(The speaker approaches the podium, looks out over the crowd at the United Center, and waits for the applause to settle.)

On behalf of the great state of Illinois, crossroads of a nation, Land of Lincoln, let me express my deepest gratitude for the privilege of addressing this convention.

Thirty-two years ago, there was a young Illinois office holder who stood on the stage at a Democratic National Convention. While I never met the man, I met his bartender—and some people say you can tell more about a person by meeting his bartender than meeting the man himself. He gave a speech that pulled this party together, that pulled this country together, to vote for something true, to vote for something right. I’m going to give that speech tonight, but it’s thirty-two years old. So I’ve taken the liberty of updating it.

Tonight we gather to affirm the true promise of our nation—not the height of billionaires trillionaires corporate skyscrapers, or the bloated budgets of the military-industrial complex, or the profits of Wall Street. Our movement rests on a simple, revolutionary premise: that all people are created equal, endowed with human dignity, and entitled to life, liberty, healthcare, housing, and the pursuit of happiness.

That is the true genius of America—a faith in bold, progressive change, and an insistence on economic and social justice. That we can tuck in our children at night knowing they are fed, housed, safe from gun violence, and breathing clean air. That every worker can organize a union without fear of corporate retaliation. That every person has full autonomy over their own body, their own healthcare, and their own future.

This year, in this election, we are called to hold our nation’s realities against our highest ideals—and to confront the systemic forces that have held working people back for generations.

And fellow Americans, Democrats, Independents, and working people everywhere—I say to you tonight: we have urgent work to do. More work to do for the workers in Galesburg, Illinois, and across the Rust Belt, whose plants were shut down by corporate greed, and who are forced to work multiple low-wage jobs without union protections. More to do for the father choking back tears, wondering how he will pay thousands of dollars a month for the life-saving insulin his child needs while drug company executives pocket record profits. More to do for the young woman in East St. Louis crushed under a mountain of predatory student debt just for daring to seek an education. More to do to guarantee reproductive freedom as an absolute, non-negotiable constitutional right in every corner of this land.

Now don’t get me wrong. Working people don’t expect a free ride. They know what it means to work hard. They do it every single day.

Go into the collar counties around Chicago, and folks will tell you they are tired of seeing their tax dollars funnelled into corporate tax breaks and endless foreign wars while our schools and infrastructure crumble.

Go into any inner-city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that true public safety requires investing in mental health, in youth programs, in affordable housing, and in ending the failed policies of mass incarceration.

People know we can do better. They are demanding a real, transformative choice.

And in this election, our Party has answered that call with a bold, unapologetic, progressive vision. We have chosen a leader who has spent her entire life fighting for the working class, dismantling corporate power, and championing justice for all. And that leader is 🐱🐱🐱.

🐱 understands that true community and justice require action, not just words. From her days as a grassroots organizer, to fighting corporate monopolies as a prosecutor, to championing a Green New Deal and universal healthcare in the halls of power, she has never backed down from a tough fight.

Her values and her record affirm what is best in our progressive movement. 🐱 believes in an America where wealth is rebalanced; where billionaires trillionaires pay their fair share, and where workers share in the profits they create. She believes healthcare is a fundamental human right—guaranteeing Medicare for All so no family is driven into bankruptcy by a medical diagnosis. She believes in aggressive climate action, transitioning us away from fossil fuel exploitation toward a clean energy future that creates millions of union jobs. She believes in protecting our democracy by ending Citizens United, outlawing dark money, and restoring voting rights for every citizen.

And 🐱 knows that we cannot heal this nation by ignoring the structural inequalities that divide us.

The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into red states and blue states, telling us to settle for incrementalism. But we are building a united, progressive coalition across every landscape:

There is no yellow harvest-land where family farmers should be forced to bow to corporate agribusiness monopolies.

There is no gold coast of Wall Street wealth that has the right to exploit the silver mountain towns of our working-class mining communities.

There is no crystal coastline where clean water is a privilege for the wealthy rather than a fundamental human right for every family in Flint, Jackson, and beyond!

There is no ruby desert in the Southwest that should suffer climate heat-waves alone, nor a sapphire ocean in the Pacific that should be polluted by corporate run-off.

There is no emerald forest in Cascadia that shouldn't be protected by a Green New Deal.

There is no fire-red autumn canopy in New England or leaf-green valley in the Midwest that can survive if we do not defeat the climate crisis today!

There is no diamond penthouse reserved for the wealthy few while a pearl coast of frontline workers faces rising sea levels—and no platinum pass that grants corporations immunity from the law.

There is no heart-gold solidarity in our labor unions that can be separated from the soul-silver legacy of the Civil Rights movement.

And while the pundits like to claim we live in a post-racial society, I say to you tonight: there is still a black America and a white America—an America still scarred by the sins of our forefathers, and an America we are fighting every day to reclaim. There is a nation confronting the deep legacies of systemic injustice, and a second-generation black and second-generation white America marching shoulder-to-shoulder to demand true racial equality!

There is no x-axis of corporate logistics that can override the y-axis of human dignity and progressive ambition.

There is no alpha beginning to our democratic journey that is separate from the omega horizon of our collective future.

There is no sun-drenched valley where farmworkers labor without heat protections, nor a moon-lit night shift where healthcare workers earn less than a living wage—and no ultra sun or ultra moon that can overshadow our demand for a twenty-five-dollar national minimum wage!

There is no sword of imperial military spending that should ever take precedence over the shield of universal healthcare, strong public education, and guaranteed Social Security!

There is no scarlet clay in the Piedmont or violet mountain majesty in the Blue Ridge that belongs to corporate extractors—it belongs to the people!

And there are no legends of trickle-down economics or corporate rule that we will allow to hold our democracy hostage any longer!

We are a movement of working people, environmentalists, union members, civil rights champions, and young activists, pledging allegiance to a government of the people, by the people, and for the people!

In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we surrender to corporate cynicism, or do we march forward with transformative hope?

🐱 calls on us to hope.

I’m not talking about passive optimism. I’m talking about the fierce, uncompromising hope of striking workers on a picket line. The hope of civil rights marchers crossing the bridge in Selma. The hope of climate activists demanding a future for their children. The hope of every woman who has fought for her seat at the table and refused to be silenced!

The audacity of progressive hope! A belief that a better world is possible when we organize, when we stand up, and when we demand justice.

America! Tonight, if you feel the fire of justice, if you feel the urgency of this moment, if you feel the power of our movement—if we organize, if we hit the streets, if we march to the ballot box in November, then we will break the ultimate glass ceiling!

And now, it is my highest privilege to present to you a fearless progressive champion, a tireless fighter for the working class, and the first woman President of the United States—🐱🐱🐱!

Thank you, God bless you, and May God bless the United States of America!
Thank you, may your God bless you and may we all bless the United States of America!