INDIANOLA, Iowa – At the last Harkin Steak Fry before the senator’s retirement, Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, thanked his staff and Iowa Democrats that supported him through 40 years in the Senate.

“The good things I’ve been able to accomplish haven’t been up to me,” Harkin said. “I stand on the shoulders of giants: you, my fellow democrats and Iowans.”

The steak fries have brought Iowa Democrats together in Indianola, Iowa, for 37 years to hear featured speakers like then-senator Barack Obama in 2006 and former president Bill Clinton three times. Bill accompanied his wife Hillary to this year’s event to honor Harkin and rally Democrats.

Harkin also thanked his staff, many of whom had been on his staff for more than a decade, he said. Harkin also thanked Scott Brennan, chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party and a former staffer, for all his work.

“Come to think of it, half the Democrats in Iowa have been part of my staff,” Harkin said.

The Clintons thanked Harkin for some of the highlights in his career, including the Americans with Disabilities Act that required accessible buildings, transportation and work accommodations for people with disabilities. Harkin had already been sensitive to the issue because of his brother who was deaf. Bill also commended Harkin for his work in helping to end many of the worst forms of child labor.

“I never could have imagined that this would be my life,” Harkin said.

The Cumming, Iowa, native and ISU graduate grew up with a mother who immigrated to the United States and a father who had a sixth-grade education. Harkin said his family had no experience in politics and little money to speak of, especially after the Depression.

Harkin said that the way his father tells the story, his father got a letter “from FDR himself” asking him to work for a little more than $40 a month on a Works Progress Administration project, one of the projects in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program to bring the country out of the Depression.

His father was able to feed his five children and provide for the sixth, Harkin, by working on the WPA project that resulted in Lake Ahquabi in Indianola.

“What I learned from all that is with the right people in office, the willingness to work, we could do good things for this country,” Harkin said. “We can give hope to people.”

Throughout his political career, as he rose to the top of the House and Senate, Harkin said his obligation and the obligation of all Iowa democrats was to “make sure we leave the ladder down for others to climb, too.”

“The rungs have to be there,” Harkin said.

Harkin called on Democrats to tear down the barriers he said are blocking success for Iowans. The secrets lie in programs that ensure decent and affordable education, create maternal health programs and raise the minimum wage, he said.

“I have done my best to carry forward the least, the lost and the left behind,” Harkin said to supporters. “That’s what you empowered me to do, to fight for them.”

“I may be retiring from the Senate, but I’m not retiring from the fight.”