BENNET
Thank you. Last week, I saw one of those Trump signs that says, "America, love it or leave it." And it was on the outside of a church.

I love America. And I know we can make it better.

Before coming to the Senate I ran (inaudible) school district where most of the kids live in poverty. Those kids have exactly the same hopes that I had.

Their parents have exactly the same hopes for them that my parents had for me, and that Susan and I have for our three children. But for the last three years, we've been consumed by a president who frankly doesn't give a damn about your kids or mine. Mr. President; kids belong in classrooms, not cages.

And they deserve something better than a bully in the White House. Let's end this three ringed circus in Washington and make -- and let's make this election about reclaiming our future for our kids and our democracy. Empty promises won't beat Donald Trump, I can.

BIDEN
Tonight, I think Democrats are expecting some engagement here. And I expect we'll get it.

I'm running for president to restore the soul of this country. You know, we have a president, as everybody has acknowledged here, every day is ripping at the social fabric of this country, but no one man has the capacity to rip that apart. It's too strong. We're too good.

Just look at this stage, made up of very diverse people from diverse backgrounds, went on to be mayors, senators, governors, congresswomen, members of the cabinet, and, yes, even a vice president.

Mr. President, this is America. And we are stronger and great because of this diversity, Mr. President, not in spite of it, Mr. President.

So, Mr. President, let's get something straight: We love it. We are not leaving it. We are here to stay. And we're certainly not going to leave it to you.

BOOKER
Thank you, Dana.

Last week the president of the United States attacked an American city, calling it "a disgusting, rat-infested rodent mess."

(inaudible)

BOOKER: We need a nation that understands that this tired old language, the...

(chanting)  |  LEMON: Stand by, Senator. (chanting)  |  BOOKER: I will stand by.  |  (chanting)  LEMON: Please stand by.  |  (chanting)  |  LEMON: Please, continue, Senator.

BOOKER: Thank you very much.

Donald Trump, from Charleston to Baltimore to even the border, is using the tired, old language of demagogues, of fear-mongers, of racists, to try to divide our country against itself. We know who Donald Trump is, but in this election, the question is who are we as a people?

We have serious problems in America. We have deep wounds and seriously deeply rooted challenges. We desperately need to heal as a nation and move forward. Because we know in this country that our fates are united, that we have a common destiny. The call of this election is the call to unite in common cause and common purpose. That's how we will beat Donald Trump. That's how I will beat Donald Trump. And as your president, that's how I will govern and move us forward together.

BULLOCK
Thanks, Dana. 

I come from a state where a lot of people voted for Donald Trump. Let's not kid ourselves. He will be hard to beat. Yet watching that last debate, folks seemed more concerned about scoring points or outdoing each other with wish-list economics, than making sure Americans know we hear their voices and will help their lives. 

Look, I'm a pro-choice, pro-union, populist Democrat who won three elections in a red state. Not by compromising our values, but by getting stuff done. That's how we win back the places we lost: showing up, listening, focusing on the challenges of everyday Americans. 

That farmer getting hit right now by Trump's trade wars, that teacher working a second job, just to afford her insulin. They can't wait for a revolution. Their problems are in the here and now. 

I'm a progressive, emphasis on progress, and I'm running for president to get stuff done for all those Americans Washington has left behind.


BUTTIGIEG
I'm running for president because our country is running out of time. It is even bigger than the emergency of the Trump presidency. Ask yourself how somebody like Donald Trump ever gets within cheating distance of the Oval Office in the first place. 

It doesn't happen unless America is already in a crisis -- an economy that's not working for everyone, endless war, climate change. We have lived this in my industrial Midwestern hometown. My generation has lived this as long as we have been alive. 

And it's only accelerating. Science tells us we have 12 years before we reach the horizon of catastrophe when it comes to our climate. By 2030, the average house in this country will cost half a million bucks and a women's right to choose may not even exist. 

We are not going to be able to meet this moment by recycling the same arguments, policies, and politicians that have dominated Washington for as long as I have been alive. We've got to summon the courage to walk away from the past and do something different. This is our shot. That is why I'm running for president.


CASTRO
Thank you, Dana, and good evening.

You know, just a few days ago we were reminded and inspired by our fellow Americans in Puerto that public service is not fundamentally about any of us; it's about you and your family.

I want you to know that, if I'm elected president, that I will work hard every single day so that you and your family can have good health care when you need it, so that your children and grandchildren can get a good education so that they can reach their dreams and that you can have good job opportunities, whether you live here in a big city like Detroit or in a small town in our country.

I know we have a wonderful, special nation but that too many people are struggling. And I know what that's like, too. You know, I grew up with a single mom in a poor neighborhood. But like many of you, I don't want to make America anything again. I don't want us to go backward. We're not going back to the past. We're not going back where we came from. We're going to move forward. We're going to make America better than it's ever been in the years to come. Let's do that together.

DE BLASIO
To the working people of America, tonight I bring you a message of hope. We can make change in this country. I know from personal experience it can be done.

When I became the mayor of the nation's largest city, I set us on a path of bold change. They said it couldn't be done, but we gave pre-K to every child for free. We got rid of stop-and-frisk and we lowered crime. We raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Yes, it can be done.

Now, tonight we have to get to the heart and soul of who we are as Democrats. There are good people on this stage, but there are real differences.

Joe Biden told wealthy donors that nothing fundamentally would change if he were president. Kamala Harris said she's not trying to restructure society. Well, I am.

For 40 years, working people have taken it on the chin in this country. For 40 years, the rich have gotten richer and they've paid less and less in taxes. It cannot go on this way. When I'm president, we will even up the score and we will tax the hell out of the wealthy to make this a fairer country and to make sure it's a country that puts working people first.

DELANEY
Folks, we have a choice. We can go down the road that Senator Sanders and Senator Warren want to take us, which is with bad policies like Medicare for all, free everything and impossible promises that will turn off independent voters and get Trump re-elected. That's what happened with McGovern. That's what happened with Mondale. That's what happened with Dukakis. Or we can nominate someone with new ideas to create universal health care for every American with choice, someone who wants to unify our country and grow the economy and create jobs everywhere. And then we win the White House. 

I'm the product of the American dream. I believe in it. I'm the grandson of immigrants, the son of a construction worker. My wife April and I have four amazing daughters. I was the youngest CEO in the history of the New York Stock Exchange, created thousands of jobs and then served in Congress. That's the type of background -- and my platform is about real solutions, not impossible promises, that can beat Trump and govern. Thank you.


GABBARD
I love our country. It's why I enlisted after 9/11, why I've served as a soldier for over 16 years, deployed twice to the Middle East, and serve in Congress now for almost seven years.

I know what patriotism is and I've known many great patriots throughout my life. And let me tell you this, Donald Trump is not behaving like a patriot. As president I will bring this spirit of real patriotism to the White House, serving the interest of all Americans, not just the rich and powerful.

I'll fight for our rights and freedoms of all Americans, upholding these principles in our constitution upon which our country was founded, fighting for justice and equality for all. Fighting for every single American regardless of race or religion as we strive towards that more perfect union.

And as president I'll bring this unifying spirit of love for country and the soldier's values of service above self to the White House, truly leading a government of by and for the people.

GILLIBRAND
My grandmother taught me that nothing's impossible. She spent two generations organizing women in upstate New York. My mother taught me nothing's impossible. She was one of only three women in her law school class and worked with gay couples for basic rights.

If you want to get something done, just tell me it's impossible. As a freshman senator I was told you couldn't repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Even members of my own party told me it wasn't convenient. When are civil rights ever convenient?

We stood up to the Pentagon and we got it done. Not impossible. 10 years ago I was told you couldn't pass healthcare for our 9/11 first responders, those heroes who raced up the towers when others were coming down.

Even when Congress turned its back on them, we kept fighting. Just last week we made the 9/11 health bill permanent.

Beating Donald Trump definitely not impossible. We need a nominee who will take on the big fights and win. We need a nominee who doesn't know the meaning of impossible.

HARRIS
This is an inflection moment in the history of our country. I think we all know that. This is a moment in time that is requiring us each as individuals and collectively to look in a mirror and ask a question, that question being "Who are we?"

And I think most of us know that part of the answer to that question is we are better than this. So this then becomes a moment that we must fight for the best of who we are. And fight, of course, we will.

And this is not a new fight for us as Americans. We have always been prepared to fight for our ideals. We have always been a nation that fights for the best of who we are.

And I'll tell you, I come from fighters. My parents met when they were active in the civil rights movement. My sister, Maya, and I joke we grew up surrounded by a bunch of adults who spent full time marching and shouting about this thing called justice.

And I am prepared to march with you, to fight with you for the best of who we are and to successfully prosecute the case of four more years of Donald Trump, and against him.

HICKENLOOPER
Last year Democrats flipped 40 Republican seats in the House, and not one of those 40 Democrats supported the policies of our front-runners at center stage. 

Now, I share their progressive values, but I'm a little more pragmatic. I was out of work for two whole years until I started what became the largest brew pub in America. And I learned the small -- small business lessons of how to provide service and teamwork and became a top mayor, and as governor of Colorado created the number one economy in the country. 

We also expanded health care and reproductive rights. We attacked climate change head-on. We beat the NRA. We did not build massive government expansions. 

Now, some will promise a bill tonight or a plan for tonight. What we focused on was making sure that we got people together to get things done, to provide solutions to problems, to make sure that we -- that we worked together and created jobs. That's how we're going to beat Donald Trump. That's how we're going to win Michigan and the country.


INSLEE
Good evening. I'm Jay Inslee. I am running for president because the people in this room and the Democrats watching tonight are the last best hope for humanity on this planet.

If -- if we make defeating the climate crisis the top priority of the United States, we will have a fighting chance to save ourselves and our children's future. It has to be our top priority. My plan is one of national mobilization, quickly bringing 100 percent clean energy to Americans, creating 8 million good union jobs.

This is a big, bold, ambitious plan for clean energy for a big bold ambitious nation. Middle ground approaches are not enough. We must confront the fossil fuel industry. I've been working on this for 25 years.

And now we know this, we are at tipping point and whether we shrink from this challenge or rise to it is the vital question of our time. We democrats believe we can still do big things in this nation. We can defeat the climate crisis. Let's get to work.

KLOBUCHAR
Let's get real. Tonight we debate, but ultimately, we have to beat Donald Trump. My background, it's a little different than his. I stand before you today as a granddaughter of an iron ore miner, as a daughter of a union teacher and a newspaper man, as the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from the state of Minnesota and a candidate for president of the United States. 

That's because we come from a country of shared dreams, and I have had it with the racist attacks. I have had it with a president that says one thing on TV that has your back and then you get home and you see those charges for prescription drugs and cable and college. 

You're going to hear a lot of promises up here, but I'm going to tell you this. Yes, I have bold ideas, but they are grounded in reality. And, yes, I will make some simple promises. I can win this. I'm from the Midwest. And I have won every race, every place, every time. And I will govern with integrity, the integrity worthy of the extraordinary people of this nation.


O'ROURKE
I'm running for president because I believe that America discovers its greatness at its moments of greatest need. This moment will define us forever, and I believe that in this test America will be redeemed. 

In the face of cruelty and fear from a lawless president, we will choose to be the nation that stands up for the human rights of everyone, for the rule of law for everyone, and a democracy that serves everyone. Whatever our differences, we know that, before we are anything else, we are Americans first, and we will ensure that each one of us is well enough and educated enough and paid enough to realize our full potential. 

We will meet these challenges here at home, and we will lead the world in those that we face abroad, successfully confronting endless war and climate change. At this moment of truth, let us pursue our national promise and make a more perfect union of everyone, by everyone, and for everyone.


RYAN
America is great, but not everyone can access America's greatness. The systems that were built to lift us up are now suffocating the American people. The economic system that used to create $30, $40, $50 an hour jobs that you can have a good, solid middle-class living now force us to have two or three jobs just to get by. 

Most families, when they go to sit at the kitchen table to do their bills, they get a pit in the middle of their stomach. We deserve better. And the political system is broken, too, because the entire conversation is about left or right, where are you at on the political system? And I'm here to say this isn't about left or right. This is about new and better. And it's not about reforming old systems. It's about building new systems.

And tonight, I will offer solutions that are bold, that are realistic and that are a clean break from the past.


SANDERS
Tonight in America, as we speak, 87 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured, but the health care industry made $100 billion in profits last year. 

Tonight, as we speak, right now, 500,000 Americans are sleeping out on the street, and yet companies like Amazon that made billions in profits did not pay one nickel in federal income tax. 

Tonight, half of the American people are living paycheck to paycheck, and yet 49 percent of all new income goes to the top 1 percent. 

Tonight, the fossil fuel industry continues to receive hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks while they destroy this planet. We have got to take on Trump's racism, his sexism, xenophobia and come together in an unprecedented grassroots movement, to not only defeat Trump but to transform our economy and our government.

WARREN
Donald Trump disgraces the office of president every single day. And anyone on this stage tonight or tomorrow night would be a far better president. I promise, no matter who our candidate is, I will work my heart out to beat Donald Trump and to elect a Democratic Congress. 

But our problems didn't start with Donald Trump. Donald Trump is part of a corrupt, rigged system that has helped the wealthy and the well-connected and kicked dirt in the faces of everyone else. 

We're not going to solve the urgent problems that we face with small ideas and spinelessness. We're going to solve them by being the Democratic Party of big structural change. We need to be the party that fights for our democracy and our economy to work for everyone. 

You know, I know what's broken in this country, I know how to fix it, and I will fight to make it happen. 


WILLIAMSON
Thank you. 

In 1776 our founders brought forth on this planet an extraordinary new possibility. It was the idea that people, no matter who they were, would simply have the possibility of thriving. We have not ever totally actualized this ideal. But at the times when we have done best, we have tried. And when forces have opposed them, generations of Americans have risen up and pushed back against those forces. 

We did that with abolition and with women's suffrage and with civil rights. And now it is time for a generation of Americans to rise up again, for an amoral economic system has turned short-term profits for huge multi-national corporations into a false god. And this new false god takes precedence over the safety and the health and the well-being of we the American people and the people of the world and the planet on which we live. 

Conventional politics will not solve this problem because conventional politics is part of the problem. We the American people must rise up and do what we do best and create a new possibility, say no to what we don't want and yes to what we know can be true. 

I'm Marianne Williamson, and that's why I'm running for president.


YANG
If you've heard anything about me and my campaign, you've heard that someone is running for president who wants to give every American $1,000 a month. I know this may sound like a gimmick, but this is a deeply American idea, from Thomas Paine to Martin Luther King to today.

Let me tell you why we need to do it and how we pay for it. Why do we need to do it? We already automated away millions of manufacturing jobs, and chances are your job can be next. If you don't believe me, just ask an auto worker here in Detroit.

How do we pay for it? Raise your hand in the crowd if you've seen stores closing where you live. It is not just you. Amazon is closing 30 percent of America's stores and malls and paying zero in taxes while doing it. We need to do the opposite of much of what we're doing right now, and the opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian man who likes math.

So let me share the math. A thousand dollars a month for every adult would be $461 million every month, right here in Detroit alone. The automation of our jobs is the central challenge facing us today. It is why Donald Trump is our president, and any politician not addressing it is failing the American people.