Victory Speech - November 6, 2018

Hi everybody. Oh my gosh I'm so honored by the voters of Washington State to continue to represent them in the United States Senate. This is one of the most amazing elections, when the voters of our state and many across the country in one of the most divisive environments can step up and have a record turnout and help set a mid-course correction. I want the voters of Washington State to know that I'm going to continue, no I'm going to redouble my efforts to work across the aisle, to work with Democrats, with Republicans, with independents to get things done for our country.

I want to congratulate Susan Hutchison for running a race based on the principles of her party. I want to thank my team of people in Washington who work every day to represent the views of Washingtonians on our staff and I want to thank my family, our campaign workers, our volunteers, and the voters for unbelievable support and continuing to focus on things that matter here in Washington. I crisscross the state from Pullman to Port Angeles, from Spokane to Vancouver, from all of the places I met so many Washingtonians that just stick out in my mind, of aerospace workers that are not only just building the next great airplanes but are building space rockets so we can all go to space travel. I met people who were working hard on next-generation energy technology. I met so many people who are trying to move our state and country forward, but I want everyone to know I also met people who were feeling very vulnerable.

I met Jake Tsuitachi in Spokane who at 16, in his diabetic, worries about getting access to affordable health care that might bankrupt his family if he doesn't. I met longshoremen in Longview Washington who want to know why with a corporate tax break does people seem to care more about that than their living wage jobs. So I want everyone to know that I'm going to redouble my efforts to work across the aisle because we're going to try to have economic prosperity that reaches all parts of Washington State, and I believe that we can do this working together.

So I am so excited by this opportunity, but I also want us to meet the challenge. I think working together so that we can address some of these issues, whether it's apprenticeships and skilling and training people for next generation jobs or helping to continue to make prescription drugs more affordable, that all of these things require us to work together, but every generation of Americans have met their challenge. Trust me, our history books are full of their stories. It's now our turn to write this story about working for economic prosperity for everyone in the state of Washington and everyone in the United States. So thank you for this unbelievable opportunity. Thank you for working so hard in Washington. Thank you for letting me bring in ideas of innovation and collaboration working together to the other Washington so we can continue to lead. Thank you.