Victory Speech - Nov. 6, 2012

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Palm Beach of Broward County for giving me the…thank you for giving me the honor of being your next United States congresswoman!

Let me just say, a few moments ago I received a very, very gracious call from Adam Hasner congratulating me. He was a formidable and articulate challenger and let me just say this: aren’t we fortunate that we live in a country when we settle our differences at a ballot box and not on a street.

So listen, I want to thank all my very wonderful supporters in this room, who have given your time, your financial resources, and your incredible encouragement. You know we had to deal with those frisky little super PACs, but I had what counted the most. I had you. And let me tell you something: with your help we made 500,000 in-person telephone calls into our district. We knocked on 27,000 doors in the last 3 weeks. And listen to this: our social media team sent out over 100 million emails.

I’ve got give a special shout out to our party chair here, Terrie Rizzo, and her team, and at our Broward county chair Mitch Ceasar and thank you for your countless hours of work.

And listen: I have had the most awesome, awesome campaign team. Are you down there? I had young people come in from all over the country and really their talent and their dedication inspired me every day.

So listen, tonight I have some people with me, some very, very special people, and but before I introduce them I want to say this: how blessed I was that back in 1974, I stumbled on a city called West Palm Beach where I raised my son—we’ll get to him—and built my career, and made some very long-lasting friendships, and the natural beauty of our area is only surpassed by the beautiful diversity. And I have been so honored to serve this area both as your state legislator and as your mayor.

Now there’s a saying, you can choose your friends but not your family, but guess what—even if I got to pick my family they would be just like the ones I have here tonight. My aunt and uncle [inaudible], cousin Jack and [inaudible] are here. My stepdad, Alex, and of course my wonderful brother and sister-in-law are here. My brother Stewie and [inaudible], and then of course the two people who inspire me every day. First, my amazing, sparking mother. She said I’m not allowed to say her age anymore, after it was reported on WPTV that she was 187 years old. She’s a miracle. She’s a miracle. You know what: my mom has loved and encouraged me every moment of my life and she taught me self-responsibility, she and my dad, and also about social justice, and I love you, Mom. And now I want to introduce the star of my family. To my left is the star of family. You know, today was a very, just a blessed day for me because four years ago, this young man, who is standing next to me, he sent in an absentee ballot from Iraq where he was serving as a United States Marine, and today I got to watch him vote in person and he says he voted for me. This is my son, Ben. He grew up here, a proud United States Marine, and the bravest person I know.

Listen, my run for congress, my public service has been about my mom, my son, your mom, and your dad, your children, and I just I’m gonna be there to make sure you get that Medicare check every day, and there are gonna be good jobs for young people like my son and of course, investing in our infrastructure, innovation, education so all of our young people have an opportunity.

And of course my run for congress has been about also making sure that the women of our country are going to be allowed to make their own personal healthcare decisions.

All right. So listen, I declare the campaign is over. Let the bickering end, and I stand ready to serve both the people who supported me and those who voted for another candidate. And I’m going to go to Washington, I’m going to roll up my sleeves, I’m gonna reach out my hand and I’m gonna work with any person, anybody who wants to move this country forward. So well listen, everybody here, I see so many friends here. You know it’s been a long… This has been a dream come true for me. I’ll just thank you, thank you, thank and you too. So thank you for your support, your encouragement, your confidence. You’ve given me the honor of my lifetime, and I will proudly be your representative, listening to your concerns, bringing forward your issues. I’ve counted on you. I’ve counted on you in this election and now you can count on me because I will always be on your side. Always.

Speech from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fc4m_zFRDU.