U.S. House Victory Speech- Nov. 5, 2014

I was taught when I was growing up that you don’t complain. And if you’re upset about something, you do something about it. So for the last four years, every challenge that our nation has faced, I’ve been willing to offer solutions to some of the things our country is dealing with. And tonight, with the support of thousands of South Dakotans, I look forward to another two years working for you, in Washington D.C. to bring common sense to that crazy place.

So first of all, I want to take a moment just to thank my opponent Corinna Robinson, you know Corinna is a veteran and she served our country, and I certainly appreciate the opportunity to sit down with her and debate the issues that are facing our country. I’m confident that her service to this country will continue for years to come.

You know I’ve said before that I never grew up dreaming to become a congresswoman. I wanted to farm, and to ranch, and to live with my family and raise my kids. But God saw different opportunities for me, and he’s put so many incredible things in my path and incredible people along the way. So first and foremost, I want to thank all the South Dakotans that have volunteered to help us on our campaign. Many of you in the room tonight spent hours helping us get our message out to South Dakota. Thank you for investing in us, so that we can work for you.

I also want to thank all of you who cast your ballot for me, there’s so many people across the state who couldn’t be here tonight. I appreciate their support. There’s many who didn’t vote for me, but I want to tell them that I’m going to continue to work just as hard for them, and be the best representative I can be on their behalf as well.

But I have an incredible family, can you see them all behind me? So my kids have been rock stars. You can see Kat, come on Booker, is everybody glad to see Booker, isn’t he getting tall? Now Kennedy couldn’t be here tonight. Kennedy had a volleyball game, and she’s a senior, so we said that she should go to her district volleyball game, but Cassidy is here as well. I so appreciate the fact that my kids do this job alongside me and Brian, as we serve you, they’ve done it with us as well. Many times they miss events, but I appreciate their willingness to represent South Dakota too. Do you appreciate the people out here, you do don’t you?

Then there’s Brian, are you happy? Brian is so happy to be here at 11 o’clock at night. But Brian, he didn’t exactly know what he was getting himself into when he married me 22 years ago. But he has been a partner through it all, and I love him very, very much.

Then all of the people who you see beside me, and behind me, they’re the ones that pray for me, that watch our kids when we’re gone and travelling, They do our chores, they fill in the gaps, at school and with 4-H, and with different activities that our kids participate in when I’m gone, or when I’m working for South Dakota. I could never tell them how much I love them, and I appreciate how much they sacrifice so that I can do this job, and that I can do it to the best of my ability. So thank you to everybody.

Now, I’ve got 4 people who worked very hard on this campaign. Beth, and Andrew, and Ashley, and Tyler, Tyler are you up there? Okay Tyler, thumbs up man, good job. Give them a round of applause for doing amazing things. We have literally put on thousands and thousands and thousands of miles, together. We know each other very well, but their help has been amazing.

So I believe there are too many people in Washington who have forgotten what it is that they do. Their job is to serve. They seem to believe that we have a government that is by bureaucrats, rather than a government by the people, for the people, and that’s the problem.

So, I’m proud of the work that we got done in the last congress. We got a farm bill that’s good for South Dakota. We’ve got 9 Black Hills cemeteries transferred back to the local communities, away from the federal government. We got more funding for the Lewis and Clark Water System, and we fought Human Trafficking, one of the most horrible industries that is impacting our children every day. We’ve helped to cut discretionary spending the last 4 years. The first time that has happened since the Korean War.

Ronald Reagan once said, as government expands, liberty contracts. Well, I say it’s time for us to expand liberty, and contract the government. It’s time that Washington do more with less, and it’s time that they start working for you, not the other way around. They need to take as good care of your dollars and spend it as carefully as you would. So thank you again for the support, thank you for the encouragement and the confidence you put in me to deliver you a better serving government.

May God bless you, may God bless South Dakota, and may God bless the United States. Thank you.

Speech from http://listen.sdpb.org/post/rep-kristi-noem-wins-re-election-us-house#stream/0.