00:01It is so, so good to be back at UNT and to be here on the first day of early
00:07vote in this
00:08historic election. I am so, so grateful to y'all. Last night, we launched our Clear Eyes, Full Hearts
00:16Tour. At this time of year in Texas, there is no better place to be than a high school football
00:22game. The band, the roar of the crowd, the chill in the air. No matter who you are or what
00:30you look
00:31like, everyone in town is there for the same reason, to root for the same team. When I was in
00:37high school, they were filming a TV show in our area. It was called Friday Night Lights. And
00:45if you haven't seen it, it's a show about the Dillon Panthers, an underdog high school football
00:50team, and their coach, Eric Taylor. In the very first episode, right before the big game,
00:57Coach Taylor gives a locker room speech. And he says, they're going to come at y'all with
01:02everything they've got. I expect you boys to execute. I expect you boys to play football.
01:09And then he ends with six immortal words. Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.
01:18There is a moment in every game, the last play of the last drive, when you have to leave it
01:25all on the
01:26field. UNT, we are in that moment. In the final days of this election, they are coming at us with
01:34everything they've got. The billionaire mega donors and their super PACs have already spent 200 million
01:41dollars in attack ads to try to defeat us. That is, that is the most of any Senate race in
01:50American
01:50history. And more is on the way. They are scared. They are terrified. They see what we see, that we're
02:00about to win this election. We are building a movement to take back our state and take back
02:14our country. We are uniting Texans from all backgrounds and beliefs onto one team to take
02:20on this broken, corrupt political system. I have traveled every corner of this state over the past
02:26year, from Beaumont to El Paso, from Amarillo to Brownsville and everywhere in between. Big cities,
02:35small towns, red areas, blue areas alike. We have had thousands of Texans showing up at our events. I get
02:43to hear from folks afterwards. I can't tell you the number of people who come up to me and whisper,
02:50I'm not a Democrat. Like they're in the witness protection program. I can't tell you the number
02:57of young people who come up to me and say it's the first political event they've ever attended.
03:03That is how we change the politics of this state and of this country.
03:13We have recruited more than 60,000 volunteers to knock doors, to make phone calls, to send text
03:20messages. And if you haven't signed up to volunteer yet, I hope you'll do that when you go home after
03:25this. You can do it on our website. We have also shattered every grassroots fundraising record
03:31in American history. And we have done it without taking a dime from corporate PACs. This is a people
03:46power campaign. And on November 3rd, we are all going to do something extraordinary. We're going to do
03:59something historic. We are going to shock the nation. We're going to shock the world when we end 30 years
04:06of one party rule in our state. An elective senator who's going to serve all of us.
04:14We
04:17we we forget that politics is supposed to be about service.
04:24Amen. Amen. I thought it was a heckler, but I agree
04:30cosign. We we forget that that's what politics is supposed to be about, that it's supposed to be
04:37about service. Elected officials are not supposed to serve themselves. They're not supposed to serve
04:41their mega donors. They're supposed to serve us. They're supposed to serve the people.
04:46I, um, I, I first learned the meaning of service from my great grandfather, my poppy. He was a
04:57barber in Port O'Connor, Texas on the Gulf coast. And he served this country in World War II in
05:04the
05:04Pacific theater. Poppy was a member of the greatest generation, a group of Americans who asked not how
05:11their country could serve them, but how they could serve their country. And whether he was cutting
05:16his neighbor's hair or fighting fascism on the other side of the world, my poppy was always serving
05:22other people. He was a, a faithful man. That's the best word I can think of to describe him. He
05:31was a
05:31devout Christian and he tried to actually live like Jesus, who in the words of scripture came not to be
05:39served, but to serve. And that's how my poppy lived his life. My poppy came not to be served, but
05:45to
05:46serve. And that's what inspired me to go into public service. First,
05:56first, as a public school teacher on the west side of San Antonio, where I taught sixth grade language
06:03arts at Rhodes middle school, home of the fighting wildcats. I, I always say that teaching middle
06:09school is the best preparation for politics. Uh, it's already come in handy over the course of this
06:13campaign. I, I entered the classroom in the fall of 2011, right after our state legislature cut more
06:21than $5 billion from public education in our state. I saw the impact of those cuts firsthand. I saw programs
06:30get eliminated. I saw students slip through the cracks. I saw class sizes grow. At one point,
06:37I had 45 students in one classroom. There, there weren't enough desks for all my students. So I had,
06:44I had kids sitting on the air conditioning unit in the wealthiest country in human history.
06:50In the 21st century, children sitting on the air conditioning unit. And that made me mad.
06:56I ended up running an education nonprofit in our area that was helping schools like mine,
07:02students like mine. And when a seat in that very same legislature opened up in my hometown of Round
07:08Rock, Texas, I threw my hat in the ring. I was 28 years old. I had never run for office
07:13before.
07:13I was a Democrat running in a Trump district in a county that was so red, it hadn't voted for
07:20a
07:20Democrat for president since Jimmy Carter. I was told by the powers that be in the Democratic
07:26Party that that race was a lost cause. I was told that even if it was possible to flip a
07:31district
07:31like that, I was too young. I didn't have the money. I didn't have the political connections
07:36to pull off an upset of that kind. But my neighbors and I, we ran an aggressive, authentic,
07:44at times unorthodox campaign that brought people together. And on election night,
07:50we flipped that district with 51% of the vote.
07:56And now I'm in my fourth term in the Texas House.
08:01I'm in my fourth term in the state house where I have brought Democrats
08:05together to pass 60 bipartisan bills, bills that lower the cost of housing,
08:11lower the cost of childcare, lower the cost of prescription drugs, including insulin.
08:16I ran for office, not to be served, but to serve. And then,
08:25and then, and then there's Ken Paxton, the most
08:32the most corrupt politician in Texas. Ken Paxton is everything that's wrong with this broken,
08:39corrupt system. He doesn't serve us. He serves himself. You may have seen the reporting that since
08:45taking office, Ken Paxton has increased his net worth by $27 million. You may have,
08:54you may have seen the reporting that Ken Paxton now owns 15 homes. I mean, it's, it's hard to get
09:0115
09:01homes in a game of monopoly. I don't know how Ken Paxton got 15 homes. He has taken bribes from
09:08wealthy
09:09donors all while he blocks our overtime pay and guts our healthcare. This is the rot at the core of
09:16this
09:17broken, corrupt system. It's why so many Texans can't get ahead no matter how hard they work. It's
09:23why we can't afford the basics in this economy, because the system has been rigged by billionaires
09:31and corrupt politicians like Ken Paxton. We,
09:37we have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis, but that, that can end
09:47this year in this race, in this state. If we come together, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as
09:54Texans to defeat the most corrupt politician in our state, then we can come together to defeat this
10:01entire corrupt system. I've, I've already said the first bill I'm going to file as your U.S. Senator
10:14is a comprehensive anti-corruption agenda getting, getting, getting big money out of our politics
10:26by overturning citizens United, banning, banning corporate PACs and super PACs. So billionaires
10:35aren't buying our elections. Banning, banning members of Congress in both parties from trading stocks
10:44and enriching themselves while they're in public office. Banning, banning gerrymandering nationwide
10:54in red states and blue states.
11:01And passing term limits so we can show these puppet politicians the door. That is the kind of
11:06systemic reform we need. I love you too.
11:15That, that is what we can do in this election. That is what we can accomplish. That is why
11:21they are spending 200 million dollars against us. It's why those billionaire mega donors are so
11:26invested in electing Ken Paxton and stopping us. And I should say it's actually just one
11:32billionaire mega donor. Elon Musk is trying to buy this Senate seat in Texas.
11:39We just found out that he is almost single-handedly bankrolling this effort to install Ken Paxton in the
11:51state. In all likelihood, if you have seen an attack ad on your TV, that was Elon.
12:02If you've gotten lies in your mailbox, that was Elon. If you've received a text message saying scary
12:09things about me, that was Elon too. Our movement is funded by 1.3 million individuals who have given to
12:19our campaign. Ken Paxton is funded by one dude. Elon Musk wants our land. He wants our water. He wants
12:40his
12:41very own personal United States Senator. He is trying to buy Texas. But on November 3rd, we are going to
12:49send
12:49a crystal clear message to the world's first trillionaire. Texas is not for sale.
13:05This election reminds me of a story in the Bible. That story of a shepherd boy who goes up against
13:14a
13:15giant. For 40 days, Goliath taunts and teases. On the day of the fight, he shows up in full armor.
13:24He's carrying so many weapons, he has to get someone else to carry his shield.
13:28We are going up against our own Goliaths. Those billionaire mega-donors. The richest man
13:34in the world. The entire Washington D.C. establishment. Their power is real, but so is ours.
13:43David may not have been as big or as strong as Goliath. He may not have had as many weapons,
13:50but he had hope. He had faith. And he had a slingshot.
13:57UNT, you are my slingshot.
14:01The people of Texas are my slingshot. And on November 3rd, those Goliaths aren't going to know
14:10what hit them. We have a lot of work to do, UNT. We have a lot of work to do
14:21in these final two
14:21weeks. In fact, right after this rally, our UNT campus fellows, if they can raise their hand back
14:28here, they are going to lead you all right to the polls so you can cast your votes.
14:33If we do that work, if we show up, if we get our friends, our classmates,
14:37our family members to show up, I am confident.
14:41I feel it in my bones that we are going to win this election and elect a senator who will
14:46serve
14:47and not be served. UNT, UNT, this is the last play of the last drive. This is the moment we
15:00leave it
15:00all on the field. Because as every Texan knows, clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose. God bless the UNT.
15:09Let's go win this thing. Thank y'all.
