00:00With that, I want to pass it over to one of the most extraordinary people that I have encountered and met, our Lieutenant Governor, Juliana Stratton.
00:17Thank you so much, Chair Hernandez, and good morning, everyone.
00:21I'm Juliana Stratton. I'm proud to serve as Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, and I'm honored to be running for the United States Senate.
00:29To my friends from Texas, while I'm glad to welcome you all to the great state of Illinois, I wish we were coming together under different circumstances.
00:39We're here today not because we want to be, but because we have to be.
00:45Right now, we are facing the voting rights fight of our lifetime.
00:50Donald Trump and Texas Republicans are staging a blatant attempt to strip away voting rights and rig the next election.
00:59Texas families are still recovering from devastating floods.
01:03Americans nationwide are suffering under rising prices and cuts to health care and food assistance.
01:10But Trump and Texas Republicans are choosing to ignore the needs of their constituents and focusing on further rigging the system for their own advantage.
01:21And there's no line they won't cross.
01:24Governor Abbott has even called for duly elected representatives to be hunted down and arrested.
01:31That is authoritarianism, and all of us should be outraged.
01:37It's not lost on me that it's Black and Latino communities who will disproportionately be silenced by this attack.
01:44Tomorrow marks the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, which was specifically designed to prohibit racial discrimination in voting.
01:55That progress was only possible because people were brave enough to fight for it.
02:00People like my dad, Henry, a Navy veteran who marched from Selma to Montgomery 60 years ago because voting rights were under attack.
02:11But here we are in 2025, Trump and Republicans will stop at nothing to roll back that progress.
02:19This is personal to me because my 92-year-old dad, Henry, has passed the baton to me and to all of us.
02:29And now is our time to stand up and fight.
02:38We have a message for President Trump and Governor Abbott.
02:43We are watching you.
02:45In Illinois, we don't sit on the sidelines.
02:48In Illinois, we don't take kindly to threats.
02:52And in Illinois, we fight back.
02:55If Trump and Texas Republicans won't play by the rules, we will look at every option available to stop their extreme power grab, and nothing will be off the table.
03:06My friends, I assure you that while you're here in Illinois, we will do everything in our power to support you and protect you, because this isn't just about Texas.
03:17It's not just about Illinois.
03:19It's about every American having the right to be heard.
03:23Now is the time for fighters to be bold, unflinching, and fearless as we stand up for our democracy.
03:31And that's what we'll continue doing in Illinois, and we're proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with our friends in Texas in this fight.
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