[applause] mayor de blasio: thank you. thank you so much, everybody. this is a very nice evening we are having. -- this is a very life-affirming evening we are having. i just want to say at the beginning, i love progress iowa. [applause] mayor de blasio: everyone in this room means business, cares, is here to make a difference. by the way i did not hear any , fear or trepidation, any depression. i hear people ready to fight and win. [applause] mayor de blasio: it is a very good time to be alive. it is a good time to be a progressive. things are about to change. we are here together, at the beginning of what will be a new era.

let me thank everyone at progress iowa. i want to think matt who is doing amazing work organizing this. let's give a round of applause. [applause] mayor de blasio: melissa, morgan, mark, moving forward all the time. thank you. [applause] mayor de blasio: i want to thank someone. who really captured it. when tammy talked about waking the sleeping bear, it was something very beautiful to say thank you to our opponents for waking us all up and turning as all in to change agents. what an incredible acclamation of faith. tammy your leadership is making , a huge difference. let's thank her. [applause] mayor de blasio: to tammy is

wonderful colleague, good friend of mine, mary jane, thank you for all you do. [applause] mayor de blasio: thank you to all the wonderful progressive elected officials. and to mark and janet for their leadership. i love listening to leaders at the forefront of the legislative battles, filled with energy and hope. thank them for all that they do. [applause] mark, i did not know you could wear a sweater like that to an event like this. [laughter] mayor de blasio: you are opening up space for sweater wearers everywhere. [laughter] i want to be clear from the beginning, why does progress i'll well not are so much? because you give hope. you are reaching those 70,000 people, and you are turning them

into activist on the issues that matter. two everyday iowans you are , creating an army. an army of good that is changing this state at the foundations. that is exactly what makes the difference. a lot of people ask me if i am including some of our friends in the media. this is the kind of organization that can actually change things. [applause] before there is even an election, it reaches people's grassroots. [applause] mayor de blasio: let me talk to you about a couple things this evening. but i want to talk about a first, little bit of personal perspective and talking about the grassroots. i have my own personal grassroots connection tyler. -- to iowa. it is pretty far back in time and is personally important to me. my grandmother, this is an amazing twist.

in 1888, my grandmother was born in blanchard, iowa. in page county. i am not making it up. [applause] mayor de blasio: it is a powerful story because it speaks to the kinds of things to pass along to every family. you will see how it came along in different parts of my family. she was born to a father who loved his farm. he was a civil war veteran fought for the union. he loved his farm but decided his daughters needed in education they could only get, if they went to the city. they left and she got the education her father helped her to get. she went on and flourished in her life. there was one example in my own family of the power of education.

to transform and even many decades ago, to liberate people, including women who often were not given their due in that ti. edation was the key. then you fast-forward to my mother, who was a child immigrant. -- a child of immigrants. she believed she could reach higher heights and got an opportunity to go to a college out of town, away from new york. my grandfather came from a small town. in southern italy. he wanted his daughter to have the very best. he blessed her, going to the school that she thought was right for her. fast-forward to my wife. she came from a working-class family and was told in high school that a high quality college was not for her. unfortunately because some of the people in her school did not think an african-american woman to go to one of the best colleges. she thought otherwise.

she worked her way up. she went to wellesley college. [applause] mayor de blasio: then my children, kiara and dante, who gained so much from our new york city public schools but who first experienced all that could be in pre-k. i did not know it at the time, but it seemed to me that a seed was being planted. i told my children i saw them growing and blossoming. i started to realize that every child deserves that. [applause] mayor de blasio: i tell you that story of generation after generation to tell you that for all of us, the changes we hope for in our city, our town and our country, they should come from not only our hearts that our own personal experience.

you should communicate to the people that we talked to from what we have seen with our own eyes, what we have experienced. my kids got that pre-k opportunity. i started saying to myself, if it makes such a difference, if it is the beginning, the strong start, why should it not be for everyone? could we do that? could we do that? when i ran for mayor of this city, i said very clearly that we have to do something that we have never done before in new york city. we need to give pre-k to every single child. [applause] mayor de blasio: now, guess what? the conventional wisdom said it could not be done. there were doubting thomas is. there were skeptics. when i took office, there were about 20,000 kids.

we said in two years, we would reach all the children. today in new york city, 70,000 kids went to pre-k. [applause] we added ansio: entire additional grade to our school system. it is having an incredible effect. it is for everyone. and we, as progressives, we as democrats do something that shows our entire society can move forward together, people start to believe in us. they can feel it in our lives. and another thing we should remember is when we show what we can achieve, we should go to the next step. i announced earlier this year, ,ased on the success of pre-k we are going to make sure that all those hard-working families, the parents struggling to make ends meet, all those kids who

deserve the best start will now have universal access to early childhood education at the age of three. [applause] these arelasio: changes we are making, and they were supposed to be impossible. now they are happening. i will tell you, i saw this time and time again. crisis ofaces a mental health challenge. a crisis because so many people were afflicted. so many families were struggling and they did not know where to turn. the stigma that held them back. a city or aas society dealing with the problem. my wife said, why don't we bring it out in the open? why don't we say the city is committed to ensuring that everyone gets the mental health care that they need?

we will make it part of the conversation every single day. she created an initiative called rise n.y.c.. n.y.c.ve getting people to talk about the thing they did not want to talk about. they would come up to her and speak in a hushed tone and whisper their thanks. we have more work to do. some of our colleagues this evening, we decided it was important to take this message everywhere, including to our houses of worship. we decided we could reach every faith. a few months back, we had the weekend of faith. simultaneously, in the course of one weekend, 2000 houses of worship from the pulpit talked about mental health, talked about how it was ok to come

,orward, if you had a challenge and how people deserve the hope that they needed. we started to break down the stigma right there and open up the doors to those who needed help. [applause] i will give you one more example. places inlike so many the nation, we had a wound we had to heal. between ourrift police and our community. healew that they needed to and we needed to bring them together. we knew we would be stronger and .etter if we could overcome it it took real work. -- cynics and critics and critics said if we tried to heal the wound and respect rights of all members of the community that somehow we would go backwards.

we had for years a very broken alienating our communities of color, particularly young men of color were singled out. we cannot move forward or heal unless we address it. if we, head on said that we are going to find a way to be safe but to be fair at the same time, i knew that if we brought police and communities together, it would actually make us safer. it would not only make us safer and more harmonious, it would make us safer. new york city is the safest city in america. [applause] mayor de blasio: if you hear the as examples change, everything i told you happened in four years or less. if you hear these examples have

changed and say it is a different world or different place, let me remind you of something that will give you a little heart. i just got reelected. i was the first to mccartney elected mayor of new york city since 1985. [applause] 20 yearsblasio: preceding the there were republican mayors. the things i am telling you about would have been impossible. during those 20 years, there were many times when we felt the same frustrations that i heard talked about a short time ago. we alwaysell you thought that change was right around the corner. i knew that change was coming. i knew that we had to give people a reason to believe. i knew we had to reach people in their neighborhoods. we have to show them

we have seen tax cuts held out before and we understand the siren call of tax cuts. something different happened this time. i say this pointedly because the vote is happening this very day and it will be remembered as a bad day in american his three and a day that we will have to fight to overcome. something else will be remembered. the people did not buy it. i almost two thirds of the will almost two thirds of the american people see this tax bill for what it is. in a a giveaway to the wealthy and the corporations. they see it. you can look across all the polling and it is shockingly consistent. they are not taking the bait.

they are watching. as we going to 2018, it is not just what you are seeing in the register poll. their frustrations are anger. they realize that the president lied to them. he said he was all about working people. he said i am not from the elite. i will help you out. take a chance on me. guess what? not only did he create the perfect cabinet of millionaires and billionaires. i didn't know there were that many millionaires and billionaires available to serve on the cabinet but he found the mall and put them in one cabinet. he also created a tax bill to simply serve his own kind. people see it. they reject it. as they think ahead, they will know they were bamboozled last year.

that will put wind in our sales. --wsails. here is what i want to tell you as we move ahead. we cannot be timid. we cannot take half steps or speak in vague terms. there is a phrase that should define what all of us as progressives and democrats do in 2018. it's a powerful and simple idea. fortune favors the bold. we have to be uncompromising. we have to be strong. we are the party of working people. we believe in the labor movement. [applause] we have to say it as plainly as that. we believe that those who have done their role, with all sorts -- who have done very well often with all sorts of government policies helping them to do well should pay their fair share in taxes. [applause]

mayor de blasio: we believe that public education is the fountain of democracy and fairness in america. [applause] mayor de blasio: if that is who we are, people will hear it. you don't need to fall into the trap that too many democrats fell into in washington dc. too many people in the beltway decided you can only run a good campaign if you have a lot of money. if you needed money, you have to savor the donors and homogenize -- you have to favor the donors and homogenize your message and take away the rough edges and not do anything that might offend certain people. guess what we ended up doing as a party? we were desiccated. our meaning was lost. sure, the donors gave money and

sure, the party came up with something that seemed maybe, kind of like a message. and, we lost. we were so desirous of the money that we created a vision and a message that we could not win with. thats what happened for years and years. i do not want the money if the money is standing between us and the people. [applause] mayor de blasio: what wins elections is people. volunteers, activists, people. [applause] what wins elections is ideas. by the way there is this new , thing they created called the internet. [laughter] mayor de blasio: if you have a good idea, it costs nothing to get it out to them. [applause]

the progressive movement is now at a powerful point of opportunity. i want you to hear this because i do not want people to think that maybe someday change will come. i want you to understand that change is already happening. the progressive movement is growing all over this country. it has been growing for years at the local level. we saw what happened in 2015 and 2016 all over this country. now we see it growing more deeply. [applause] january 21, we saw the largest demonstrations in the history of the united states of america. [applause] mayor de blasio: we are at the beginning of a progressive era. i know that may sound strange. but what happens in washington

is all the way at the end of the line that starts at the grassroots. grassroots are already changing. grassroots are right. -- are ripe for what we believe in. we have to have the courage to understand that the changes already coming. we have to be ready to meet it with all of our energy. we cannot ever feel that we cannot be ourselves. i will tell you something very simple. a progressive democratic candidate with a clear, strong, economic message, with a populist approach, who will go to the grassroots. that is the republican's worst nightmare. that is what we need more of in this state and every state. when we do it right, anything is possible.

you may say wait a minute. what do you mean anything is possible? surely you understand there are many states where it is difficult to win. yes, there are many states that are difficult to win. i will argue to you that we are in a once in a generation moment. i will argue to you that people are already starting to move. the election of donald trump supercharged them and created in energy and focus like we have never seen before. i will argue that it is reaching every corner of the country. you might say that sounds a little idealistic. let me talk about what happened a few weeks ago. it started in iowa. we saw this year in iowa in the special election, we saw democrats make ground where they were not supposed to be able to make ground.

he saw people of the most conservative places in the state start to vote democrat. they wanted to send a message. look what happened in new jersey. new jersey flipped from red to blue. it gained seats in the legislature. georgia democrats gained seats in the legislature. in new hampshire, the democrats gained seats. in oklahoma, the democrats gained seats in the legislature. [applause] mayor de blasio: in washington state, the legislature flipped the senate. it is already happening. did i mention virginia? [applause]

mayor de blasio: we have tonight, in this country, the greatest proof we ever needed of the value of each and every vote. the house of delegates of virginia, one of the oldest legislatures in this whole country. the pundits said the conventional was upset. the conventional wisdom said there was nothing to talk about in 2017. it would firmly remain in republican control of a maybe democrats could work around the margins. it was not on anyone's radar that that legislature could change. there was a seat, and today in newport news, virginia, that seat was awarded to the democratic party. it was a recount. [applause] in mayor de blasio: that seat has not created a 50-50 tied in the house of delegates in virginia.

[applause] there is a democratic governor and democratic lieutenant governor. now the world is turning in virginia. i am not making this up. the recount was completed today in newport news and the democrat won by one vote. [applause] mayor de blasio: since you will be on the doors, thank you mark. we will have people on the door. when someone says my vote does not matter, tell them how an entire legislature was flipped by one vote. [applause] one virginian. mayor de blasio: i did save the best for last. some things are supposed to be literally, physically impossible.

once the republican party became the party of roy moore and steve bannon, things started to change. i remind you -- the pundits said the republicans aren't breathing a sigh of relief here is the problem. they nominated roy moore as their candidate for senate. [applause] mayor de blasio: do you think the people of this country are dumb? no, they understand that the president and senate majority leader supported someone who is a child molester. this moment in history in 2017, as if it were somehow invisible. no, people saw it and realized it. that is not the whole story of alabama. the story of alabama is democrats and progressives

organizing like never before. they had a sharp contrast to work with. it was an exceptional situation, but you know what else happened? because doug jones actually stood for something. people could identify him as someone who has done something real, that affected people's lives. the man prosecuted those bombers in the church in birmingham got away with their crimes for decades. until doug jones prosecuted them. people in alabama felt something. [applause] in an mayor de blasio: people in alabama saw an agent of ste. they saw som who movedhem, and then they started to move. the turnout levels of african-americans in alabama surpassed the levels for president obama because people felt something.

people were organized. they went door to door. they did something that was supposed to be impossible. one day in january, there will be a democratic senator to take the office in alabama. [applause] in the mayor de blasio: brothers and sisters, this is the actual conclusion. [laughter] i think we have gotten all the evidence we need from the year 2017 to prepare us for the year 2018. i think we have seen change happen in places where no one could have possibly predicted it. now we have to show that change will happen everywhere. in i have great faith in progress i love. i have great faith and everyone of you. i want to wish you a wonderful holiday season. a happy kwanzaa.

a merry christmas. a happy home. a happy new year. and in that new year will be a year of victory in iowa. god bless you all. [applause] >> coming up here on c-span, the debate over the benefits of capitalism versus socialism. then federal judges preside over a shakespeare theatre company's mock trial over the divorce in the play "12 night." that's followed by a look at women and leadership in the impact of sexual harassment in the workplace. later, the editor of a new book about race and criminal justice reform. tonight at 8:00 eastern here on c-span, a debate on campus free

speech with first amendment scholars and authors from around the country. the event is cohosted by the national constitution center, the federalist society and the american constitution society. the second session of the 115th congress starts next week. on january 3 back and will welcome to new democratic lawmakers, alabama's doug jones and minnesota's tina smit the house research -- returns a few days later on the eighth and some issues will include government funding as the temporary spending authority runs of january 19. also this year's state of the union address. in the house speaker invited preside trump to address the the house. you can watch them both live on c-span and c-span2. attacked byen

everybody. i've been attacked by the right wing and the russians and the trunk campaign and i've been the sanders campaign manager can add to that list the clinton campaign. donnaday on "q&a," brazile talks about her life and politics and her memoir. >> i was here in washington, far from here. hillary was excited. she met this young state senator who was running. roots in illinois. she met this young state senator and told my good friend, we were on the third floor, and she said -- she knew barack obama but i did not know him. i knew a lot of other people. i know a lot of people in chicago politics but i had not heard of barack obama. back in 2000 three

and let me just see this, the rest is history. "q&a" sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> editors and academic scholars took part in the debate focusing on the ideology of capitalism and socialism. the new york times columnist michelle goldberg migrated the one hour, 20 minute event held at cooper union great hall in new york city. [applause] >> thank you all for coming out on a friday night. [applause] we are