Victory Speech - November 6, 2018

I am- I am humbled to stand before you tonight. And I am grateful to everyone in Minnesota who has put their faith in me. And I will work hard every single day as your United States senator. I want to thank- just take a moment and thank my family, my beloved Archie, Sam and his wonderful wife Emily and mason and his wonderful wife Julia, my father, Harland Flint, who traveled all the way from New Mexico to be here today, and when he gets up here you will see that he is rocking an excellent pair of cowboy boots. And I also want to thank my brother Mason who is with me today and my brother Harland and both of their families. Thank you all so much. And I would like- I would like to thank my terrific campaign team led by the incredible Alana Peterson. And my outstanding senate staff, both here in Minnesota and in Washington DC. This staff always puts Minnesota first.

And my friends I want to give a special thanks to my friend and colleague senator Amy Klobuchar. You know, you know in the senate you refer to everyone as a friend, but Amy has been my true friend for over 20 years and a wonderful partner in the Senate these last 10 months. And tonight, we made history. Amy was the first woman to be elected senator from Minnesota, and tonight you have made it two. Minnesota is now one of four states represented by two women senators. Now, Minnesota knows that no senator does a better job than Amy at listening, at working across the aisle and then getting it done for Minnesota and our country. She is strong, compassionate, practical, smart, funny, and that makes her one of the most effective, the most effective senators in this country. I am so grateful for Amy’s service and Amy I cannot wait to get back to work with you in Washington.

Now over the last 10 months as your senators and on the campaign trail, I have been all over Minnesota. I have visited the red counties and the blue counties and all of the counties in between, and here is what I have seen. Minnesotans have told me that they want Washington to get to work and to work for us. You are tired of the games and the politics of blame. You are tired of our interests taking a back seat to special interests, and you are tired of the division and hate. We are better than this, you tell me. Well today, Minnesota, you were heard. This victory, this victory tonight put people back at the center of our politics. Here is my commitment to you. I work for you and for a Minnesota where everyone has the opportunity and the freedoms to build the lives that we want. And this means affordable quality healthcare and it means holding the big drug companies accountable so no one has to choose between the medicine the need and buying groceries or paying rent. And it means that making sure that every person has a path to a good job with good pay whether you choose a four-year degree or a career in technical training and it means that women and men get paid-get paid the same amount for the same work.

Now when we started this effort only 10 months ago, I said that I should not be underestimated. Well tonight, we showed the country that Minnesota should not be underestimated. Democracy works when we participate and tonight we have seen record breaking numbers of Minnesotans that came out to the polls to make our voices heard. People lifted up their voices and they spoke out. And I have talked to hundreds of people across the state about why they chose this year to get involved and dive in this year and no one put it better than that first time volunteer I talked to who said to me this. He says because I feel it is my responsibility to have a positive impact on the arc of history. Thank you to Minnesota. We know that when we come up, we come together, we lift everyone up with hope and compassion and we create opportunity and community. This is why we do all of this work.

Now I am hopeful-we had a strong victory. I can’t wait to hear what our next governor, Tim Walz and Peggy Flannigan have to say. We are excited about the Minnesota State House it’s looking very, very positive. We’ve got Dean Phillips in congress. We’ve got close races in the first district, in the second district, we can’t wait to see what happens there…