This afternoon, Matt Ortega delivered remarks to the Region 8 pre-endorsement conference of the California Democratic Party seeking the support of its delegates.

Remarks as prepared for delivery

Good afternoon. My name is Matt Ortega. I’m a husband, father, small business owner, and union member. I grew up here—not far from where we are gathered today—where families worked hard. Kids played in the street. And neighbors looked after each other. With eight people in a three bedroom house, my family moved to the Tri-Valley. I attended San Ramon Valley High School before moving onto the University of Arizona, graduating in 2006.

My first campaign out of college was with an environmental group based in Pleasanton. We helped defeat one of the last Republican members of Congress in the Bay Area and flipped the seat blue.

I decided to enter this race because of the urgency of the moment. It’s a time for all Americans to step into the breach. Our country is faced with perpetual constitutional crises. Defiance of the rule of law. Assumption of powers reserved for Congress by the Executive. The American people are also hit with rising costs of this administration’s own making. Job losses. Groceries. Energy bills.

Congress could’ve put a stop to it. But Republicans too weak to uphold their oaths are too weak to deliver for the American people.

Families like mine are stretched thin: on housing, health care, and child care. My wife and I hold good-paying jobs but homeownership is out of reach. Our premiums nearly doubled this year—and that makes us one of the luckier ones. With two sons, we could only afford child care for one, part-time.

In the richest nation on earth, it should be easier than this, especially for working families.

This administration doesn’t care. It tells us our struggles are a “hoax.” It illegally dismantles every vestige of the federal government responsive to the people. It seeks not to serve but to subjugate. With the administration’s knee on our neck, the powerful pick our pockets. The lawlessness of this administration here at home and abroad is staggering. Americans see the evidence with their own eyes. We must contend with this new reality.

In a few months, our nation will celebrate 250 years since its founding. The ideals enshrined in those sacred documents still animate peoples in every corner of the globe. Yet once more here at home, we are met with another “long train of abuses and usurpations.”

The stakes couldn’t be higher. This administration is a national security threat to the United States. Its continued existence imperils Americans greater than any danger we’ve faced since the Confederacy.

The American people are looking to us. Will we rise to meet the moment as generations before us have? Our predecessors ended slavery, defeated fascism, and turned the moon from an object to a place. Are we still capable of achieving what is great?

I say yes.

In this campaign, I am committed to fighting for an affordable future and the freedom to live it.

Free people and businesses from the burden of health insurance premiums with Medicare for All. Put more money in the pocket of working families by raising the minimum wage. Lift a weight off the shoulders of parents with free child care. Taxing billionaires and cutting the defense budget to pay for it.

I am not new to this fight nor will I shrink from it. I’ve spent my career improving the lives of working people alongside labor unions, health care professionals, environmentalists, veterans, and immigration activists.

As a self-taught designer and developer since I was a teenager, I was fortunate enough to parlay what was a hobby into a twenty year career and a thriving small business. Fighting for better pay, better health care, an inhabitable planet, a fair immigration system, and freedom for all. I wish every American should be so lucky.

In the balance is the future the next generation stands to inherit. We are called upon to secure their democracy and their freedom. Donald Trump didn’t create the cracks and fissures. He merely exploited them. It is incumbent upon all of us to lay the groundwork for reform, today.

We must hold the line, re-assert Congress’ Article I prerogatives, and hold this administration accountable. Those involved in this criminality and barbarism must understand the present circumstances will not last forever. There will be a day of reckoning and it is coming.

Our system is broken but it’s not too late. There is hope. The people are stirring. We see it with inspiring acts of solidarity and resistance in Minneapolis, Chicago, and Los Angeles. With a bold vision for the future, the people will follow. Our country has proven resilient before. We can do it again—and the time to do it is now.

Thank you.