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[chanting buttigieg!] thank you, iowa. thank you. [cheers]

thank you. [cheers] thank you. what a night. [cheers close not -- [cheers] tonight, an improbable hope became an undeniable reality. [cheers] mr. buttigieg: so we don't know all the results, but we know that by the time all this is said and done, iowa, you have

shocked the nation! [cheers and applause] because by all indications come we are going on to new hampshire victorious. [cheers and applause] [chanting pete! pete! pete!] one year ago, it was in the deep freeze of an iowa january where we began this unlikely journey to win the american presidency.

we were not well known, but we had new ideas. the idea that at this moment when washington has never felt further from our everyday lives, a middle-class mayor from the american midwest could carry the voices of the american people all the way to the american capital and make sure they are actually heard. [cheers] we had the belief that in the face of exhaustion and cynicism and division, in spite of every trampled norm and poisonous tweet, a rising majority of americans was hungry for action and new answers. [cheers] we could see an american majority yearning for leadership

to rally us together behind bold ideas to make a difference in our lives. we saw that americans were ready to come together but our politics were not. to seize this moment, we needed a new path forward, a path that welcomed people instead of pushing them away because this is our best and may be our last shot. we knew that with this american majority, we were on the cusp of changing the game for ordinary americans, but that we could not win or govern if we wrote people off who did not agree with us 100% of the time. but that if we could come together, the future that we know is possible would start on

january 21, 2021. [cheers and applause] [chanting president pete] there were skeptics, an awful lot of skeptics who said, not now, not this time. all this talk of belonging and bridging divides is too naive, too risky. so tonight, i say with a heart full of gratitude, iowa, you have proved those skeptics wrong. [cheers and applause]

it was by your effort that we brought together an extraordinary coalition of americans, progressives, moderates, and that good number of what we like to call future former republicans. [cheers and applause] to that is how we are going win in november, because it is about adding people to our cause, adding to our majority. that is how we will guarantee that on the day donald trump leaves office, we will be ready to move america forward into the era that must come next.

i want to thank every member of our campaign family, every organizer, volunteer, caucus-goer who talked to a neighbor, or a poll worker every staff member and every supporter who believed, and everyone who shares our vision can join the three-quarters of a million grassroots supporters fueling our movement and chip in right now on peteforamerica.com. [cheers and applause] and while we are at it, i want to recognize a few other people who helped us get to this night. my mother, who not only help to raise me, but put her love of language to work answering letters sent to our campaign.

[cheers and applause] my father, who left us in the early days of this journey, but whose own journey to this country made tonight possible in the first place. and to the love of my life, keeping my feet on the ground -- him.bout a hand for let's hear it for him. [cheers and applause]

i also want to congratulate my fellow democratic competitors in this diverse and formidable field. for months, we have been having an honest and respectful but vigorous debate about the course of our party and the future of this nation. and tonight, iowa chose a new path. [cheers and applause] from river to river, in churches and community centers in high school gyms, you joined your neighbors to say that the time has come to turn the page and open up a new chapter in the american story.

you chose to move on not just from the broken policies of these last few years, but from the broken politics that got us here. and tomorrow, because of what we did here, the nation will have the choice, too. we take our message onward to new hampshire which has a way of making up its own mind, to nevada, south carolina and beyond, to every corner in america. and as we do, we will be building a movement that not only will win the election against donald trump, but win the era for our shared values. we have exactly one shot to defeat donald trump. we will not do it by

overreaching or do it by division. we will not do it by saying it is my way or the highway. this is our shot, our only shot to galvanize an american majority to win. make no mistake, ours is the campaign that will defeat this president. [applause] a president who cuts taxes for corporation while crushing the rights of workers to organize ought to have the right to compete with the middle-class mayor who entered politics fighting for autoworkers, and actually lives and works in the industrial midwest. a president who tries to cloak

himself and his wrongdoing in religion should have to face the candidate not afraid to remind -- america that god does not belong to a political party. and a president who avoided serving when it was his turn should have to stand next to a veteran ready to show what troops deserve from the real commander-in-chief. [cheers and applause] now, this president may get a pass on the floor of the senate, but this november, the verdict will be up to us. and when i am your nominee, we

will win big enough to send not just donald trump's presidency, but trumpism itself into the dustbin of history where it belongs. something is stirring in america right now. you can feel it. we saw it tonight in the bluest counties and the reddest, in rural towns and industrial communities, big committees and small suburbs in between. we are seeing democrats hungry to win, independent voters who had been turned off by our politics, republicans tired of trying to look their kids in the eye and explain this presidency, all standing together to declare that we are defined not by who we voted for in the past, but by what we are voting for in the future.

[cheers] this is the coalition that no pundit saw coming. and it is the coalition the president won't see coming either. it is a majority we are assembling to agree not just on who we are against but on what we are for. unifying a rising majority ready to raise wages and empower workers in this fast changing economy. a majority ready and determined to put an end to endless war. a majority committed to bringing about a day in america where your race has no bearing on your health, your wealth, your access to education or your relationship with law

enforcement. [cheers and applause] a majority of americans ready to support our teachers with a president and a secretary of education who believe in public education. those americans are counting on us to act, and they cannot wait. i have met americans not even yet old enough to vote but who know that we cannot wait. an 11-year-old, asking how his family will be able to afford the insulin he needs. he can't wait for president who will ensure there is no such thing as an uninsured american or an unaffordable prescription.

the 14-year-old who let me know she has already written out a basic will because she is terrified the next day of school could be her last, cannot wait for a president who will see to it that she can walk into her school free of fear. [applause] a 10-year-old who let me know he expects to be around in 2100 and look back at whether we acted fast enough to secure his future. he cannot wait for a president prepared to enlist every american in to fight our climate. we are running for them. this campaign is giving voice to them, and it has room for everyone. because no matter who you voted for in elections past, and for that matter, no matter who you caucused for tonight, we welcome you in our campaign, and you

belong in the future that we are building. [cheers and applause] womanther you're a young with autism in muscatine or a veteran battling addiction claremont, you belong. whether you clean hotel rooms in las vegas or are getting a new business up and running in charleston, you belong. i believe the presidency has a purpose and the purpose of our american presidency is not the glorification of the president, it's the unification and empowerment of the american people. applause]d

>> america has a place for everyone and i believe this not because of my age, but because of my experience. i believe in american unity because of my experience serving of lacing up my boots in the dust of a war zone alongside americans so different we hardly have anything in common besides the flag on our shoulders yet learned to trust each other with our lives. i believe in american boldness because of my experience governing the guiding a city once called dying out of the shadows of our empty factories into a brighter future. [cheers and applause] believe in america belonging because the experience

you are part of tonight. looking out and remembering how it felt to be an indiana teenager wondering if you ever belong in this world. wondering if something deep inside him meant that he would forever be an outsider. that he might ever -- never wear the uniform, never be accepted, never even know love. now that same person who is standing in front of you, a mayor, a veteran, happily married and one step closer to becoming the next president of the united states. [cheers and applause] >> that is the america we are building. that is the america so many iowans chose today. if you are ready to build in

american life defined by a longing -- by belonging, this is our chance. if you are ready to build in american politics find by bold in this, this is our chance. [cheers and applause] >> and if you are ready to build an american future defined by unity in the face of our greatest challenges, this is our chance. [cheers and applause] hearts ande in our fire in our bellies, we are going on to new hampshire, onto the nomination and on to chart a new course for this country that we love. thank you. thank you, iowa. thank you so much. [cheers and applause]

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