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CNN Live Event/Special
Joe Biden Wins Delegate Count; Joe Biden Accepts The Nomination; ACA Saves Many American Lives; Jill Biden, Joe's Lucky Charm. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired August 18, 2020 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
CARMEN WALTERS, PRESIDENT, TOUGALOO COLLEGE: Our alumni are leaders like convention chairman, Congressman Benny Thompson. Joe Biden was to invest 70 billion in HBCUS like Tougaloo. Imagine what impact that could have on HBCUS. Imagine what impact HBCUS can have on America. Mississippi cast two votes for Bernie Sanders and 38 votes for our next president, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Missouri.
REUBEN GILL, BRICKLAYER: As a member of the international union of bricklayers and ally craft workers, Local One St. Louis. I love walking around the city and seeing the contributions that my brothers and sisters have made.
We stand ready to rebuild our nation's infrastructure and with Joe Biden's leadership we'll create millions of new jobs. Building back better. Missouri cast 28 votes for Bernie Sanders and 50 votes for our next president, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Montana.
RACHEL PREVOST, RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATE: When COVID-19 shut down my college. I came home to parent's ranch to finish senior year online. But some days I can't even get a video to load or an e-mail attachment to send. Without reliable internet, there's no remote learning, no virtual doctor's appointments and just trying to starting a small business.
Real broadband can be a game changer for rural communities like mine and Joe Biden has a plan to make it happen. Montana cast one vote for Bernie Sanders and 18 votes for our next president, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nebraska.
GERALDINE WALLER, MEATPACKING PLANT EMPLOYEE: I work at a meatpacking plant making sure grocery store shelves stay full. They call us essential workers but we get treated like we're expendable. Workers are dying from COVID. And a lot of us don't have paid sick leave or even quality protective equipment.
We are human beings not robots not disposable. We want to keep helping you feed your family but we need a president who will have our backs. Nebraska cast 33 votes for our next president, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nevada.
REP. DINA TITUS (D-NV): Working people are the backbone of our economy and the key to our recovery. Joe Biden knows it's not enough to praise him. We have to reward them. So, let's raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, empower workers to negotiate for better benefits and safer for workplaces and make it easier to pay for things like healthcare and higher education.
I am proud to cast 24 votes for Bernie Sanders and 25 votes for our next president, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New Hampshire.
GOV. JOHN LYNCH (D-NH): Hello from the granite state. We trust Joe Biden. Joe will provide the leadership necessary to bring us back from this awful pandemic. Joe has a plan to attack global climate change once and for all. And Joe will restore honesty, decency and trust to the White House. Reunite all Americans and build a better future for all.
The great state of New Hampshire awards nine delegates to our friend and neighbor Bernie Sanders, and 24 delegates to the next president of the United States, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New Jersey.
GOV. PHIL MURPHY (D-NJ): We've been hit hard by COVID, but we're coming back. But we have to be smart. We have to listen to the experts. And we have to have a president who has a plan. That's why in memory of all those we've lost, in solidarity with those who are sick or struggling and in the eternal gratitude for our heroic frontline workers. New Jersey casts five votes for Senator Bernie Sanders. And 139 votes for the next president of the United States, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New Mexico.
DERRICK LENTE (D), NEW MEXICO STATE HOUSE: Greetings and good evening. My name is Derrick Lente, state representative coming to you from the homeland of my ancestors here at the beautiful pueblo of Sandia.
New Mexico is a diverse state, home to 23 indigenous sovereign nations with a rich multicultural history. We are all united by the love of this beautiful place that we call home. And we believe that we owe it to the next generation to protect the natural and cultural resources that are their inheritance.
And to that end, I also respect travel sovereignty. New Mexico proudly casts four votes for Bernie Sanders and 42 votes for the next president of the United States of America, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New York.
SCHEENA IYANDE TANNIS, REGISTERED NURSE: As an immigrant from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and 1199 SCIU registered nurse, I am proud to be part of America's fight against COVID-19. But many healthcare workers don't get paid sick leave or have enough protective equipment.
I have two children with asthma and a mother who is high risk. I worry every day about bringing this virus home to them.
Joe Biden's plan will help us take better care of your loved ones as well as our own. Along with Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, I cast New York's votes, 44 for Bernie Sanders and 277 for our next president, Joe Biden. It's Joe time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: North Carolina.
[22:04:59]
COZZIE WATKINS, DEMOCRATIC ACTIVIST: I've been doing this for a long time so let me just be plain. Black people especially black women are the backbone of this party and if we don't show up, Democrats don't get elected.
I'm putting all on my mask and we're going to every corner in North Carolina to help organize. Because we need to make sure everyone shows up for Joe Biden. He would show up for us.
North Carolina casts 39 votes for Bernie Sanders and 83 votes for the next president of the United States, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: North Dakota.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to the homelands of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara people. I graduated from a class of just 44 students and I drive three hours just to take the SATs. But growing up I knew that college was a ladder that can take you anywhere.
Joe Biden knows everyone that deserves a chance to climb that ladder. So as a proud tribal member, as a Mexican-America and as a Harvard graduate, I am proud to cast North Dakota's votes, 10 for Bernie Sanders and eight for our next president, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Northern Mariana Islands.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
NOLA KILELEMAN HIX, CHAIRWOMAN, NMI Democratic Party: And hello from paradise, the Northern Mariana Islands. We maybe far away but we're American citizens. And this year for the first time in decades, we finally have a Democratic slate because Democrats organize everywhere. But we don't get to vote for president. So please don't waste yours.
The Northern Mariana Islands is proud to cast two votes for Senator Bernie Sanders and nine votes for our next president, Joseph Biden.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
HIX: And thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ohio.
REP. TIM RYAN (D-OH): It seems like every time working people believe in a Donald Trump promise, they wind up getting screwed. Well, Joe Biden has more than just a promise. He actually has a plan to bring jobs back to America.
Like electric vehicles are a national network of vehicle charging infrastructure that will create good paying jobs for skilled union workers like Josh. And the future will be made in America.
Ohio casts 20 votes for Senator Bernie Sanders and 134 votes for the next president, Joe Biden. O-h-i-o. Ohio.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oklahoma.
ALICIA ANDREWS, CHAIR, OKLAHOMA Democratic Party: Ninety-nine years ago, racial violence devastated a thriving black community here in Tulsa. Today, hatred still lives in our nation. But, so does resolve. Oklahoma refused to let ourselves be defined by division then and our nation must turn back the tide of violence again now.
Oklahoma casts 13 votes for Bernie Sanders and 24 votes for our next president, Joe Biden.
(CROWD CHEERING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oregon.
ROSA COLQUITT, ACTIVIST: As black Americans standing on native land, we proudly represent Oregon, the dual viruses COVID-19 and racism plague bear, unequal healthcare access and deaths in communities of color.
TRAVIS NELSON, REGISTERED NURSE: The Democrats are working to bridge divides to make sure everyone has equal access to lower and no cost quality care. Today, Oregon casts 16 votes for Bernie Sanders.
COLQUITT: And what Senators Biden and Merkley support casts 57 votes for Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pennsylvania.
SEN. BOB CASEY (D-PA): When Joe Biden was young his father came to this house in Scranton, sat down on Joe's bed and told him he lost his job. It's a moment that stayed with Joe his entire life. Right now, all across America, working families are experiencing that same fear and uncertainty. But Joe Biden has a plan to help them and to help our country build back better, creating millions of good paying jobs. So, more parents will be able to tell their kids what Joe's dad said to him years ago. It's going to be OK.
Pennsylvania casts 34 votes for Senator Bernie Sanders and 175 votes for the next president of the United States, Scranton's own, Joe Biden.
(CROWD CHEERING) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Puerto Rico.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CARMELO RIOS-SANTIAGO (D), PUERTO RICO SENATE: We Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. Something that Donald Trump seems to have forgotten as our island faced its most difficult times. Joe Biden has always supported Puerto Rican causes and as president he will be our ally in the White House. I know he is the best choice so that the more than three million U.S. citizens who live on this blessed island can be respected.
Puerto Rico casts five votes for Bernie Sanders, and 53 votes for Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rhode Island.
JOSEPH MCNAMARA (D), RHODE ISLAND STATE HOUSE: Rhode Island the ocean state where our restaurant and fishing industry have been decimated by this pandemic. Lucky to have a governor, Gina Raimondo whose program lets our fisherman sell their catches directly to the public and our state appetizer calamary is available in all 50 states.
[22:10:01]
The calamary comeback state of Rhode Island casts one vote for Bernie Sanders and 34 votes for the next president, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: South Carolina.
JAIME HARRISON (D), SOUTH CAROLINA SENATE CANDIDATE: Mr. Chairman, I'm Jamie Harrison, candidate for the United States Senate. Speaking from the campus of South Carolina State University, the alma mater of majority whip Jim Clyburn and the late Dr. (Inaudible) for whom its college is named.
This proud HBCU has contributed 22 general officers to our armed services. And tonight, I proudly cast South Carolina's 64 votes as follows, 15 for Bernie Sanders, and 49 for our next president of the United States, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: South Dakota.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
KELLEN RETURNS FROM SCOUT, TRIBAL ACTIVIST: Relatives. As a first American and citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, I welcome you to the Paha Sapa, the Black Hills, the site of my creation story and home to the Oceti Sakowin the great Sioux nation. We often say (Inaudible) we are all related.
Our next president must lead by this philosophy for the betterment of our next seven generations. We cast three votes for Senator Bernie Sanders and 17 votes for our next president, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tennessee. KEELY SAGE, COLLEGE STUDENT: One hundred years ago tonight, suffrages
based here at the Hermitage hotel in Nashville cheered as Tennessee became the 36th and deciding state to ratify the 19th Amendment, granting women the right the vote.
This year, I'm casting my very first presidential vote for Joe Biden. Women will decide this election and we'll replace Donald Trump with a president who respects us.
Tennessee casts 23 votes for Bernie Sanders, and 50 votes for our next president of the United States, Mr. Joseph R. Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Texas.
REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR (D-TX): A year ago, my safe community of El Paso was targeted by a domestic terrorist who murdered 23 innocent people, injured 23 more and devastated all of us. His motive was racism and xenophobia.
In the face of hate, we choose love.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ESCOBAR: And in the face of continued gun violence in America we demand change. The time has come to act. With one abstention, the great state of Texas casts 98 votes for Bernie Sanders, and 161 votes for our next president, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Utah.
MAYOR JENNY WILSON (D), SALT LAKE COUNTY, UTAH: Here in Utah we've had mail-in voting for years. If you're registered to vote, you automatically get sent a ballot. It's fast, it's reliable, and it's easy for everyone to participate.
In 2016, we had turned out well over 80 percent. And this year we're expecting even higher. That's why Democrats and Republicans here in Utah agree. Mail-in voting strengthens our democracy.
Utah casts 17 votes for Bernie Sanders and 16 votes for our next president, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vermont.
LT. GOV. DAVID ZUCKERMAN (D), VERMONT GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: The state of Vermont strongly believing in economic justice, social justice and racial justice, and environmental justice, proudly supporting democracy and the Constitution of the United States and vehemently opposed to the authoritarianism and racism of the Trump administration.
It's proud to cast 15 votes for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and nine votes for the next president of the United States, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. Virgin Islands. CECIL BENJAMIN, CHAIRMAN, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS Democratic Party: In
recognition of our Governor, Albert Bryan Jr., our delegate to Congress (Inaudible). We bring you bridges from the Virgin Islands of the United States.
(CROWD CHEERING)
BENJAMIN: We are young Alexandra (Inaudible) race, the vacation home of our nominee with (Inaudible) waters, white sand beaches and friendly people.
We cast our 13 votes for Joseph R. Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Virginia.
KHIZR KHAN, FATHER OF DECEASED MUSLIM U.S. SOLDIER: Three years ago, my beloved city Charlottesville, Virginia was attacked by white supremacists and a young woman was killed. We were attacked again when Donald Trump praised those racists turning his back on a community that just wanted peace.
That was the day Joe Biden decided to join this battle for the soul of America. Over time, my wife Ghazala and I have come to know his soul. He's a decent compassionate man. He will bring this nation together.
Virginia casts 32 votes for Bernie Sanders, and 91 votes for our president, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Washington.
MY-LINH THAI (D) WASHINGTON STATE HOUSE: As a 15-year-old refugee from Vietnam, I knew that education was a key to finding opportunities in my new home.
[22:15:02]
When having children of my own, I became an advocate to improve the public education system that gave me a chance to contribute to our America. Democrats invest in education because we are committed to fighting for all kids.
Washington casts 43 votes to Senator Bernie Sanders, and 66 votes to our next president, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: West Virginia.
FRED ALBERT, EDUCATOR AND UNION ORGANIZER: West Virginians have changed the narrative about public education. Parents, teachers, and service personnel have worked together to fight for safe and welcoming schools, sufficient funding for classroom equipment and fair wages for teachers and school service personnel.
Elections matter but so does activism. So, let's keep fighting to guarantee a quality education for all our children and let's elect a president who will fight alongside us.
West Virginia casts 34 votes for our next president, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wyoming.
DENNIS SHEPHERD, ACTIVIST: After our son Matthew's death in Wyoming Joe Biden helped pass the legislation to protect LGBTQ Americans from hate crimes. Joe understands more than most our grief over Matt death. But we see in Joe so much of what made Matt's life special, his commitment to equality, his passion for social justice and his balance compassion for others.
JUDY SHEPHERD, ACTIVIST: With three abstentions, Wyoming casts four votes for Bernie Sanders and 11 votes for the next president of the United States, Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wisconsin.
LT. GOV. MANDELA BARNES (D), WISCONSIN: Welcome back to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a great city on native land on the great lake. It's the place where I was born and raised right in the heart of 53206 zip code. This is community that's been faced with some significant challenges due to historical injustice. But what many don't see is the joy, the resilience and opportunity that lies within this community. And so many others across America just like it.
We're hard working people who are fighting to provide for their families and to build a better future. We know that we build a better future for our nation by channeling with Wisconsin's legacy as the birthplace of the labor and the progressive movement and uniting around the bold inclusive agenda that uplifts every community.
In the pursuit of a more just future, one that recognizes healthcare as a human right, one that tackles the climate crisis and takes on racial and economic injustice.
Wisconsin casts 30 votes for Bernie Sanders and 67 for next president of the United States of America, Joe Bidens -- Joseph R. Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Delaware.
GOV. JOHN CARNEY (D-DE): Long before this train station bore its name, you'd see Joe Biden up here on the platform with the rest of the crowd on his way to work or going home to his family. That's always been his north star. Delivering for families like his own, working people who struggle and sacrifice to build a better life. Nobody has ever had to wonder who Joe Biden is in it for.
SEN. THOMAS CARPER (D-DE): Our nation faces daunting challenges. But I've known Joe Biden for 40 years. And there's nobody I trust more to lead our party, unite our country and restore our standing in the world. What's more he's humble, he tells the truth. He treats everybody. He encounters with respect and builds bridges not walls. He's a leader made for this moment and the finest public servant I've ever known.
CARNEY: Delaware is proud to cast 32 votes for our favorite son and our next president.
CARPER: Our friend in Delaware, Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: All right.
REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): Thank you to all our delegations. I'm pleased to announce that Vice President Joe Biden has officially been nominated by the Democratic Party as our candidate for president of the United States. Vice President Biden is hereby invited to deliver an acceptance speech.
BIDEN: Thank you very, very much from the bottom of my heart. Thank you all. It means the world to me and my family. And I'll see you on Thursday.
[22:20:05]
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS, ACTRESS & CONVENTION MODERATOR: Come on, that was so sweet with the grand kids. And now we have an official nominee. Onto the next step, electing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in November. Make sure you have a plan to vote. Text vote to 30330 to find out how.
Now we're going to talk about a topic that touches all of our lives. Healthcare. The Affordable Care Act was game changing. This pandemic has revealed just how important it is to protect and improve it. Increasing access to healthcare and bringing down its cost have always been a priority for Joe Biden because for Joe, and for all of us, healthcare is personal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the toughest battles that called for the steadiest leadership. Again and again, they were told to give up on affordable healthcare. They knew it would cost the politically.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Republicans say this will prove to be unpopular.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bill is a legislative train wreck.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But nothing nearly as much as it would cost the American people if they did nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not going to slow up on providing affordable healthcare for Americans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Healthcare is natural American right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Giving up on the Affordable Care Act would have meant leaving 20 million without coverage out in the cold. But Joe Biden wasn't about to give up because he knew what it was like to stand in their shoes.
He was sworn in to this Senate next to a hospital bed. His wife and daughter had been killed in a car crash. And lying in that bed were his two sons.
Forty years later, one of those little boys, his son Beau was diagnosed with cancer and given only months to live. It's hard to imagine a greater grief than losing your child. But Joe always knew that his family was one of the lucky ones. After that accident, his son got 40 more years of life, all because he had healthcare.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without objection, the motion reconsider laid on the table.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, it's unthinkable that Donald Trump is trying to take that healthcare away. In the middle of a pandemic, he is still trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.
This fight is personal for Joe, as personal as it gets. So, when Joe says he has a plan to strengthen the Affordable Care Act, protect those with preexisting conditions and expand access to every American, he is thinking about how having healthcare saved his boys.
When his plan talks about lowering drug prices and making care more affordable, he's thinking about Beau who spent his final days in comfort because he was insured. Joe Biden knows what affordable healthcare means to American families because of what it's meant to his.
BIDEN: This is my promise to you. When I'm president, I will take care of your healthcare coverage and your family the same way I would my own.
For that's what the presidency is, the duty to care, to care for all of us. Not just those who vote for us, but all of us. This job is not about me. It's about you. It's about us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Mr. Biden.
BIDEN: How are you? You handsome boy.
STEVE GOMEZ, GILBERT, ARIZONA: He was born in '15 and with a heart condition. And (Inaudible) arteries and ended up acquiring a transplant and thankfully the ACA had already taken effect. But now that's something that we think about all the time especially with his coverage and the potential of coverage maxes and his initial hospital stays over $3 million that was billed back to insurance.
[22:25:03]
BIDEN: I remember thinking as Beau lay dying in bed. And sit lying in bed with him his brother and I and his sister. Thinking to myself what in God's name would I do if the doctor walked in and said I'm sorry, you have out run your insurance, you have reached your cap, suffer the last few months of your life on your own. JEFF JEANS, SEDONA ARIZONA, LONGTIME REPUBLICAN: I came from a part of
the country where rural Missouri where basically everybody was Republican and I was a Republican. And I lost my voice. And we put off going to the doctor because we didn't have health insurance. When we finally got in to somebody that could take a look at my throat and they said well, you've cancer. It was stage four. The worst kind of cancer you can have.
My wife applied for insurance to the Affordable Care Act. And my coverage began on April 1 in 2012. And that same day they started my chemo and radiation and it saved my life. I'm here today.
ANGIE TAYLOR, RENO, NEVADA: Generally speaking, as a church you're concerned about people spiritually but you're also concerned about other areas of their life. And that includes their physical or physiological wellbeing because the bible talked about all of us.
But there are people in our country and in fact people in my church that can't take advantage of it because they don't have good healthcare. That's pretty discouraging to me and that's pretty discouraging to them.
JULIE BUCKHOLT, MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN: Because of the myasthenia gravis and the fact that it's a very rare disease a lot of medications we have to fight for. And before the ACA we were worried about our medications. We're worried about the preexisting conditions for our children. We're worried about age and the cap.
Because having that cost of the medications we would have reached that million-dollar cap in no time. But once the ACA passed, we did -- we no longer have that cap of the million dollars.
BIDEN: With fear that you all live in understandably if somehow tomorrow they said no insurance. You can't -- you're not covered. It's just devastating.
Hi, Laura, how are you doing?
LAURA PACKARD, DENVER, COLORADO: Yes, we can.
BIDEN: How are you doing? Well, you beat Hodgkin lymphoma. God love you. But during it all, Trump was trying to rip away your coverage. The day you had your first chemo Republicans voted to gut the ACA. I can't imagine what it must have been like going to sleep at night wondering what to do.
PACKARD: Ever since I was diagnosed, every night I go to bed, concerned about what news I would get in the morning. And even still even today they're still trying to take away our healthcare even during a pandemic.
BIDEN: Look, we're going to make sure we don't lose that ACA. We're going to provide a Medicare like option as a public option. And any state where there is a -- if you qualify for Medicaid and the state hasn't provided it you will be automatically enrolled. I'm going to protect you like I tried to protect my own family, my own family. And I promise you that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EUGENE F., NEW HAMPSHIRE: I met Joe last year at a campaign event to thank him for being so involved in the battle to cure cancer. Indeed, I have what's been diagnosed as terminal cancer. The inspiration and the empathy and the human love that he shared with me has kept me going.
LISA P., WISCONSIN: I made an appointment for my wellness checkup provided for by the Affordable Care Act. I was told that I had ovarian cancer. I finished my course of treatment and since then I've been cancer free. And I'm very grateful for that.
JACQUELINE A., OHIO: I chose to become a Joe Biden delegate as I watched with our nation as President Donald Trump sought to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.
EUGENE F.: My purpose in life right now is to devote all my energy to getting Joe elected.
JACQUELINE A.: I anxiously jumped at the chance to become a Biden delegate.
LISA P.: He will continue to strengthen the Affordable Care Act so that diseases like cancer don't go undetected.
ADY BARKAN, ALS PATIENT: It's me, dad. By the time you're watching this, you will have grown up to be strong and courageous. But I don't know how much longer I'll be around for you.
[22:30:01]
I was diagnosed with ALS today, which is a deadly debilitating disease.
After I was diagnosed the president passed the tax bill that put my healthcare at risk. So, I went to Washington, D.C.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: My next guest made headlines when he confronted a Republican senator on an airplane.
BARKAN: You can be an American hero. I wanted to help create a better country for you to live in.
All that matters to me is to make you proud because I'm already so proud of you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARKAN: Hello, America. My name is Andy Barkan. And I am speaking to you through this computer voice because I have been paralyzed by a mysterious illness called ALS. Like so many of you, I have experienced the ways our healthcare system is fundamentally broken. Enormous costs, denied claims, dehumanizing treatment when we are most in need. Since my shocking diagnosis, I have traveled the country meeting
countless patients like me, demanding more of our representatives and democracy.
Today, we are witnessing the tragic consequences of our failing healthcare system. In the midst of a pandemic, nearly 100 million Americans do not have sufficient health insurance. And even good insurance does not cover essential needs like long term care.
Our loved ones are dying in unsafe nursing homes. Our nurses are overwhelmed and unprotected. And our essential workers are treated as dispensable. We live in the richest country in history and yet do not guarantee this most basic human right. Everyone living in America should get the healthcare they need regardless of employment status or ability to pay.
Even during this terrible crisis, Donald Trump and Republican politicians are trying to take away millions of people's health insurance. With the existential threat of another four years of this president, we all have a profound obligation to act, not only to vote, but to make sure that our friends, family and neighbors vote as well.
We must elect Joe Biden. Each of us must be a hero for our communities, for our country. And then with the compassionate and intelligent president, we must act together and put on his desk a bill that guarantees us all the healthcare we deserve.
Text vote to 30330 to learn how to vote safely because our lives depend on it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSS: Politics and elections can seem like these far away things that one person doesn't have the power to change. But what's happening in our country right now makes it clear how personal politics are.
I've discovered that when I get informed and participate, my fear gets smaller. Voting is a big part of that. So, knowing the change you want, vote for the leaders you think will make it happen. And if you're able, if you can, help fund this campaign. Please go to joebiden.com and chip in whatever you can.
With leaders like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, we can build back better here at home. And once again strengthen our nation's security and standing in the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEMARCUS G., CALIFORNIA: My name is Demarcus Gilliard (Ph). I'm 34 years old. And I currently live in Los Angles, California. I'm a 2009 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. And I served on active duty in the Marine Corps as an officer for six years.
I took an oath to support, uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. And I know that Joe Biden in his years of public service took a similar oath and he understands the sacrifice of the men and women in uniform who were overseas right now fighting for the ideals of this nation. That liberty and justice can be extended to all people.
I know that Joe Biden understands that at his core. I trust him to lead us on day one into a greater future. There's nothing more important for me right now than making sure that we restore the soul of our nation. And I think that Joe Biden is the best person to do that. So, thanks, Joe.
[22:34:59]
JOHN KERRY, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Hi. I'm John Kerry.
For the eight years of the Obama-Biden administration we led by example. We eliminated the threat of an Iran with a nuclear weapon. We built a 68-nation coalition to destroy ISIS. We forged 195 nation agreement to attack climate change. We stopped the Ebola before it became a pandemic.
Donald Trump inherited a growing economy and a more peaceful world. And like everything else he inherited, he bankrupted it. When this president goes overseas it isn't a goodwill it's a blooper real. He breaks up with our allies and writes love letter to dictators.
America deserves a president who is looked up to not laughed at. Donald Trump pretends Russia didn't attack our elections and now he does nothing about Russia putting a bounty on our troops. So, he won't defend our country, he doesn't know how to defend our troops. The only person he's interested in defending is himself.
This is the bottom line. Our interests, our ideals and our brave men and women in uniform can't afford four more years of Donald Trump. Our troops can't get out of harm's way by hiding in the White House bunker. They need a president who will stand up for them. And president Biden will.
Joe's moral compass is always pointed in the right direction from the fight to break the back of apartheid to the struggle to wake up the world to genocide in the Balkans. Joe understands that none of the issues of this world, not nuclear weapons not the challenge of building back better after COVID, not terrorism, and certainly not the climate crisis. None can be resolved without bringing nations together with strength and humility.
Joe understands our values don't limit our power. They magnify it. He knows you can't spread democracy around the world if you don't practice it at home. And he knows that even the United States of America needs friends on this planet.
Before Donald Trump, we used to talk about American exceptionalism. The only thing exceptional about the incoherent Trump foreign policy is that it has made our nation more isolated than ever before.
Joe Biden knows we aren't exceptional because we bluster that we are, we are exceptional because we do exceptional things. On June 6, 1944, young Americans gave their lives on the beaches of
Normandy to liberate the world from tyranny. Out of the ashes of that war we made peace and rebuilt the world. That was and remains exceptional. It is the opposite of everything Donald Trump stands for.
This moment is a fight for the security of America and the world. Only Joe Biden can make America lead like America again. If you agree, text join to 30330. Thank you.
BRETT MCGURK, FORMER SPECIAL PRESIDENTIAL ENVOY FOR THE GLOBAL COALITION TO COUNTER ISIL: In the Situation Room president's make decision of war and peace. So, when Joe Biden walks in the Situation Room, first and foremost in his mind is how will my decision impact the lives of the American people.
MARIE YOVANOVITCH, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: He is experienced. He has made the tough calls.
CHUCK HAGEL, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: He's got courage and he got tremendous courage, character, judgment, and can be tough. I witnessed it close up.
LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR AFRICAN AFFAIRS: Joe Biden is decisive and well prepared for any issue.
HAGEL: There's no one more qualified than Joe Biden. To be sitting head of the table in the Situation Room making decisions for this country.
THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Having sent his son to war I don't think anyone can be more ready than Vice President Biden.
JACK WEINSTEIN, RETIRED U.S. AIR FORCE: He knows exactly what's at stake when he sends our troops overseas.
ROSE GOTTEMOELLER, FORMER DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL, NATO: Biden understands how important it is to have allies standing together with us. They are force multipliers.
MCGURK: Joe Biden has a unique ability to connect with people. He knows leaders. He knows what makes them tick.
YOVANOVITCH: They trust him. They trust his judgment and they know that his word is good.
THOMAS COUNTRYMAN, FORMER U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AND NONPROLIFERATION: I know that Biden's personal diplomacy will save American lives.
THOMAS-GREENFIELD: To build these relationships takes decade. And to tear them down all it takes is a tweet.
COUNTRYMAN: Thanks to Donald Trump our adversaries are stronger and bolder.
GOTTEMOELLER: Donald Trump has had a love fest with dictators including China and Russia. He hasn't been standing up to them at all.
WEINSTEIN: I served in the United States Air Force for 36 years. I've led space squadrons, nuclear missile squadrons and I never thought I would have a president who is a danger to national security.
HAGEL: President Trump has degraded and debased the presidency and our country in the eyes of the world.
WEINSTEIN: The Russians offered bounties on U.S. soldiers. I was shocked when I read that. But the president didn't even ask Vladimir Putin about it. That's un-American.
HAGEL: There's something wrong with that. I mean, that's dereliction of duty. You're failing the troops. You're failing this country.
[22:40:03]
WEINSTEIN: The first thing a president needs to do is find out what the facts are. This president doesn't care about facts.
COUNTRYMAN: Biden cares about the safety and welfare of American servicemen and women.
MCGURK: Our military had a policy to maintain our presence in Syria. We actually came to the aid of the Kurds against ISIS and we helped stopped the advance. President Trump told us to simply abandon the Kurds. Shameful.
GOTTEMOELLER: Joe Biden will be strong against dictators.
MCGURK: I have heard him on the phone with some pretty tough characters. You know, you talk about Joe Biden's empathy is decency. But Joe Biden is tough as nails and everybody knows it.
YOVANOVITCH: He will do the right thing no matter the political cost.
MCGURK: I've served for two Republican presidents and one Democratic president. I have seen the Trump administration make decisions without any thought, without any preparation to have massive life and death consequences.
HAGEL: At one of the most defining times in the history of the world Joe Biden is uniquely qualified to be president of the United States.
WEINSTEIN: If you want a strong America. You want Joe Biden.
COLIN POWELL, FORMER UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: Hi. I'm former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
One hundred years ago, a young immigrant left a dirt farm in Jamaica and set out for America. Three years later, a ship pulled into New York harbor and a young Jamaican woman gazed up at the Statue of Liberty for the first time. They became my parents. And they inspired me to finish college and join the army.
This began a journey of service that would take me from basic training to combat in Vietnam. Up the ranks to serve as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and secretary of state.
The values I learned growing up in the South Bronx and serving in uniform were the same values that Joe Biden's parents instilled in him in Scranton, Pennsylvania. I support Joe Biden for the presidency of the United States because those values still define him. And we need to restore those values to the White House.
Our country needs a commander in chief who takes care of our troops in the same way he would his own family. For Joe Biden that doesn't need teaching. It comes from the experience he shares with millions of military families sending his beloved son off to war and praying to God he would come home safe.
Joe Biden will be a president that we will all be proud to salute. With Joe Biden in the White House you will never doubt that he will stand with our friends and stand up to our adversaries, never the other way around. He will trust our diplomats and our intelligence community not the flattery of dictators and despots.
He will make it his job to know when anyone dares to threaten us, he will stand up to our adversaries with strength and experience. They will know he means business.
I support Joe Biden because beginning on day one, he will restore Americans leadership and our moral authority. He'll be a president who knows that America is strongest win as he has said we lead both by the power of our example and the example of our power.
He will restore America's leadership in the world and restore the alliances we need to address the dangers that threaten our nation from climate change to nuclear proliferation.
Today we are a country divided and we have a president doing everything in his power to make it that way and keep us that way. What a difference it will make to have a president who unites us who restore our strength and our soul. I still believe that in our hearts we have the same America that brought my parents to our shores, an America that inspires freedom around the world. That's the America Joe Biden will lead as our next president.
Thank you, very much.
ROSS: It was a friendship that shouldn't have worked. John, a former navy pilot just released from a north Vietnamese prison. Joe, a young senator from Delaware. But in the 1970s Joe was assigned a military aid for a trip overseas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FMR. SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ): I was the navy Senate liaison and used to carry your bags on overseas trips.
BIDEN: The son of a gun never carried my bags. He was supposed to carry my bags out, but he never carried my bags.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROSS: John and Joe traveled thousands of miles together. The families got to know each other, gathering for picnics in the Biden's backyard.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They would just sit and joke. It was like a comedy show sometimes to watch the two of them.
ROSS: But when John was elected to the Senate as a Republican from Arizona, they found themselves on opposing sides.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: We're in different parties. We hold different views on many issues.
FMR. SEN. TED KAUFMAN (D-DE): Maybe going at it on the floor and you think these guys must really, really dislike each other. And then they'd be having dinner that night together.
[22:45:02]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator Biden had great respect for the institution of the Senate. He built relationships that were cordial, that were personal.
BIDEN: We've always been willing we thought the other guy was right to cross the isle and lock arms. It's good for the country.
RON KLAIN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE EBOLA RESPONSE COORDINATOR: It takes trust to get things done in a divided government. And I think with Joe Biden his colleagues knew that your points were equally valid to him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even if a deal seemed out of reach, it was always Joe who tried to cross the aisle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was like a natural for that. He just had an ability to find the common ground but never give up your principles.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For three decades, Joe was able to move his colleagues and find a way forward. On violence against women, banning chemical weapons, assault weapons, and controlling nuclear arms.
CINDY MCCAIN, JOHN MCCAIN'S WIFE: It was a style of legislating and leadership that you don't find much anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And when millions of Americans were faced with losing their health insurance, it was Joe's friend who saved Obamacare by crossing the aisle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: McCain cast his vote with a thumbs down.
BIDEN: John and I have been given several awards about bipartisanship. We don't understand why we should get an award for bipartisanship.
J. MCCAIN: Thank you for your example. I'm proud to remain the same good guy that you were when you first got here, most of all, for your friendship. My life and the lives of many have been enriched by it. JILL BIDEN, JOE BIDEN'S WIFE: I have a rule that I never think of
anything negative when I'm running. When I set my mind to something, I find a way to get it done.
BIDEN: She is so damn tough and loyal. When I met Jill, I knew. My brother said there's this woman you'll really like her, Joe. So, I gave her a call. And she had a date that night.
JILL BIDEN: You said, do you think you could break your date?
BIDEN: That's right. What'd you do?
JILL BIDEN: Well, I called and told the guy that I had a friend in from out of town. And went out with Joe.
BIDEN: I was 30, and I was a senator, and I was a widower. Several years earlier, a tractor trailer broadsided by wife and three children. My wife was killed and my daughter was killed. I wouldn't bet on the whole date scene thing. But when I met Jill, I fell in love when I saw her.
JILL BIDEN: He said I'd like to see you again. So, he's looking at his calendar and he's Thursday. No, no, I'm really busy. No, I'm busy Friday. How about tomorrow? And I thought, buddy, you just blew your cover.
BIDEN: She's owned me since then.
The boys fell in love with Jill too. I'm brushing my teeth one morning and they came running in and Beau and Hunter said dad, we think it's time we marry Jill. Swear to God.
I ask her to marry me five times.
JILL BIDEN: It wasn't just my heart that was on the line. I loved the boys so much. I had to be sure that it had to be forever.
BIDEN: Now I'm going to ask you one more time. Will you marry me? She goes like this. OK.
She put us back together. She gave me back my life. She gave us back a family. We were raised with the same values.
JILL BIDEN: I grew up in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania right outside of Philly. My mom was English-Scottish. And my dad was Italian. My grandmother made the homemade noodles that would hang, you know, and she'll be drying her noodles.
BIDEN: They are very close family. She is the eldest of five girls.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's like the godmother of all of us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we've all seen the feistiness in her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a bully in my school, she marched up the street and knocked on his door. JILL BIDEN: And I punched him right in the face.
[22:49:56]
My father fought in World War II. He was a signal man in the navy. And he was very patriotic. He would take us to watch the Blue Angels and he was so proud.
We worshipped our mother. I can picture her so well and reading for hours. She just loved to read, and that had a great influence on me. I went to college at the University of Delaware. Then I taught in high schools. I mean, I got up every single day so excited to go teach.
When I married Joe, I took off time to establish myself as the boys' mom. We don't use the term stepmother.
BIDEN: Beau and Hunter said, no, we have a mom and a mommy. Our mommy died. This is our mom. And then along came Ashley, and --
JILL BIDEN: Our family was complete.
BIDEN: Yes.
ASHLEY BIDEN, JOE BIDEN'S DAUGHTER: When I was growing up, mom was fun. The headbutting started when I was a teenager. There were some conflicts. She dealt with it by taking up running. She started to basically run marathons.
BIDEN: I never, ever doubted that anything she set her mind she could do. I got to hand her, her doctorate degree in education at the University of Delaware.
JILL BIDEN: Let's turn it positive. So, you will pass it.
NAOMI BIDEN, JOE BIDEN'S GRANDDAUGHTER: I would say she's not your average grandmother.
NATALIE BIDEN, JOE BIDEN'S GRANDDAUGHTER: Yes.
NAOMI BIDEN: She, you know, she's the grandmother who wakes you up at like, what was it like, 5 a.m. on Christmas Eve to go soul cycling.
NATALIE BIDEN: Yes. We have a lot of stories.
NAOMI BIDEN: She's a prankster. She's very mischievous. Like, when she goes on a run, she'll find a dead snake and she'll pick it up and put it in our bag and she'll use it to scare someone.
CATHY RUSSELL, FORMER UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE FOR GLOBAL WOMEN'S ISSUES: That's classic Jill. She wasn't really a Washington person and I don't think ever imagined herself being part of that.
JILL BIDEN: When Joe was elected to vice president, I just thought, hey, I got to step it up here, because there are things that I really care about. Having had a father in the military, having a son deployed in Iraq, I saw the need to support military families. ASHLEY WILLIAMS, SENIOR AIDE: Dr. Biden can draw anyone in, and they
felt like they were talking to an old friend. That is one of her superpowers.
RUSSELL: When she was second lady, Jill told me that she would like to continue teaching at community college, and I said, that's insane. You cannot possibly do that.
JILL BIDEN: I said, I know I can do both jobs.
RUSSELL: I never saw her on any day of the week where she wasn't carrying a huge stack of papers to grade.
BIDEN: As second lady, she was teaching full-time for eight years, 15 credits a semester.
JILL BIDEN: These were students who wanted to be in your classroom, and I saw their tenacity. And they were taking care of children, just like I had done.
YVETTE LEWIS, FORMER STUDENT: She gave 100 percent from her energy to the students. She's a great teacher.
BIDEN: Teaching is not what Jill does. It's who she is. Jill just simply cares. She cares about other people.
JILL BIDEN: When Beau was diagnosed with brain cancer, nobody knew what we were going through. The Secret Service, you know, they're not supposed to react to your life for what you're doing. They would whisper, I'm praying for you.
HUNTER BIDEN, JOE BIDEN'S SON: Mom, it's your strength that holds that family together. And I know that you will make us whole again.
JILL BIDEN: You never stop grieving, ever. But you do have to find purpose.
Please welcome my husband, Joe Biden. Running for president is too tough to not be together.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Be the first lady of the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right. There you go.
WILLIAMS: If Dr. Biden is our first lady, the country will be getting one of the best humans that we have.
RUSSELL: She has been through some really tough things in her own life, and she knows how hard it can be.
BIDEN: The American people in their heart knows she'll fight like hell for them.
JILL BIDEN: We all need community. We need to depend upon others for our strength. All American families, we all need each other.
[22:55:08]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And now, please welcome, Dr. Jill Biden.
JILL BIDEN: I have always loved the sounds of a classroom. The quiet that sparks with possibility just before students shuffle in, the murmur of ideas bouncing back and forth as we explore the world together, the laughter and tiny moments of surprise you find in materials you've taught a million times.
When I taught English here at Brandywine High School, I would spend my summer preparing for the school year about to start, filled with anticipation. But this quiet is heavy. You can hear the anxiety that echoes down empty hallways. There's no scent of new notebooks or freshly waxed floors. The rooms are dark as the bright young faces that should fill them are now confined to boxes on a computer screen.
I hear it from so many of you, the frustration of parents juggling work while they support their children's learning, are afraid that their kids might get sick from school. The concern of every person working without enough protection. The despair in the lines that stretch out before food banks. And the indescribable sorrow that follows every lonely last breath when the ventilators turn off.
As a mother and a grandmother, as an American, I am heartbroken by the magnitude of this loss, by the failure to protect our communities, by every precious and irreplaceable life gone. Like so many of you I am left asking, how do I keep my family safe?
You know, motherhood came to me in a way I never expected. I fell in love with a man and two little boys standing in the wreckage of unthinkable loss, mourning a wife and mother, a daughter and sister. I never imagined at the age of 26 I would be asking myself, how do you make a broken family whole?
Still, Joe always told the boys, mommy sent Jill to us. And how could I argue with her? And so we figured it out together, in those big moments that would go by too fast, Thanksgivings and state championships, birthdays and weddings, in the mundane ones that we didn't even know were shaping our lives, reading stories piled on the couch, rowdy Sunday dinners and silly arguments.
Listening to the faint sounds of laughter that would float downstairs as Joe put the kids to bed every night while I studied for grad school or graded papers under the pale yellow kitchen lamp, the dinner dishes waiting in the sink.
We found that love holds a family together. Love makes us flexible and resilient. It allows us to become more than ourselves, together, and though it can't protect us from the sorrows of life, it gives us refuge, a home.
How do you make a broken family whole? The same way you make a nation whole, with love and understanding and with small acts of kindness. With bravery, with unwavering faith. You show up for each other in big ways and small ones again and again. It's what so many of you are doing right now for your loved ones, for complete strangers, for your communities.
There are those who want to tell us that our country is hopelessly divided, that our differences are irreconcilable. But that's not what I've seen over these last few months. We're coming together and holding on to each other. We're finding mercy and grace in the moments we might have once taken for granted.
We're seeing that our differences are precious and our similarities infinite.
