It’s Jim by Acclamation
Congressman Jim Himes was nominated by acclamation to seek a second term Monday night when scores of fired up Democratic delegates met for Connecticut's 4th District Convention.
It was an enthusiastic crowd on hand at Bridgeport's Central High School gymnasium. And the excitement grew as Convention Chair Carmen Colon introduced State Senator Ed Gomes of Bridgeport, who gave a resounding speech to nominate Jim Himes to run for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Anna Duleep of Norwalk delivered a rousing seconding address before the delegates approved a motion to nominate Jim Himes by acclamation.
A joyous, extended standing ovation greeted Jim's nomination as he approached the podium to deliver his acceptance speech. Energized by the crowd, and determined to continue meeting the extraordinary challenges of our times, Jim took the opportunity to recall the recent past and to chart a clear path forward.
In his memorable and truly stirring address, here's what Jim said:
“Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you Ed and Anna for your kind words. A mis amigos Latinos, gracias, gracias por su apoyo y su confianza.
Two years ago, I stood in this city to accept the nomination as Democratic candidate for US Congress. I will tell you tonight, that I was a little daunted by that. I had been running an affordable housing non-profit, had spent some time in business, and had been focused on raising two young girls, whom you met earlier tonight.
We all suspected then, and we all know now, that we were going into very tough times.
When I took office, our country was losing 750,000 jobs a month. Our banking sector looked as if it might collapse, taking the dreams of millions of businesses and families with it. Millions of Americans wondered if they would keep their homes.
Days after I was sworn into a new job, I started getting letters from constituents who were losing theirs.
From Andrew in Stamford, who was in his second year without a job, and had just about spent his retirement fund.
From Lisa in Stamford, who had never paid a bill late in her life, but was now praying that she and her fourteen year old son would not become homeless as winter approached.
Thinking about Andrew and Lisa’s stories, and millions more like them, we took action. We passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which we now know has already saved or created well over 2 million jobs.
Those were jobs tearing down the broken Congress Street bridge, which had symbolized neglect in Bridgeport for ten years. Those were jobs at the Norwalk Community Health Center, fixing the Stamford Urban Transitway, and teaching in every one of our schools.
We passed a homebuyers tax credit, which has allowed almost 15,000 Connecticut families to buy homes. We cut taxes for five out of six Fairfield County workers.
We made the single largest investment ever in our nation’s public schools, not just so we could avoid firing thousands of teachers, but so that troubled schools would get the resources and ideas they need to make sure that every American child gets the education he or she needs to succeed.
We did all this in the face of unified opposition and ridicule. To each and every one of our proposed solutions—to healthcare,to Wall Street reform, to energy, to fixing the economy—our opposition just said no.
We know now that our efforts are working. Last month, the economy added 290,000 jobs with over 230,000 of those in the private sector. We’ve now seen jobs grow for four months in a row. We are finally seeing some positive signs of economic recovery.
While we can take some small satisfaction in that, you and I both know that we have a long way to go. Families are still struggling and much remains to be done to help rebuild America’s middle class. We will not celebrate, we will not rest, until every man and woman that wants to work in Stamford, Norwalk, Fairfield or anywhere else in this country has the dignity, respect and paycheck of a steady job.
As we do this, as we work to revive the economy, we must rebuild it stronger than it was before. Here is where you will see the sharpest choices in November’s election.
My opponent in November will argue that we should go back to a health care system that ignores children like Ella, a four year old in Monroe, who was turned down for health insurance because she had a single asthma attack. Ella’s mom Kim asked me “where does that put her for the rest of her life?”
My opponent will argue that Wall Street can police itself and that Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, AIG and the credit card companies can be trusted to do the right thing by themselves. My opponent will oppose protecting the American consumer from scam artists, crooked mortgage brokers and predatory lenders.
Until last week’s oil spill in the Gulf, I’m pretty sure my opponent’s energy policy would have been “Drill, baby, drill”
You and I know that none of these ideas are in the interest of the American people. These ideas may help health insurance companies, or Wall Street, or big oil, but they put American families at risk.
You and I know that government can be big and wasteful,that if it grows too much, it can squeeze the private sector, which is the real engine of our economic prosperity. But you and I also know that government has a crucial role to play in keeping us safe, in better educating our children, and in helping deliver on the promise of a just and prosperous America.
Most of all, you and I know that we have much work to do.
In the next few months, we will pass a Wall Street reform law which protects consumers, closes down the casino on Wall Street, and makes sure that our taxpayer dollars are never again used to bail out private businesses.
We must continue our efforts to move our nation away from its addiction to Saudi Arabia’s—or anyone else’s—oil and into leadership on clean, sustainable, American sources of energy.
We must restore the American public school as the source of the very best education anywhere in the world. If we are serious about the idea that every child gets opportunity in this nation, we will do that. If we are serious about preserving our economic and political power on this planet, we will do that.
And of course, economically, we have a long way to go. We inherited massive debt from the prior administration and now must begin to restore fiscal responsibility and reduce the deficit. We must do that while continuing to support our small businesses, working to keep families in their homes, and fighting for stable, good-paying jobs.
That is what November is about. Do we work together to continue our climb out of the mess we inherited sixteen months ago? Do we make the hard choices so that it never happens again? Or do we go back to the policies that got us into the mess in the first place.
I’m even prouder today than I was when I first stood in Bridgeport to accept your nomination to run for Congress. We were all prepared to take a chance that night two years ago. On a new President, a new Congress, a new way of doing things.
The days since then have not been easy, but we have done the right thing. And we have done it together. As I look out at all of you tonight, I ask that you join me and do what we did two years ago – knock on those doors, make those phone calls, empower our friends and neighbors. And I know that together we will finish the job of restoring the honor, the justice and the prosperity of the United States of America.”
Then the Rev. Bruce Morris, State Representative from Norwalk, wrapped up the proceedings with a thrilling speech challenging all the delegations from all the cities and all the towns of the 4th Congressional District to do the work that will be needed "to send this great and good man back to Washington" for a second term.
