When New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham took the stage at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night for a speech about health care, she gave a shout out to the Land of Enchantment.
“In my state, we like things spicy — a little chile on everything, a little kick in our campaigns,” Lujan Grisham said. “And let me tell you, we are feeling en fuego right now. We are fired up to elect Kamala Harris president of the United States.”
After recounting how her sister was “uninsurable by the time she was 3” due to a tumor, the governor drew starkly different pictures of what health care in the United States would look like under each major-party presidential candidate.
Vice President Harris will protect Americans’ health care and reproductive freedom, Lujan Girsham said, whereas former President Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance want to dismantle the U.S. health care system, repeal the Affordable Care Act and eliminate protections for preexisting conditions.
“Either these guys don’t get it or they just don’t care,” said the governor, who once held the position of state secretary of health. “You know, who gets it? Kamala Harris gets it, and she cares.”
Lujan Grisham said Harris’ actions as attorney general of California and as a U.S. senator show a commitment to improving health care for Americans.
“She took on drug companies that jacked up prices and hospitals that overcharged patients, and when Republicans tried to kill the Affordable Care Act, she stood up in the Senate voting not just ‘no,’ but ‘hell no,’” she said. “And Kamala Harris hasn’t just stopped Republicans from making our health care system worse. She fights every day to make it better.”
Lujan Grisham said she had been trying for years to make changes to Medicare that would allow the government to negotiate lower drug prices, and she praised Harris for delivering it.
“You know what Donald Trump delivered? Junk plans, higher premiums and abortion bans,” Lujan Grisham said. “And if you don’t think a second term would be worse, then I’ve got a box of Trump Steaks to sell you.”
Trump Steaks is a defunct meat brand launched in 2007.
Lujan Grisham said Harris — who officiated the governor’s wedding to Manny Cordova last year — will continue to look out for Americans’ best interests in health care if she’s elected.
“Kamala Harris will protect your right to care,” she said. “She’ll cap drug costs. She’ll go after corporate price gougers and ensure every woman who needs it can access reproductive health care.”
Watch Lujan Grisham’s full speech here.
Other speakers Tuesday included former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer, Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa, Arizona.
On Wednesday, Lujan Grisham will take part in a panel of female Democratic governors, hosted by Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
The convention runs through the rest of the week.