Senate Victory Speech - Nov. 10, 2024

Oh my gosh, Tommy, thank you for hosting. Everyone’s shown up today, it’s a good day. I’m looking out on the wall back there, in the House of Labor, one of the Houses of Labor, for sure. Our members are our strength, our children are our future, our retirees are our foundation. We can say that. Our families are our strength, our children are our future, our parents and grandparents, our ancestors are our foundation. That holds no matter what you say. So, thank you for putting that on the wall, and thank you for having us here, for all that you do. We so appreciate you.

I look around this room, I am filled with gratitude, and I just want to say… I’m trying not to be emotional; I can’t look anyone in the eye. I just want to say thank you. Thank you. So, I want to thank the teamsters, the culinary union, the carpenters, the building trades, the AFLCIO. I can’t—look, see everyone’s crying. I’m not looking anybody in the eye here, that’s it. That’s it.

Nevada labor, everybody’s tireless work. I see the littlest ones over there too, they’re waving over there, little, tiny ones. But really, to help us make sure that we elect candidates who fight for all hardworking Nevada families, for families. Like I said, I’m not going to look anyone in the eye because if I do I won’t finish this speech, I won’t finish this speech. But thank you for all my more than dedicated supporters, my friends who are here who have been with me through life, thick and thin, for decades and decades who are here today. Volunteers, who spent countless hours organizing, mobilizing, getting out the vote, calling their friends, doing everything day in and day out, not just these last two years, but really for the last eight years when I was in Congress, and the last six years I’ve been in the Senate. We didn’t just start this 15 minutes ago, we’ve been working hard together for the last eight years to build a foundation and you never lost faith before, or even after Tuesday night. I know it’s been a long few days, everybody can go home—I hope everybody slept good last night. But you worked hard ‘til the very last second. Again, I’m so grateful. And to all those folks who donated, too, who helped us make sure that we could pay everyone to do what we had to do and do all of those things, we had to have the resources to get our message out. All of it matters, every single bit of it that we’ve been working on. And our campaign was powered, really by grassroots Nevada support. 96% of all my donations were actually under $100. Under $100. And I had support from all 17 counties in Nevada. Every single one. Every single one.

And so, my family’s here, you know what, they keep me going. And as all of you know, your families are your strength, right? So to my family, my incredible husband Larry, everybody knows, he’s famous for breakfast. He makes really good breakfast every day. My amazing daughter Miranda, who reminds me every day what I’m fighting for: the future. And thank you for being by my side. 31+ years and your whole life, so there you go. Actually her birthday was yesterday, so literally 31. It was a good day for me. I couldn’t do it without both of you.

And to the Nevada Democratic Party, I’m looking around—like I said, I can’t look anyone in the eye, I’ll start crying. But the Nevada Democratic Party, the coordinated campaign. Oh my gosh, everyone’s just been running on the ground building, organizing. We’re designed to win close races like this one. That’s what we’re built for. That’s what we’re built for, and that’s what we did.

And, oh, my campaign staff on Team Rosen, oh my goodness gracious. So many of you born and raised here, or raised here, and you just work, day in and day out just to make this all happen. And I’m going to shout out to my official team for the Senate, my Congressional team when I was in the House, and for the last six years in the Senate, who held meeting after meeting with stakeholder after stakeholder, listening and learning and delivering. Really listening to people, like what do you need? How can we get that to you, whether it’s water infrastructure, fire, public safety, education, all the things that are important to every person in our community up and down the state, right? Broadband, all of those things. And so, for all the meetings you took, all the calls, all the constituent services, all the people that you helped, I’m so grateful. And so, Nevada is so lucky to have all of you, too.

So, it might have taken a few long days, a few long days, but Nevada voices have been heard. And, you know my opponent spent more than $75 million, $75 million against me to flip this seat. They spent tens of millions trying to tear me down, trying to tear us down, trying to lie about my record, and turn me into something that I am not. But Nevadans saw the truth, Nevadans saw the truth. And I am honored, and I am humble to continue to have your trust and to continue to serve as your United States Senator.

So, here is the truth: I am proud to be one of the most bipartisan, independent, and effective Senators serving today. And I am not going to stop being that person who meets with everyone, who figures out what we need to do and what’s best for our whole communities. That’s not going to stop. And so, no matter how anyone cast their vote this election, I represent all Nevadans and I’ve shown that in my work over the last six years and I pledge, I pledge to continue that work. Because winning elections isn’t just about beating the other side, it’s really about the progress that we can deliver. And so, when we build on what we’ve done, I know we can deliver on that progress and continue to just do everything we can to uplift everybody that we can and solve all the challenges we have and build on the opportunities that we have going forward. I’m not going to stop reaching across the aisle to find common ground because my motto, as everyone knows: “Agree where you can and fight where you must”. When it comes to Broadband, every person in Nevada needs better Broadband, right? I can work with people on that. There’s so many things that are not the issues that we necessarily need to argue and take those big fights on, but they really matter, right? It really matters if you don’t—everybody likes their phone and their computers, we’ll pick that one for sure. Tourism. Tourism matters, building our infrastructure matters, and so we’re going to continue to work with who we can and stand up and fight where we must because we have some big problems to solve. Climate change, immigration reform, gun violence, combating hate. We have some challenges there, combating hate of all kinds. Combating antisemitism.

I’m going to keep fighting against those big oil CEOS, the big grocery store chains, they’re raking in the record profits while raising our prices at the gas pump and the checkout line. We all know that, we all know that. I’m going to be sure that we keep fighting for more affordable housing that people can really afford. We know we have that challenge here; we know it. We have to keep working on it. Because home means Nevada, and every Nevadan deserves a home, an affordable place to call home, a safe place to call home, and a job to go along with that home, thank you unions. But I’m going to keep fighting for a level playing field for all workers. We have to invest in our job training, in our apprenticeships. Again, we’re going to go with the union apprenticeships, right? We have to pass the PRO Act, to strengthen our union rights. We have to protect Social Security and Medicare, they are benefits people have worked a lifetime, a lifetime to earn. And I’m always going to work protect Nevadans’ healthcare. We have to strengthen the Affordable Care Act, we have to, not take it away. We have to lower prescription drug costs, not take those lower prices away. We have to tackle our doctor and nursing shortage, and we have to restore women’s reproductive freedom nationwide once and for all.

I absolute refuse, I refuse to accept that a third of American women are living in states where they’re denied to make their own medical choices and their own family planning decisions. And I absolutely refuse to accept that American women are dying after being denied life-saving care at a hospital because of an abortion ban. I refuse to accept that’s the future for women in this country. Nevada is a pro-choice state. We confirmed that by passing Question 6 by an overwhelming margin, and we confirmed that by sending me back to the United States Senate. So, I’m never going to stop fighting to restore Roe v. Wade, I’ll never back down in the fight against extreme Republicans in efforts to further roll back our rights, I can tell you that. But one thing I know is that together, I know we can keep making progress on issues that matter to us here in Nevada, that matter to us as a country, that matter to us as an American people.

You know, may sound corny, but I love Nevada. From the bright lights of the Vegas strip to the darkest skies out in Ely—ride that dark sky train if you ever get a chance, it’s amazing, you see the Milky Way. And the shores of Lake Tahoe all the way down to Hoover Dam. You know, I met my husband here Nevada, I raised my daughter here, I buried my parents here in the Boulder City Veterans’ Cemetery, my in-laws, too. My whole life has been spent here. I’m going to point to some of my friends who I’ve had for decades and decades. My whole life, everything that is good about my life has been from the strength I have from being a Nevadan. From being a Nevadan, part of this community. I’ve been a cocktail waitress, I’ve been a computer programmer, a wife, a mom, a caregiver, hell, I’ve even been a synagogue president, okay? I’m a granddaughter of immigrants. Some folks say I am the dream that they couldn’t have even imagined. Didn’t even have the language to speak it, didn’t even have the language to speak it. And so it’s the incredible testament, the promise of our nation, that a young woman like me, could come to Las Vegas—parents moved here after I graduated high school—work as a waitress, cocktail waitress for some of those summers, trying to pay for college, and now today, again I stand with you to be your United States Senator.

And so, there are stories of success all around our country, in every town and every city and every community. Maybe they’re not all as public as this one. But it is the promise of America that people can come here and build a family and create community and lift each other up, it’s why we’re all here and it’s what we all want. And I always promise never to play the same old games in Washington. Nevadans are sick of that; I’ve shown that in my work. Although some days it is difficult, but I do it because it matters, it matters. And I’m doubling down on that promise again. I don’t work for anyone in Washington, I work for all of you. I work for all of you. I work for my home, my community, my state Nevada. I’m always going to put Nevada first, I’m always going to put our Nevada families first. And like I said, my motto is “Agree where you can and fight where you must,” and so I’m going to always work with anyone on policies that are going to lift us up, and let me tell you, those of you who know me, never mistake nice for not being tough. I’m going to argue with those who want to hurt Nevada, too. And so I promise to do that, it’s my promise to each and every one of you. And I’m going to close with a little bit on that—if you turn around, you can see what’s on the back of the wall, but I’m going to put our families. Our families are our strength, our communities are our strength, our children are our future, our grandparents, our ancestors, all of those who came before us are our foundation. And so, we continue the work ahead together. Thank you so much for trusting me.