 Welcome, everybody. We are so happy to have you here. Yes, I think we should applaud for ourselves. Yay, Vermont Democrats. And primary night. We are so excited to have our first ever primary night watch party. And we have a fantastic crowd of you, including many of you who have been really involved in making this happen, helping our candidates. We have an incredible slate of candidates and all have been working incredibly hard for your vote. And I have to say that one of the most exciting parts of this campaign has been that we are getting ready to send our first woman to Washington, D.C. in Vermont history, which is a pretty exciting turn of events. I'm your Democratic Chair, Ann Lezak, and delighted to be here. And I have to say that we are very grateful that we rounded up a bunch of sponsors and co-hosts. And I want to just listen very quickly. We have as co-hosts Representative Tom Stevens and Liz Schlegel, Representative Theresa Wood, Senator Andrew Perchuk, Brian Levin, Maggie Lenz, and sponsors. Hold your applause, because we have a lot of sponsors. William Rapp, Dottie Deans and Lydia Spitzer, Jim Ramsey, Michael. Ooh, I should have checked the pronunciation. Gwett. Willie Docto, Cree Lintelak, Matthew Rubin, Representative Tim Bricklin, and Northeast Delta Dental. Let's give them all a big hand. The polls are closed, and I think we can predict a couple of the big winners. First of all, we're going to have Mike P. Check, and I do want to mention that our current treasurer, where are you? Beth Pierce is here to congratulate him. So as I told Beth, it's great to have a real VIP in our midst. Thank you very much, Beth. I don't know whether or how much Beth had to do with picking Mike, but we could not have a better candidate for treasure. I mean, he's certainly scared off the competition right away, which is pretty great. Those of you who have been in Vermont throughout COVID knew Mike as probably the most trusted voice in all of Vermont on COVID issues, and that wasn't even supposed to be his job. He's the Commissioner of Financial Regulation, and as his little side job, he's protecting taxpayers from financial harm and working with all our public employees to protect our pensions. But I think we all know Mark. He became really a state hero, and I would like to right now welcome our next treasurer, Mike P. Check, to say a few words. Welcome, Mike. Thank you so much for that introduction, and thank you very much for those cheers. When I was growing up and going to different schools and going to different locations, I used to know when something felt like home, when people could pronounce my last name. So thank you very much for making me feel like home, Vermont. I really appreciate it. But I do want to first thank the person that really encouraged me. No, it's you, Beth. The person that really encouraged me and gave me the inspiration to consider running for public office. Your support has been invaluable, Beth. I want to thank you first on behalf of all Vermonters for nearly two decades of service to our state. You've put teachers and state employees at the forefront, make sure that they've had a secure pension that they could retire with dignity, and you make sure that our state was on strong financial footing as well. We owe you a debt of gratitude, and I really appreciate your support. I was criss-crossing the state today mostly to tamp out the right in Beth Pierce campaign as she started. I think the New York Times said we beat it back, so I'm good. But thank you very much, Beth. And I want to thank my partner, Will, as well, for being here both during the campaign and during all those COVID press conferences. There are a lot of times where I was in a room by myself working late into the evening and that burden often fell on Will to, you know, be the person that supported me and made sure that we got through that as a couple and as a family. So I really appreciate him being here with me today and his support as well. Thank you very much, Will. I just thank you to all the candidates that ran in the election really. I mean, it's really not having been through this process before you understand how much energy it takes, how much it takes to put yourself out there to try to get the respect and the votes of the voters, and it can be tough and it can be challenging. Just to thank you to everybody who put their name on the ballot, who had the courage to step up, really appreciate that even more so having gone through it myself. So thank you for that as well, very much. So it's an honor for the voters of Vermont to have selected me as the nominee for Treasurer. As we have crisscrossed the state, we hear a constant theme that Vermonters are having challenges finding affordable housing. They're having challenges finding affordable childcare. Those two issues in particular are holding back our economy. Businesses can't find the employees that they need to grow and expand their business because their employees can't find the housing and the childcare that allows them to get back into the workforce. Those are two primary issues that we have to really focus on when we all are successful this November. We also have to focus on the issue of climate. Climate is an existential threat to our state and more Democrats need to be elected to solve that challenge because I think only the Democratic Party is really taking that issue seriously. And the time to act is now and we have to be bold and we have to be strong. So I look forward to building a campaign that will be ready to win this November. I look forward to winning. I look forward to getting to work on behalf of Vermonters. Thank you very much and have a good evening. Thank you Mike. This is the reason why I'm so proud to be chair. To have candidates like this who just are really going to be powerful, wonderful voices for Vermont and Vermonters. And speaking of powerful voices, next up is going to be our candidate for governor, Brenda Siegel. Brenda has been a powerful, passionate, effective voice, especially for those who are often left behind. Brenda has stood up for those who are so often ignored in our state and whether that be people who are experiencing homelessness, people struggling with substance abuse, people struggling from paycheck to paycheck. And the other thing about Brenda that is so exciting for us Democrats is that she is going to take on Phil Scott and has shown already that she is able to do this in a really effective way. And Brenda, we need you. We want you. You are the right person to lead this campaign for governor. And I just couldn't be prouder to have you as our gubernatorial candidate. So come on up and tell us a bit about what's going on. Thanks, Brenda. Before I even start, I need to say thank you to my son. This is my son, Ajna. You've all heard about me as a single mom a lot. But I think and there's and candidates go through a lot. Their children go through a lot when they're running and multiple times that has been the case and I want to say thank you for letting me. Oh, I don't have a mic yet. So we missed the Ajna. Thank you. So good evening, everyone. I am overwhelmed with warmth from people all over the state who have championed, supported and fought for change alongside me, not just in this race, but for the last many years. I truly would not be here without you. And what a slate we're going to have no matter how it turns out tonight. Tonight we made history. Mike P check will be the first openly LGBTQIA person running for treasurer. I will be the first openly by and near and dear to my heart is that I will be the first single mom running for governor. We will send a woman to Congress and we had the most women, people of color and LGBTQIA people on the ballot that we've ever had in the history of our state. Nicely done Democrats. Nicely done Vermonters. That is a lot of history making a lot of underrepresented voices and a little bit of progress. When I was alone with a baby, this baby and things got so hard and I felt forgotten and very alone. I really believed that my voice did not matter. It isn't in my DNA though to give up. And every day I see people like me all across the state. And I want to say to those people that your voice does matter. That when we rise, we can make change and I'm standing here to show you that tonight. We are up against the erosion of our civil liberties coming from Washington and it is not just reproductive liberty. It will be contraception. It will be LGBTQIA rights. It will be marriage equality and we are not prepared for that moment. We have to make sure that we update our extradition laws. We must enshrine equal rights into our constitution and it must include LGBTQIA rights. And while we must vote yes on prop five, it will not be enough because Republicans are planning to have bans on all of these things. We have to be ready. We have to build a coalition with the democratic states around us to make sure that we have a plan for what happens in the event that there is further erosion of our civil liberties because women and people with reproductive organs are not free even here in Vermont today because we cannot travel about the country and retain those freedoms. We are not in a wait and see moment and we have a wait and see governor. We need a proactive governor and we must be ready. We cannot afford to stand still on any of these issues. On October 14th, I stood on the state house steps and said that I would not leave until the governor fully reinstated the GA Motel program that housed people experiencing homelessness. I did that with Josh Lizambi who's here tonight actually and I want to say thank you to him. The idea that I would be there for 27 nights and 28 days. I was vastly unaware despite my empathy of the suffering that took place when someone is sleeping rough, when someone is sleeping on the cold hard ground. I did not know how hard it would be or how quickly my body and mind would decline. While we were there, right up until the 28th day, there were many people that thought that we could not win. And it was not easy. But yet we won. What I know is that this housing crisis did not start with COVID. It has been building for a long time. Our neighbors and community members have nowhere to go. From folks experiencing homelessness to upper middle income families. There is no housing in this state. We can't just put together a plan that looks good on paper. It has to meaningfully address need as assessed for everything from emergency housing to permanent housing. It is not enough to choose arbitrary dollar amounts. We must make a plan to fit need and address our broken system. And every time the legislature tries and believe me, I've been in there and they try to address it. There is a veto threat on the table. The governor should not use his veto pen to govern. As many of you know, on March 8th of 2018, my nephew, my nephew, Kyaseigel, whose upbringing I was a big part of, died of an overdose. He was a son of my brother who died just over 20 years before him, also while using heroin. With 20 years between them, the supports were still not in place to make it possible for them to survive. For three years, I worked with elected leaders here in Vermont from all three parties to pass a science and data driven policy. The governor and his administration resisted this policy despite the overwhelming evidence that it was safe and effective policy. That bill passed with huge amounts of tripartisan support, making it impossible for it to do anything other than become law. That happened alongside families like my own who have buried their loved ones and people in active use and recovery. I did not do it alone. It was an uphill battle. Yet we won. What I know is that we need to focus on harm reduction first, treatment and recovery on demand, including medically assisted treatment on demand, dual diagnosis and treatment. This year, a bill that followed that plan was introduced for the first time. In 2020, we ranked number one for increase in overdose in the entire country and by a lot. In 2021, we are in the top tier for the same and saw the most overdose in the history of our state overdose death in the history of our state. These deaths are preventable and they matter. This year, the governor vetoed three bills that would have helped this crisis, including the most comprehensive bill that has ever been passed. We cannot afford two more years of burying our children. We need leadership on this issue now. The overdose crisis is not going to go away on its own. We have to use data, science and lived experience solutions to save lives. Similarly, we need bold climate action and today and every day. We don't have time for half measures. We have to ensure that heat pumps and electric vehicles can make it into the hands of low and moderate income for monitors, not just pricey ones to the governor. We must make sure that our public utilities commission is not stacked with people who are stopping in state renewable energy. We must support our small farms in transitioning to carbon sequestration and require our large farms to do the same and we must increase our public transportation across the state. This year, the governor vetoed the most comprehensive climate bill that the legislature offered. We cannot sustain two more years of vetoes on climate issues. Climate crisis cannot wait. We are responsible to leave an earth that our children can survive in and to take care of the Vermont that we love so much. Our state employees and teachers for six years have lived with a constant threat to their livelihood, whether it be a threat to veto the budget or an attack on their pensions. And this year, it was both. Luckily, he signed the budget, but the threat was there and it was very terrifying for the state employees and teachers. Throughout COVID and the constant attack on our teachers and schools, the leaving behind of the most vulnerable, the pressure on our state employees, the threat of budget vetoes that would harm them in the short and long term. Our educators and our state employees are the heroes of our time and they, we owe them more. The thing is that COVID is a crisis that we all did face, but it was not the only crisis, nor was it the first one. There was already an overdose crisis. There was already a mental health crisis. There was already a climate crisis. There was already a housing crisis and we need leadership on those issues. We need a governor that understands those systems inside and out, one who has done the work on the ground with the people and in the legislature and within the systems. These are not new issues and we need a governor that is ready to lead. I see, I see those leaders every day in your community around me. There are leaders all around us and I know when we work alongside one another, there is nothing that we can't do. I am here because I know that we must rise together and that a tough fight for the people of Vermont is a fight worth having. This is going to be a very tough fight, but it is not even close to the toughest one I've had to or my family has had to face in our lives, and I'm here to tell you that I am still standing. I know that if we come together we can win, and we're going to do this together. You have nominated an incredible slate of people, the most LGBTQIA people on a statewide ticket ever, the most women, the first single mom, and we will send the first woman to Congress. That is quite something, but now is the moment that I need you to jump in. I need you to donate, I need you to volunteer, and to get excited with me so that I can do the work that I need to to get, and we need to get every Democrat working together to get every one of us elected is not enough right now. We have to do better, and I am counting on all of you to work alongside me to make that happen. I am Brenda Siegel, and I'm going to be Vermont's next governor. Thank you for putting your faith in me, and thanks for being here tonight. The passing of the mic. If we weren't inspired before, we certainly are now. We have such an incredible gubernatorial candidate and an amazing treasure candidate, and they are, they're going to be joined by other powerful, strong candidates who represent our democratic values and our hopes for a really positive future for all Vermonters, a welcoming, inclusive, forward-looking future that looks at the kind of issues that Brenda is laser focused on, and that Mike also talked about, climate, climate justice, inclusiveness of everybody in Vermont, fighting for the rights of those who've been left behind, making sure that we attend to the needs of those who are hungry, who are homeless, who have mental health issues, who have special education needs, who don't fit into, you know, just the regular paths. And we really want to create a positive, inclusive, welcoming Vermont for all, and these are the candidates who are going to do it, and we are the party who's going to do it. And I have to say that I am incredibly inspired by our candidates and also inspired by what we, the VDP, is bringing to the party. So I hope that when you see all of you, including our candidates, see the remarkable staff that we put together and the energy that we have, this is going to get everyone really on board. And I just want to mention quickly that we have brought on such a great staff, and raise your hands, most of you are here, a couple of them are are away on a brief occasion before they hit the ground running, but we have Cam, Sally, Elliot, Sheldon, Kate and Miles, several of them who just joined us in recent weeks. And with each new addition, I just get more excited because we have these young folks who are talented, committed, and ready to bring our party together and make sure that our candidates win from top to bottom and that we bring those incredible democratic values throughout the state. And I left one person out on purpose because I want to now introduce Jim Dandenall. Jim is the right person to be the executive director at this incredible time of the most exciting really campaign season in many, many decades. And Jim is an incredible team worker. He knows his stuff backwards and forwards. He's committed, he's caring, he gets it, he's a great communicator, and I'm going to give him the chance to tell you that now. So Jim, come on up. Let's give a round of applause to Ann Lezak, our fantastic democratic chair, and another round of applause for the greatest treasurer that Vermont has ever seen, Bev Pierce. And the next greatest treasurer Vermont will ever see, Mike P. Jack. And Vermont's next governor, Brenda Siegel. I'm Jim Dandenall. I'm the executive director of the party. I am up here to beg you for money one more time. And I'm just kidding, it's not one more time you're going to keep hearing from me a bunch. So we are putting together the largest and strongest campaign that the state of Vermont has ever seen, led by Elliot Kaufman. In order to do that, we need to knock so many doors, and we need to make so many phone calls, and we need your help to do that. If you are able to volunteer, we have signups up front. If you are able to dig a little bit deeper into your pockets and support us financially, we have a way to take your money up here, and you are going to have lots of other opportunities to give us your money in the near future. But I just want to thank all of you for coming out tonight. This is our first primary night watch party, but it's not going to be our last. And actually, according to my dear friend, the Internet, we are also going to send Peter Welch to the U.S. Senate. So thank you all so much for coming. Thank you to our hosts and our sponsors for putting this together. And have a great time. We're here for a little while now.