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"I grew up in a family where my grandmother walked to work at the mill every day wearing her apron," Edwards said. "My grandfather, who was partially paralyzed, hauled rolls of cloth using one arm. My dad worked in those mills for 36 years, my mom worked too – all of them for one reason – to give us a chance to rise up and have a better life.
"That's the greatness of America – the promise that every generation will give its children the chance to rise higher, dream bigger, live greater," Edwards continued. "I took the chances my parents gave me and spent my life fighting to make sure that people just like the people I grew up with had a real chance in the world.
"And that's what drives me now. When I talk about the Two Americas, this is what I mean – the very wealthiest and most powerful have manipulated our government for their own ends. They use their wealth and their power to keep themselves wealthy and powerful at the expense of everyone else. And when they do that, they're holding America back.
"But that's about to change. You can feel it here in Iowa. Because America can't be held back. Because America belongs to us. When we face obstacles, you know what we do? We get up. We rise up. We right wrongs and we make our nation the way we want it to be. That's what's happening in this election. That's what's happening here in Iowa. That's America Rising."
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