Transcription
[Applause] Thank you, Mr. Prom. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To all of the leaders that are assembled here today, thank you uh for an outstanding job. Thank you for your faith and devotion to this larger cause uh democracy that I think should unite all of us regardless of our political party and political stripes.
Let me just uh briefly reinforce because I'm eager to sign u a bill that no other governor in uh US history has ever signed. A bill uh that will put the maps in front of the voters. We'll be the first state in US history uh to in the most democratic way submit to the people of our state the ability to determine their own maps. That simply has not been done.
But I want to first just briefly back up and pick up a little bit on what the speaker and the prom said uh and just remind everybody what they reminded you that need to be reminded all of us again of how we got here. We got here because the president of the United States is struggling. We got here because the president of the United States is one of the most unpopular presidents in US history. We got here because he recognizes that he will lose the election. Congress will go back into the hands of the Democratic party next November. We got here because of his failed policies. Those are being exposed hour by hour, reinforced today by Walmart announcing they'll be raising prices because of the tax increases, because of the tariffs. uh reminded every day by a slowing economy, growing mistrust, distrust all across this nation, across the board, he is failing. He recognized that and that's why he made a phone call to Greg Abbott asking for five seats. Can't win by playing by traditional sets of rules. He plays by no rules. I remind you all the time, it's not the rule of law. It's the rule of dawn. And we're standing up to that. We're responding to that. They fired the first shot. Texas, we wouldn't be here at Texas not done what they just did. Donald Trump didn't do what he just did. He went so far as to follow up and say that he didn't just want those five seats. He said he's quote unquote entitled to those five seats. Just pause and reflect on that. Everything should have just stopped there. President of the United States claiming he's entitled to five seats. That should put chills up your spine. Every Republican, not just Democrat and independent, every American. American those enduring values that we celebrate just celebrated. 200 49 years the best of the Roman Republic, Greek democracy, the rule of law, co-equal branches of government, popular sovereignty. What we'll celebrate, will we? Next year, the 250th anniversary. masked men. Masked men at the site of the Japanese were interned and bust in Little Tokyo last week in Los Angeles were sent right there in front of the Democracy Center as we kicked off this effort. That's a preview of things to come all across the United States of America. Mark my word, just as we let folks know what was going to happen in other cities, what is happening in Washington DC, we said two months ago, Los Angeles is a preview of things to come with the federalization of the National Guard, with the militarization of the streets of America. And I'll remind you, Donald Trump never sent the military, active duty military in his first term or now even his second term anywhere overseas. He sent them to a United States city. They remain federalized National Guard. Interestingly, through election day, $175 billion in the bill that was just signed to reinforce the ranks of ICE Homeland Security for what is increasingly becoming self-evident to anyone with eyes wide open at any level of objectivity, a private army for Donald Trump owing an oath only to him, not the Constitution of the United States. You just heard from the speaker that vote in mail ballots are being threatened by the president of the United States. 80% of Californians, no coincidence, 80% submitted their ballots in the last election. 86% in 2020 2022, 88 in 2020. He's trying to rig the election. He's trying to set up the conditions where he can claim that the elections were not won fair and square. Open your eyes to what is going on in the United States of America in 2025. That's what this is about. We're responding what occurred in Texas. We're neutralizing what occurred. And we're giving the American people a fair chance. Because when all things are equal, we're all playing by the same set of rules, there's no question that the Republican party will be the minority party in the House of Representatives. Next year, we'll be transitioning and I'll close uh from this process that has unfolded over the course of the last few weeks uh to the campaign after I sign uh these two pieces of legislation establishing a special session and the maps. I also will be signing a proclamation uh on November 4th. the people of the state of California in a transparent and as speaker and prom said temporary and democratic way will have the opportunity to determine their fate in our collective future and I couldn't be more proud again of the extraordinary leaders that are standing up for the rule of law are standing up for the principles and those enduring values of our founding fathers thank you for getting us to this point uh we have a lot more work to do get this done in November 4th.
[Applause] Count in front. Phones down. Down. Camera's down. I was trying to get over Let me do a quick photo. [Applause] And uh we'll establish the formality with the U special election. proclamation establish November 4th. This formal special. [Applause]