Patrick DeConcini: Stay Focused and Save Our Country

Patrick DeConcini, the son of Dennis DeConcini, stood in for his father, former Senator Dennis DeConcini, at the 2025 Udall Dinner on May 31, 2025. Sponsored by the Pima County Democratic Party, the event drew 460 attendees, marking the largest gathering in its history.

Following is a transcript and video by Julee Dawson of his remarks.

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“We in this room are all on the same team. So, as Senator Dennis DeConcini would say, Pima County Democrats should stay focused on the real threat and save our country first.”

My father, Dennis DeConcini, can’t be here tonight. He’s not feeling well and can’t be traveling, but I know that he would love to be here if he could. He would always attend these types of events, and he was always dragging me and my two sisters to these types of events.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve been going to political events, even as a kid. So here I am accepting this award for him, and I’m very grateful to be here. When I look at that picture of him in the pamphlet, it reminds me of who he is as a person. He’s kind, friendly, social, engaged, and interested in others, but, of course, what that nice picture doesn’t show is that he has been a fierce, shrewd, and effective fighter for the causes that we all believe in.

I wish we were here talking about some policy fight with the Republicans and how my dad thinks we should fight to best defend our position. Instead, we find ourselves talking about how to defend democracy itself for the first time in my life. We are now grappling with how to defend our constitutional form of government.

We are fighting for the rule of law, checks and balances, justice, and due process. Fascists like Trump don’t believe in level playing fields, and they don’t follow the law or the norms. We are fighting for democracy over dictatorship. This is an unprecedented moment in history. And we are on the edge of losing it, it all, losing our freedom, something we have all taken for granted.

So, in addition to saying thank you for this recognition. Here’s what my dad would say. The differences among us in this room are petty and trite compared to the real threat. To save our country, we have to win elections. We can’t let the negligible differences between Democrats jeopardize our chances of winning elections.

We need to stick together

We need to recognize and remember who is on our team. We need to stick together, locked arm in arm. United we stand, divided we fall.

So when a Democrat says something or does something that you don’t like, ask yourself, whose team are they on? Do they believe in democracy? Can they be counted on to defend the rule of law and our constitution? If the answer is yes, they give them some space. Give them some grace, help them succeed even though you don’t agree with them on everything, because you agree with them on the main thing.

This requires us to be practical, realistic, and strategic about which policies we should champion as Democrats and which policies individual candidates should champion in order to win in general elections. Never forget the immortal words of Tip O’Neill, “Politics is the art of the possible.” Right now, the only politics that really matter are whether or not we are going to keep our democracy.

We in this room are all on the same team. So, as Senator Dennis DeConcini would say, Pima County Democrats should stay focused on the real threat and save our country first. Thank you.