🔰Full speech: Rep. AOC speaks at 2024 DNC | USA TODAY
Thank you Chicago for your energy, thank you Kamala Harris and Tim Walls for your vision.
Thank you Joe Biden for your leadership.
You know six years ago I was taking omelet orders as a waitress in New York City.
I didn't have health insurance, my family was fighting off foreclosure,
and we were struggling with bills after my dad passed away unexpectedly from cancer.
Like millions of Americans we were just looking for an honest shake
and we were tired of a cynical politics that seemed blind to the realities of working people.
It was then only through the miracles of democracy and community that the good people
of the Bronx and Queens chose someone like me to elect them in Congress.
In my heart I know from that same cloth of hope and aspiration we will also elect Kamala Harris
and Tim Walls as presidents and vice presidents of the United States of America.
I am here tonight because America has before us a rare and precious opportunity.
In Kamala Harris we have a chance to elect a president who is for the middle class
because she is from the middle class.
She understands the urgency of rent checks and groceries and prescriptions.
She is as committed to our reproductive and civil rights as she is to taking on corporate greed.
And she is working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bringing hostages home.
In Kamala Harris I see a leader who understands.
I see a leader with a real commitment to a better future for working families.
And Chicago we have to help her win.
Because we know that Donald Trump would sell this country for a dollar
if it meant lining his own pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Street friends.
For one, I'm tired of hearing about how a two-bit union buster thinks of himself as
more of a patriot than the woman who fights every single day to rip working people out.
You cannot love this country if you only fight for the wealthy and big business.
To love this country is to fight for its people, all people, working people,
everyday Americans like bartenders and factory workers and fast food cashiers
who punch a clock and are on their feet all day in some of the toughest jobs out there.
Republicans have attacked me by saying that I should go back to bartending.
I can tell you I'm happy to any day of the week because
there is nothing wrong with working for a living.
Imagine, imagine having leaders in the White House who understand that.
Leaders like Kamala and Tim.
But Chicago, the choice is clear to us, does not mean that the path will be easy.
Over the next 78 days, we will have to pour every ounce, every minute,
every moment into making history on November 5th.
We cannot send Kamala and Tim to the White House alone.
Together, we must also elect strong Democratic majorities in the House and in the Senate
so that we can deliver on an ambitious agenda for the people.
Trying to afford rent and child care, Kamala is for you.
If you are a senior who had to go back to work because your retirement didn't stretch far enough,
Kamala is for you.
If you're an immigrant family just starting your American story, Kamala is for you.
America, when we knock on our neighbor's door, organize our communities,
and elect Kamala Harris to the presidency on November 5th,
we will send a loud message that the people of this nation will not go back.
We choose a new path and open the door to a new day, one that is for the people and by the people.