Senate Victory Speech - Nov. 5, 2024

Thank you. Thank you all. I am absolutely thrilled—talk about a packed room, we’ve got a packed room, don’t we tonight. We do have some things to celebrate. And I am so thrilled that the governor and Maria are here with us. We just really, our family treasures their friendship and we’re just absolutely so delighted that they are here. We are just so honored and grateful and truly so humbled with the support so many Tennesseans, and the fact that people showed up and voted and that we do have this victory celebrate tonight, so thank you. We are grateful.

You know what, I was so honored six years ago when I was elected to be the state’s first female senator and elected to that office. And I am evermore grateful for the vote and that election tonight, and my opponent, Gloria, has called to concede. I appreciate that she did that. I will say this: six years ago, my opponent never conceded the race, so I thank Gloria for the call, and I do look forward to working with her on behalf of all Tennesseans, and tonight, I share this victory with my wonderful family. My husband, Chuck, is here. And of course, we have Mary Morgan, our daughter and Paul, her husband. And Jack and Chase. And then our son, Chad and his wife, Hillary. And our wonderful granddaughter Mary Brett. And Fremont, who looks like he’s going to be a politician. And my sister, Karen is somewhere. She was with us a little bit earlier.

I also share this time tonight with our federal team, Janna Dame, who leads our federal team and so many of our federal staff are here. Our finance team, Amy, Alice, and Taylor, who have led that endeavor and have worked so hard to make certain we have the resources to run our race and our campaign team. And they have worked tirelessly. So tirelessly. Ward Becker is our general consultant and Abby Sigler—Abby Sigler is our campaign manager. And they have led our wonderful team: Savannah and Jolene and Sam and our fabulous field team. And what a job they have done.

Now, we all know that one person does not win a race. It takes an entire group of individuals, and our campaign team—what we decided to do was campaign schools for volunteers. And we trained 703 volunteers who have worked across this state. And we have worked as a team with all of our state reps and our state senators. And our volunteers and our field staff have knocked on over 636,000 doors in this state. We had a great message and great things to say and talk about. And we have had hundreds of thousands more voter contacts. Not only the door knocking, but phone calls, writing notes, putting up yard signs, waving signs at polls and working the polls, making certain that Tennesseans got out to vote. And we have looked at this, not as Team Marsha, but as Team Tennessee. Because what we decided to do with this campaign was to invest in the next generation of leaders because we want to make certain that Tennessee remains a conservative state. And that means you’ve got to raise up other leaders. So, we use TEAM as an acronym: Together everyone achieves more. And we will continue to work together, with the governor, with our local and state elected officials to make certain this state remains the best place in the United States to live, to work, to rear your family.

Now, this victory tonight really does belong to the people of Tennessee because they’re the ones that we’ve listened to, they’re the ones that have shown up at meetings all across this state in each of our 95 counties, and the people of Tennessee have spoken. And they have been heard. We have listened to the moms and dads who are struggling to make ends meet when they are paying for gas and groceries every week. To the angel families, who have lost loved ones to the violence and the crime and the gangs from that open border. And those who have lost family members to the fentanyl that is coming across that Southern border. We also have heard from so many parents who have worked with me to protect our children and to pass the Kids Online Safety Act. And we’ve heard from young and old alike, who want to make certain that this country remains the country where people can dream big dreams and make those dreams come true. And keeping that American Dream alive is something that is vitally important. And we are very mindful that this seat does not belong to an individual, this seat belongs to the people of Tennessee.

And the people have pretty much given us a to-do list, and I kind of like it. I really do. Here’s your to-do list, that we’ve heard from you. Bring back a strong economy and get rid of this inflation. And make the Trump tax cuts permanent. And get my bill passed that would remove tax on Social Security. Secure that Southern border and absolutely build the wall. Restore our place in the world and break a little more China. And to protect our children in the virtual space, and to rein in big tech, and to support our military and our veterans. And I will remind all of you, this weekend we’re going to pause, and we’re going to thank our veterans and celebrate Veterans’ Day, and if you’re a veteran, raise your hand. Let us say thank you now.

So, I invite all Tennesseans to join with me as we work together. We’ve got a lot that we want to do. The governor and I’ve been focused on helping to rebuild and work with upper East Tennessee that has been devastated by the floods. And we’re continuing to do that. I invite every Tennessean to work with me, fight with me as we protect our freedoms and our liberties. And fight with me so that we have less government, so that we stop the overspending in Washington and get this debt under control. So that we restore our standing in the world, and rebuild our military, and we get that border secured, and that we protect our children, and make certain that when it comes to protecting our girls in sports that we know what a woman is and we know what a man is.

So, thank you all. Thank you for being here, we appreciate your support. God bless you and Tennessee and the great United States of America. Thank you all!