State of the Union Preview: 20 Days Till Democrats Caucus for 8 More Years of Progress

Tonight, President Barack Obama will give his final State of the Union address to the country, just 20 days away from the First in the Nation Iowa Caucuses. It’s both a time for us in Iowa to reflect on the incredible accomplishments we’ve made under Democratic leadership, and an opportunity for us to recommit ourselves to furthering this remarkable progress by caucusing on February 1st.

In January 2008, we were at at the cusp of the great recession that would see 8 million Americans lose their jobs and countless families lose their homes. Americans could still be denied health coverage because of a pre-existing condition. And too many loving same-sex couples were denied equal rights and protections under the law.

Today, all that has changed. The economy is now in its 70th straight month or private sector job growth — accounting for 14 million new jobs.

Because of the Affordable Care Act, the uninsured rate has plummeted and 17 million Americans now have health coverage.

Love has won in every state in the nation. Americans are better off and more secure than they were before President Obama came into office.

The state of our union is strong.

But Democrats aren’t done. There is more work we can do to make sure every American has the chance to thrive and get ahead:

· We need to increase economic opportunity for all, raise the minimum wage, mandate Paid Family Leave, and ensure equal pay for equal work.

· We need to pass comprehensive immigration reform that offers a pathway to citizenship and secures our border.

· We need to ensure America remains safe through our strength and alliances with our allies, not through fear-mongering and bluster.

· And we need to take commonsense action to end the undeniable epidemic of gun violence that is plaguing our nation.

Continued progress is not assured. Nearly every day in Iowa, we are visited by Republican presidential candidates who want to take us backwards to the failed policies of the past and erase the gains we’ve made. They want to divide us with hate and fear, instead of bringing us together to tackle the shared challenges we face.

The best way to make sure they don’t succeed is for Democrats to stand together and caucus in 20 days — on February 1st.

Caucusing remains the best way to be an active participant in our party’s platform and agenda, and to build the grassroots organization we need to turn Iowa blue up and down the ballot in November.

No matter whom you are supporting, each one of our three outstanding candidates is a champion for working families and a secure America. But we will need all of our Democrats to work together to ensure Republicans can’t take us backward. And that starts on caucus night.

So right now, we need you to commit to caucus. Whether you have caucused since 1972 or are caucusing for the first time, we need to hear you stand up for our values on February 1st.

Visit our new caucus webpage — www.iowademocrats.org/caucus — for all the resources you need for caucus night. We even have a new caucus locator tool that allows you to enter in your address to get your caucus location.

So tonight, I hope you join me in watching the President address the nation on how far we’ve come. And in 20 days, I want to see you join with your fellow Democrats to send a strong message that we are dedicated to eight more years of progress.