put it uh with you uh good afternoon, Georgia and thanks to everybody for joining us today and of course to be with Stacey and uh with John. Uh in this fight together and all of us are deeply honored as always to be with President Barack Obama who inspires us all in so many ways uh I wanna thank our uh congresswoman uh Williams Congresswoman elect and I wanna thank Atlanta’s uh great Mayor Keisha Lance bottoms uh for taking the time uh this afternoon to help us to get out the vote. Well, I’ve been travelling all across the state. I have been. Making my way into cities and towns and uh when I go into these small towns often they’re surprised that I’m there. I’m surprised that they’re surprised They say that they’re not accustomed to people running for the Senate or serving dropping by these little towns, which is strange to me because and I running to be the next two senators for the whole state of Georgia and uh as I encounter people in their stories, I’ve been thinking a whole. Lately about my dad uh I grew up as one of twelve children in public housing. We were short on money but long on faith and we have deep sense of values and hard work. My dad used to wake me up every morning 7 days a week 6 AM and he said son get up get dressed put your shoes on and get ready and uh sometimes I didn’t understand it was Saturday morning. morning. I say get for what he said. I don’t know. I figured out a little bit later but just get ready and he just wanted me to. Ready and uh that was a life lesson that I’ve taken with me all of my journey and I just wanna say to Georgians this afternoon that it’s time for all of us to get ready. put our shoes on uh the battle is not over. uh we’ve got a race in front of us and we intend to win and we need all Georgians to recognize this deciding moment. That is the inflection point in our country and George is at the. Of that inflection point, if you wanna protect health care coverage for the 1.8000000 Jordans with the preexisting condition, get your shoes on and get ready if you want pandemic relief for the Georgians who’ve had to close their doors to the dream business that they started from scratch. put your shoes on and get ready if you’re concerned about our teachers and our front line workers and their ability to do the work that they’re so deeply committed to. it’s time for you to put your shoes on and get ready. If you want a US Senate that takes on the challenges our country is facing and will partner with President-elect, Biden and Vice President-elect Harris to deliver for Georgia. Uh we need to put our shoes on and get ready to vote uh the wind is at our back. The momentum is with us, The other side knows it. they’re running scared and they should be uh but this is our moment. We’re delighted that George is on everybody’s mind and we need all. To stand up in this defining moment in American history and when the future for all of our children again, thank you all for joining us and I look forward to the conversation. Thank you so much Reverend mono you talked about getting ready and I wanna just point out that we’ve hit a milestone in Georgia already where more than 1000000 Georgians who applied for absentee ballots and we encourage everyone who needs to make a plan to vote to go to vote.com so you can apply for your absentee ballot. Find out about how early voting starts in Georgia on December 14th and if you’re not registered to vote yet or if you got someone who’s gonna be eighteen by January 5th, make sure that you go to that. Site so you can learn how to get them registered to vote by December 7th, One of the reasons we need folks to get registered and to make their plan is to not only send Rafael War to the US Senate, but we always know we need help and the partner that he deserves the partner that Georgia deserves is a young man that I had a chance to meet for the first time in 2017 I served as Democratic leader and there are a lot of folks who came by my office to ask for my support for a special election that was occurring in 2017. but what was so remarkable. About John Ossoff was that he didn’t just come with a plan he came with questions he wanted to know about what he needed to do build a multi-racial multi-ethnic multi generational coalition it would take to win that district and what was so impressive about John was not just that he asked for advice he listened John makes it his mission to understand as an investigative journalist as a documentary as someone who runs a small business, he understands. Important it is that we not only ask the right questions but that we listen to the answers we’re given and that we do our best to make certain that right always wins He is fighting a battle against someone who spent 6 years years meeting with his constituents, not serving the people not being willing to answer the questions, but I know that with John as the next US senator we will have a man working side by side with Rafael War who will always ask Georgians. What do we need and how can he help? Please help me welcome our next? US Senator John Ossoff. Thank you so much Stacey. I love you. Thank you for what you’ve done for the state of Georgia throughout your career building over these last 10 years, Reverend it’s an honor to run alongside you and President Obama. What an honor to have you with us today? Thank you for lending a hand and for your support and your friendship my mother was about 23 years old when she came to this country alone as an immigrant because for her America represented hope she believed. We were on a country on a journey making progress to fully realize our founding ideals that we were equal in God’s eyes that opportunity and rights were given equally to all of us. That’s the vision of this country that drew my mother here as a young woman, she became an activist and marched for the Equal Rights Amendment. She became a business woman. She became a citizen because she recognized that the ballot box is where we push this. Forward and what happened in these last 4 years as our country has been ripped apart by fear and division broke my mother’s heart and what’s happened in this last year as the catastrophic failure of our leaders has compounded the death toll on the economic damage from this pandemic has broken so many hearts, but if you’re wondering what you’ve been feeling in your heart these last 4 weeks, maybe an unfamiliar feeling that you haven’t felt in a while that is called hope and it reminds. Of what we felt 12 years ago when Barack Obama ran for president at a time of war and recession and financial crisis and put hope in our hearts in Georgia, right now represents the hope of the nation because what’s happening in Georgia is such beautiful clarification of where the American south is and where our state is you got the young Jewish journalist son of an immigrant running along. A black preacher who holds doctor King’s Pulpit Ebenezer Baptist Church, leading a grassroots movement for health jobs and justice in the midst of a crisis and we’re running against like the Bonnie and Clyde of political corruption in America who represent politicians who put themselves over the people. We have the chance in Georgia to stand up and make a difference to define a future where all of us have. Justice under the law where all of us can get the health care that we need to leave future generations, a clean and beautiful planet to make sure everyone has access to dignified work that pays a living wage to empower the health experts to get us out of this crisis and get economic economic relief to who need it. That’s what’s on the line. I wanna thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for being a part of this moment, let’s make history and win these races and write the next chapter. American history together, Thank you so much, Stacey Reverend and mister president. Thank you. John. Thank Thank you for the work you’ve been willing to do and the way you’ve continued to meet this moment. It is my distinct pleasure now to introduce the reason we’re all here and I had the opportunity to first meet uh him as a senator he was in the state of Georgia in 2007, we were in a small conference room and I don’t think I appreciated at that moment. just how extraordinary the conversation, I was able to. I was uh because Barack Obama met with a group of us talking about his vision for the presidency, but what he was willing to do was to listen to us to a group of state legislators as we describe the concerns in our communities as we talked about the fears of our people and unlike so many politicians who often interrupt you to tell you what they think you already need to know he listened and more importantly because he had been in the state legislature because he was a us. Editor he took that information with him into the White House and for 8 years we watched someone who loved not just the notion of America, but the people of our country we watched him lead us through crisis. We watched him guide us to better ideas and higher ideals someone who brought with him his training as an organizer his commitment as a state legislator his knowledge as a constitutional scholar, his leadership as a. Senator but more importantly his ethic as just a good man who understands what it means to stand up for others to deliver on your promises, but to always tell the truth about what’s possible but encouraging us always to dream about what’s. What stands before us? there is nothing inevitable about success, but what we saw with Barack Obama in 2008 and again in 2012, is what we have here in Georgia in 2020, we have the opportunity to build a better future and there is no one better to talk about why John Ossoff and Rafael War are part of that future, then the great man himself President Barack Obama. Thank you Stacey, uh you know uh I’ve I need Michelle to hear that introduction cuz sometimes you’re not always a prophet in your own land. Uh you’ve been such a good friend uh but more importantly, you’ve been such an extraordinary leader. um and uh it is wonderful to see uh John and Reverend uh two candidates who not only know their stuff not only have specific plans around advancing health jobs and justice. uh. But have shown a lifetime commitment to making sure that all people have a seat at the table. Uh who for a lifetime have dedicated their life to service uh who have displayed again and again and again at. Care about people including or maybe especially the least of these uh and um have the kind of integrity that you know we wanna see in public service so uh it’s a treat to be with all of you. I’m gonna try to be relatively brief so we leave as much time for questions as possible. Uh I think I have uh a couple of. Jobs here the first um is to send a message from the nation that we sure are proud of Georgia because the coalition that you described Stacey the excitement commitment turnout the insistence on creating uh. Coalitions rather than divisions among people of different backgrounds and ethnicities and income brackets uh and regions uh all of that uh describes a vision of what not just Georgia can be, but what America can be and you did so under some difficult circumstances because historically as we know, it’s not as if. All the machinery of Georgia government uh has done everything it can to ensure encourage people to participate in the voting process. uh and and so uh that kind of movement spirit uh combined with rape tactics and strategy and hard work and a message about how you know we. A politics that works for ordinary people not for insiders, not for the high and mighty, but for everybody for the single mom who’s working on uh low-wage job uh but is committed to making sure that she’s taking care of her kids and her kids have a better future uh for the retirees who are scraping and scraping and trying to figure out how can they uh you know live? Of dignity and respect that reflects a lifetime of work uh you know for the college student that is worrying about. Making sure that they can uh keep up with their tuition payments uh and have big dreams uh but uh need a little bit of help to get there. Uh you know those were the folks that you inspired that you worked on behalf uh and what we saw in November was uh Georgia doing something that a lot of folks didn’t think was possible uh and that’s because not just of the three folks that you know. I’m I’m sharing the zoom stage with uh but all the volunteers and workers and grassroots folks uh who believed and so I my first message is thank you Georgia cuz you inspired us and you point the way for the rest of the country. The second job I have is to say uh you know the problem with doing such a good job. Is I guess they’ll folks come back and ask you to do some more and uh you are now. Once again the center of our uh Civic universe because the special election in Georgia is going to determine. Ultimately, the course of the Biden presidency and whether Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can deliver legislatively all the commitments they’ve made. And uh you know since I’ve I’ve got a reverent with me here uh let me give you some testimony cuz I know something about the importance of the US Senate uh some of the people who are watching will recall the early days of my presidency. Others are too young. That’s okay. uh but I could not be prouder of the track record of what we accomplished the Affordable Care Act. Providing millions of people health insurance who didn’t have it before and setting the standard that says everybody should have health insurance and providing protections for pre-existing conditions. Uh help us passing uh Wall Street reform so that we won’t repeat some of the outrageous behavior that we saw on Wall Street that caused the financial crisis and financial ruin for so many on main street. uh the work we did to save the. From a great depression to trigger a whole uh Renaissance of green initiatives uh to help not just save the planet but create jobs and clean energy across the country. Uh you know providing broadband lines in the rural communities uh that didn’t have it before so young people could uh have the same advantages that folks in the city, said. We very proud of the work we did, but. Even Even with a big majority in the Senate and the house, it was still a struggle because the way the US Senate is set up. It is possible for uh those who want to stop progress those who don’t want everybody from having health care those who don’t want uh to make sure that we have fair wages uh for our workers, those who aren’t interested in protecting the planet from environmental degradation that the Senate is a place where even with a big majority. It’s tough. Get legislation through and if you don’t have a majority. If the Senate is controlled by Republicans who are interested in obstruction and gridlock rather than progress and helping people a can block just about anything and so, although the first 2 years of my presidency were the most productive legislatively since Linden B Johnson once Mitch McConnell. Was controlling that and controlling the agenda in the Senate we saw a lot of progress and it slow down our ability to recover it slow down growth. it slowed down our ability to get uh it to implement health care so that more people had uh access to uh affordable care and protections uh from uh insurance companies that didn’t wanna give them coverage. And so the Senate really matters and one of the frustrations that I had during my presidency was often times you know folks who are even my supporters, they’d say. Well, you know what look we got barrack there now. Yeah. Michelle. She’s first lady. She looks pretty and she’s doing great work and you know uh we trust them and so we don’t have to do anything now. And, in fact, then we got when we got to the midterms, it got even worse cuz a bunch of our folks stop voting. And we lost the house too. So I say all this. I’m giving this history for a reason. The promise of the Biden presidency and the vice presidency rest in part on their ability to have a cooperative posture with Congress and to do that we have to have the two gentlemen who are running for Senate in Georgia Rafael War and there to help move that agenda for. If we win those two seats then you have a fifty-fifty situation in the Senate and by the way uh I’m making here not just a partisan statement. The good news if you have that kind of 5050 situation is it freeze up some of those Republicans who know better to say well, maybe we should cooperate the ones who are slightly more independent minded and John and Rafael Are the kind of uh big inclusive people that can also have conversations across the aisle and get some cooperation. So it’s not just that we need those two seats in order for uh you know Democrats to control the agenda, but it’s also I think these are the kinds of gentlemen who are gonna be able to um create an atmosphere of. Of um, cooperation of progress, uh and most of all keeping the concerns of American people and the people of Georgia first uh and so I’m hoping that everybody understands the urgency uh of this upcoming election anybody who’s listening right now. Uh you need to understand this is not just about uh Georgia This is about America and this is about the world uh and it’s in your power to in fact. I have an impact. Thank you so much mister president uh while I have you here, I’m gonna take a moment and ask you our first question you’ve just eluded to why this moment is so important but we keep hearing this phrase. This is the most important election of our lifetime and we just had that in November and you’ve given I think an extraordinary description of why the Senate matters, but what’s one additional difference that you see in this election for these two gentlemen, What does that mean for? Our country and why should someone who is still thinking about whether they should get out or not what’s the reason that they should go. I’m I’m gonna give a couple reasons real quick uh number one uh. You’ve got two candidates and more and John Ossoff who have shown themselves repeatedly to operate at the highest levels of integrity. And let’s face it uh you know you’ve got two incumbent senators who in the midst of the worst public health crisis that any of us have seen in our lifetimes. We know we’re first and foremost worried about their stock portfolio. Goodness gracious Uh be alone. Should tell you something I’m somehow we’ve become endured to this kind of stuff but when you’ve got a couple senators who are downplaying a pandemic towing the line of a president who batches the response to the pandemic despite the fact that my administration had given an actual playbook on how to deal with pandemics. As they’re downplaying it as they’re ignoring the the science epidemiologist and suggesting that you know this is uh something that is some partisan issue as opposed to something that American should rally around at the same time behind closed doors there. Calling their brokers. That’s not public service. Uh and so that alone should motivate. I hope the people of Georgia to say we want somebody in there who cares about us and who’s thinking about us and is working for us everyday. It doesn’t mean that we’re more and John Ossoff are gonna be perfect or they’re gonna solve every problem of every Georgian right away as a consequence of being elected more than electing me uh solved every problem or that I didn’t make mistakes or uh you know that there. Still issues that were pending after 8 years of me being present, but the one thing I could say about my presidency and the one thing I can say a John Rafael for certain is I know they’re gonna be working every single day to make sure that they are doing their absolute best to serve the people that serve them and that’s the bare minimum that anybody should should want. but beyond that as I said, what is also at stake is if we’re gonna get uh significant economic relief for small businesses in Georgia that are suffering because of the pandemic if we’re gonna seriously. With the aftermath of the pandemic, if we are going to uh start uh building on the Affordable Care Act and making it even stronger so more people are reached those kinds of agenda items require legislative initiatives and we can’t get that done unless we’ve got not just the White House but also willing partners in Congress and these. Two gentlemen, uh John and Rafael, I know that’s what they want to get done. Thank you so we’ve got some questions from folks from around the state and I’m gonna come to you next uh similar to the question. I asked the president, you know you’ve been doing you have this extraordinary commercial with the young uh with the business owner from Preston Georgia and she talks about the consequences of coveted and the consequences of failed leadership. Can you talk about why you think that this election is the most important and what’s different about this moment? Yeah. That’s that’s Maryland crimes. you probably met her. She runs mom’s kitchen over in Preston and it’s just a family business and she wanted to tell the people that what President Obama just described having so-called public servants more concerned with enriching themselves during the crisis than delivering basic economic relief for for ordinary is totally unacceptable. I mean it’s not just that, for for Senator Purdue has been blocking. For ordinary people since mid summer, he was against it at all in the first place he fought against the single $1200 stimulus. check for working people while he was furiously buying up medical and vaccine stocks and dumping his casino shares while he had access to classified briefings on covid-nineteen in the Senate, it is such a gross abuse of power and the story that Maryland wanted to tell us here she is running a family business. She’s not getting help from the. Government and the individual is supposed to be representing her isn’t even looking out for her. He’s looking out for himself and the reason that this election matters so much. it’s just like President Obama said. We all know Mitch McConnell’s heart. We all know that he’s gonna try to do to Joe and Kamala just like he tried to do to President Obama and partisan paralysis in a crisis like this is totally untenable. We’ve got to empower health experts like Georgia’s own CC. We’ve got to rush the direct economic relief they’ve been holding up since the summer to people who are suffering and our opponents. You know my opponent lives on a private island behind three gates, the reverence opponents family literally owns the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange. They they don’t care about regular people and they will be part. That gridlock and obstruction at a moment when we need strong action and the United Front, a United States of America to confront this public health crisis and get us back on our feet economically. Rafael I wanna bring you into this conversation you have spent you know most of your adult life starting when you were in high school actually before you’re an adult thinking about the issues of health care and this election is absolutely going to be a referendum on health care. Can you talk about why this moment is so different and why it’s so incredibly important that we have people who turn out and who understand what’s it take. Thank you well as you point out, I’ve been working on health care for years um and when uh President Obama and others were pushing through the Affordable Care Act, I was preaching about it from the pulpit at Ebenezer reminding the folks who gather there that if you just casually move from the Gospels, you’re not gonna have any trouble running into a healing sword. Jesus spend a lot of time healing the sick and The stories that are in our holy books has had a preexisting condition so that the that the woman the hemorrhage and uh I believe health care is a human right and it’s certainly something the wealthiest nation on the planet can and often to provide to all of its citizens and so we were making the argument then and saying that we don’t suffer from a lack of resources but a lack of moral imagination and political will to do the right thing and here. All of these years later and Georgia is one of only twelve states that is yet uh to expand Medicaid and so I’ve been moving all across Georgia and I go into these rural communities and they’re the ones ones that have the most devastated by our refusal to expand Medicaid. We’re subsidizing health care in Illinois and California and New York and our hospitals are closing in the last 10 years. Uh so it’s. An urgent issue, but the pandemic brought these these disparities in health care and economic disparities in the sharper focus so that the people who are already hurting are hurting even more we should have known before the pandemic that I need my neighbor to be covered that if. If she is is uncovered that has implication not only for her family but for mine, but when you’re dealing with a deadly airborne disease suddenly we learn that we’re as close to each other’s humanity as a cough as a sneeze that person might person might be But I’m unprotected we’re tired as doctor, King said in a single garment of destiny. so the pandemic. Has brought it into sharper focus and has made it even more urgent and uh we gotta strengthen the Affordable Care Act. Uh we’ve gotta make sure that we get more people covered and we need representation in the Senate that’s not there to represent big father so that while claiming to be the you know captains of industry and so committed to free enterprise, you don’t want the pharmaceutical companies that have to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs with Medicare doesn’t. And um so this work needs to be done. it’s urgent and um I’m just honored to be a part of that conversation. We know now why we need to do this. let’s talk about what we need to do and I think that’s gonna be the most uh the most meaningful part of this conversation because when we’ve got President Obama, we’ve got Reverend and we’ve got John Ossoff, you have an opportunity to tell everyone watching and everyone who’s gonna be replaying this we wanna give them three things to do so. I’m gonna ask each of you to give me one thing uh that they can do to make certain that we can meet this moment and achieve the. Outcomes of you know, getting ready and having hope and really continuing to fix our country. So I’m gonna start with you. What’s one thing you want people watching to do to make this happen, Georgia and especially young people here in Georgia. make a plan to vote make a plan to vote December 14th the first day of early voting vote for health and jobs and justice vote to get us out of this crisis. We can pass a new Civil rights act. We can make sure that everybody has. The health care they need we can protect our environment. The future is limitless, but we’ve gotta win these races. It’s gonna come down to youth turnout, so I’m calling on young people in Georgia to make a plan to vote. Reno and on that school, I wanna say that uh young people who weren’t who were not eligible to vote on November 3rd. If you’re seventeen you’ll be eighteen by election day, you can still register you have until uh December the seventh uh just a couple more days to get registered to register to vote uh and then to everybody else. make sure that uh you vote and make sure that everybody in your circle votes uh. Uh all of our faith leaders uh voter participation uh is a non partisan exercise. It is something you can certainly push from your pulpit. Uh I believe that a vote is a kind of prayer for the kind of world that we wanna live in and so if you’re sitting uh in some watts Temple Church virtually these days uh reach out to the leader led congregation and make sure that we get the word out through all of these networks, our fraternities our so. You see I’m wearing my colors today is uh is the anniversary of Alpha but whatever it is sorority. You’re a part of I had to give my brothers a shout out uh make sure that you reach out through these networks and get everybody uh out to vote. We can win this election. We have the coalition if we show up we want. President Obama you launched so many uh coalitions and reset the belief in what was possible for millions of Americans, including those of us here in Georgia who have been working so hard to meet the vision that you set what’s the thing that you want folks to understand they need to do between now and January 5th to make the world the way we want it to be. Live in your own power. The vote is an expression that what each of us does matter. And we live in a time and a world where so often we are given the message that you have to be wealthy. You have to be powerful, you have to have connections in order to have influence but the premise of our nation is all people have a voice. All people have power in a government of by and for the people and I think about our dear friend John Lewis, who’s looking down on us who would have thought that. A young man in his early 20s with. Kind of a scruffy like an overcoat and a backpack. Standing at the front of a bridge. Would end up? Triggering a moral awakening that transformed the nation. And yet that’s what happened and that was because he understood as Stacey and John and Rafael understand as I understood uh when I started on this journey that um the faith. All of US matter and all of us have a voice when that catches fire when that is something that we all believe amazing things happen uh impossible things in uh at end and you are now anybody who’s within the sound of my voice right now, you have the possibility of sparking that kind of change uh. And it’s not by the way just by talking to the converter. I mean one of the reasons that Georgia. Ended up boating after recount after recap for Joe Biden Kamala Harris was because there were a number of folks who decided you know what partisanship only goes so far at a certain point. What matters is integrity and what matters is values What matters is how we treat each other and and I think there’s still some folks in Georgia who we may not anticipate will vote for John and Rafael. They may be your coworkers. They may be your fellow congregate. They may be uh somebody you know that you’re uh a fellow parent at a school. Who if you had that conversation with him, I think you you may be able to persuade him so I want everybody. I’m I’m assuming everybody who’s listening. This is gonna vote and I sure hope everybody who’s listening is gonna get everybody else that they know to vote in their circle but I also want you to understand your power and conviction and uh reaching out finding common ground and communicating not just the importance of this election, but the real. Abilities of what America can do on health jobs and justice when citizens are active when we understand that we don’t leave this to the high and mighty, but all of us from the ground up uh decide we’re gonna make a change when that happens. nothing can stop it uh so Georgia get to work like I said, put on put on some shoes put on some marching shoes after all those bedroom slippers get out from under the covers. let’s do some work. And uh I’ll do anything I can to be helpful uh in this process, but ultimately this is up to Georgia uh and and and you know the people like John and Rafael representing Georgia. that’s gonna make it happen. Thank you so much mister President thank you deeply from all of us here in Georgia you keep coming back and we keep saying thank you for what you are doing to keep Georgia on everyone’s mind. Thank you John and Rafael. I also wanna take a moment and thank the volunteers who are working tirelessly to keep Georgia Blue you’re knocking on doors safely. You are making phone calls you’re sending text messages and you’re doing what these incredible leaders have asked you to do you are making a plan to. You are reaching out to others to ensure they’ve got a plan and you’re believing in your power and if you will go to I will vote.com you can get more information about how you can keep doing that work because this election matters but more importantly, you matter the people that showed up in November can show up again. We can vote by mail. Please go ahead and request your absentee ballot. We can vote in person early starting December 14th and we can vote on Election day January 5th, but it’s incredibly important. That we get to work now as the president told us, we have the power to change things and if we will use that power, we will secure a future where we have access to health care access to jobs and access to justice. These are the things that we are fighting for and more importantly, these are the things we deserve and so I look to all of you to keep the work up. Keep the energy up. Keep your hope up and let’s get it done. Thank you so much.