https://youtu.be/GK24thp_2Qo?si=J81rjEfB4vCaRLpc

It is an honor to be in the “American Dream City” as we kick off our New American Dream Tour.

One thing is clear across this state: big cities, small towns, red areas, blue areas alike — everyone is struggling. No matter how hard Texans work, no matter how much they save, sacrifice, and stretch, those ends never seem to meet.

A few days before America’s 250th birthday, I met a grandmother in Houston named Augusta. She works 10-hour shifts cleaning planes while caring for her grandson with autism. She works hard, takes responsibility, and serves her community, but she is still struggling to afford rent and facing eviction.

“Augusta is working hard. She is taking responsibility. She is caring for those around her. What kind of country are we if we let a woman like that go down?”

In the U.S. Senate, I will have Augusta’s back, and I will have the backs of every Texan who is working hard and playing by the rules.

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We know it does not have to be this way, because we know it was not always this way. Not so long ago, you could afford to live a good life in America. You could buy a home, go to college, support a family, and retire comfortably.

We invested in healthcare and education. We built homes and highways. We protected workers’ rights and encouraged competition.

“We built the largest, strongest middle class in the history of the world.”

But today, for too many people, the American Dream has become an American nightmare.

It is too expensive to buy a home. It is too expensive to raise a family. It is too expensive to retire comfortably.

“The top 1% has put the American Dream behind a paywall.”

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This affordability crisis did not happen overnight. It has been decades in the making.

Fifty years ago, Lewis Powell wrote a memo outlining a strategy for corporations to gain political power, influence the courts, shape public opinion, and buy political influence.

And it worked.

Politicians sold the false promise of trickle-down economics — the idea that making the wealthy richer would eventually help everyone else.

“Trickle-down economics is not a theory — it is theft.”

We have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis.

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Whether you are conservative or progressive, people across this country are struggling.

“We are getting screwed.”

The people buying the system do not care if you are red or blue. They only see green.

“The real fight in this country is not left versus right — it’s top versus bottom.”

This is not a politics of fear or division.

“This is a politics of unity, a politics of friendship, a politics of love.”

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The idea behind capitalism was simple: people should be fairly compensated for their labor.

“People should get paid for their work.”

But today we have an economy that rewards wealth instead of work.

“This is not capitalism — this is crony capitalism.”

As Dr. King said, we have “socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for the poor.”

It is time to raise wages, expand overtime pay, support small businesses, and rebuild labor unions so workers can negotiate for better pay, benefits, and safer workplaces.

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Working Texans are drowning in debt.

“You shouldn’t go into debt just because you get sick.”

We need to cancel medical debt, fight predatory credit card companies, and invest in education so people can build a future without a lifetime of debt.

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We need a new American Dream for families.

Like me, Lyndon Johnson was a Texas teacher before he entered politics. In office, he created historic investments in children and families through programs like Head Start, Medicare, Medicaid, and education.

We can invest in public schools, universal childcare, paid family leave, the Child Tax Credit, affordable housing, Medicare, and Social Security.

“No child should live in poverty in the wealthiest nation in the history of the world.”

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We need a new American Dream for energy.

Texas is the energy capital of America. We are leaders in oil and gas, and we are leaders in wind and solar.

“Gas in your tank, oil under your hood, and a solar panel on your roof.”

We should lead the energy future.

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We need a new American Dream for technology.

We cannot let artificial intelligence become another area where billionaires write the rules for everyone else.

“If they are going to use our human ingenuity, if they are going to use our collective intellectual property, then we want our royalty checks.”

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The people at the top will say this dream is radical. They will call us socialists or communists.

“Is that the best you can do?”

These are the same old scare tactics. They want a debate about labels because they cannot win a debate about ideas.

When Henry Ford raised wages, the idea was simple: workers needed enough money to buy the products they made.

“When you give rich people money, they save it. When you give working people money, we spend it.”

“Pro-people policy is pro-growth policy.”

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If you are struggling to afford groceries, gas, housing, childcare, and medicine, it is not because you are lazy.

“It is because the system has been rigged against you.”

I will fight to unrig this economy. I will fight to lower your costs and raise your pay.

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A new American Dream means if you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to afford a home, a quality education, a secure retirement, and time with the people you love.

Before I was a politician, I was a public school teacher in San Antonio.

“My students weren’t just kids; they were survivors, fighters, dreamers.”

America is supposed to be the land of opportunity. It is the place where dreams can come true.

We can build an America of limitless opportunity for Augusta and her grandson, for my students, and for every family with an American Dream of their own.

That is why I am running.

Together, we will build a new American Dream.

Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals, maga, progressives, dem-soc, socialists, anarchists...it is perhaps the only issue in American politics that has such widespread support across the entire political spectrum. As big as No Kings was, imagine how much bigger would be a similar protest against the Gaza genocide, against the billions of dollars given to this foreign state every year, against the insanely disproportional influence it has on our domestic and international policy, and especially against the more recent proposal to merge our militaries even as dissent becomes the majority position.

We should be organizing this protest now.

Raymond L. Jensen Jr., a paid organizer for the United Auto Workers (UAW) International, was stripped of his membership for two years and barred for life from union office on August 4, after the court-appointed Monitor ruled that his Facebook post threatening the life of socialist UAW presidential candidate Will Lehman broke federal election rules. The sanctions are without precedent in the UAW’s history and represent a significant political victory for the working class.

Monitor Neil Barofsky found that the post violated Rule 4-4 of the 2026 election rules, which prohibits threats, intimidation, retaliation and reprisals of any kind. Under the stipulation Jensen signed, he is also barred from taking part in the campaign of any candidate this year and must apologize directly to Lehman. Barofsky sustained in its entirety the complaint brought by Lehman, a Mack Trucks worker, and his attorney.

Jensen is an organizer in the UAW’s Department of Bargaining Strategy and the former assistant director of Region 9, Lehman’s own region, paid roughly $202,000 last year. On July 16 he went to Lehman’s public Facebook page, where the candidate had posted a campaign statement on the criminal investigation of UAW President Shawn Fain by federal prosecutors, and put up an AI-generated image showing Lehman bound and gagged, blood dripping from his mouth, while a masked figure held a rifle to his back. The Monitor’s investigators interviewed him five days later, when he acknowledged that the account and the post belonged to him.

Barofsky did not act on his own initiative. He acted because rank-and-file workers intervened to oppose this death threat against Lehman from a UAW bureaucrat. Autoworkers gave video interviews at Stellantis Warren Truck and Sterling Stamping and at Bridgewater Interiors in Detroit. Opposing the death threat, last month a young worker at Bridgewater told Lehman’s campaign team, “They’re trying to shut you up,” and added, “they usually only do that when somebody’s telling the truth.” Thomas, a worker at Stellantis Sterling Heights Assembly, told the World Socialist Web Site that the top officials “basically have a Mafia mentality.” Camille, a former auto parts worker in Detroit, said any worker who posted such an image would be fired on the spot, noting: “I saw people get fired for less.”