I want your vote to become your next president — here’s what I will do for you and our nation

On Day One, I’ll mount an aggressive approach to control this virus and get us back to our lives.

Across our nation today, there are nearly 230,000 empty chairs at dining room tables, where just weeks or months ago loved ones sat and talked and laughed. There are 30 million Americans feeling the sting of a lost job or lost wages — 10 million who’ve had the peace of mind of health coverage taken away.

Parents are struggling to teach their kids at home — often while balancing their own jobs — because there is no comprehensive plan to reopen our schools safely.

One in five small business owners forced to shutter their dreams. Cars stretched for miles in town after town, filled with proud families pushed to the brink — waiting in line, for the first time in their lives, for meal assistance. Last goodbyes to parents delivered through PlexiGlas. Opportunities to pray together and place them in the hands of God confined to a laptop screen.

For eight months, we’ve lived through one of the most devastating tragedies in American history. But even as the numbers mount — with the worst-ever day of confirmed new cases coming just days ago — we cannot become numb to it. We cannot let these lives lost and futures diminished become statistics or background noise — just a blur that passes by on the nightly news.

Each is an American life that deserved better. And cruelest of all, we know that so much pain could have been avoided if only the president had faced reality and taken action sooner.