Election Day Concession Speech
September 19, 2006
Olde Colonial Café, Norwood, MA
Good evening, everyone.
It’s wonderful to see so many friends, new and old, here tonight. We’ve fought hard these past months, and I want to thank each of you for the hours you’ve put in and the support you’ve given to me and to this campaign.
I also want to congratulate John Rogers. And I’m glad we got to talk about the challenges our families face. I want you to know that, before coming over here, I called John to congratulate him on the election results. I told John that he ran a good campaign and that I looked forward to working with him in the future on the issues that affect our families. Our exchange was cordial and John also congratulated me on the campaign we ran.
When I stood here almost four months ago to announce my candidacy, we knew that this was going to be an ambitious and uphill fight. We didn’t get the votes we wanted, but we got a chance to talk about our vision for this community and for our state – we got to talk about respect and fairness to all families. Let’s not forget, when we started this, John Rogers was one of the architects of the anti gay marriage movement. Now we hear that he is a champion of gay rights. That is a victory for our community…and I want to congratulate John for deciding to do the right thing on that issue.
And that’s part of why this campaign has been so important, and why, in many ways, we have won. We are not going anywhere. We’re going to keep working to move our community forward – and I hope we can have an ally in John Rogers.
One of the most powerful parts of this journey has been the reception I received by voters who opened their homes and their hearts to me. Through their stories, all the issues of this campaign came through to me in the most compelling way.
- One young man asked me why kids in high school seem to lose their inspiration
- One woman broke down and sobbed because her 82 year old mother couldn’t keep up with her pharmacy bills – they were running $2,200 a month
- Homeowners, especially in Walpole, shook their heads in concern and said they weren’t sure they could keep their homes if property taxes kept rising
- At 5 different homes, parents of children with autism shared their stories of inadequate services and caretaker exhaustion because they couldn’t get the help they needed
- Seniors shared their need to take half doses of their medication to get through the month because of inadequate coverage
I must share with you that I come away from this campaign with an increased sense of urgency and concern for our families and our community.
I’d like to speak from the heart on a very personal level here. There are so many dear friends in this room – both old and new friendships. I won’t have time to speak in depth with each of you tonight, so I want to share some personal reactions to this process. Many of you have asked, “what’s it like running for office and how does it feel to come out the other end?”
The closest I can compare the last four months to is when I arrived in Vietnam with the Red Cross in 1968. I confronted a new culture, new relationships, new language, new job description, new skills, and, frankly, like Vietnam, running for office is a little like being in a war zone. You never know when the incoming is coming in or where it will hit
I need to give a special mention to two very special and important people - two young people who represent the hope of the future – young people who have persuaded me that it’s not enough to be a community activist. Through our conversations over the summer, they have persuaded me that you really have to roll up your sleeves and engage the political process. You really have to run for political office if you want to effect change. To these two young people, I want to say thank you, for your dedication, your determination, and for your total commitment to this campaign. I’d like to introduce my Campaign Manager, Rebecca Wilsker and my Volunteer Coordinator, Kassi Palys. I’d like all of us to pause for a moment to express our gratitude for their work on this campaign.
I intend, as I welcome each of you, to continue to speak out and to work with all of our public leaders on the critical issues that face us as a town, as a state, and as a nation. The biggest thing we have to fear is not the poll numbers we have seen here tonight, but rather, complacency and silence. We have broken the silence; we can be proud that in just four months, we started a dialogue that hasn’t existed in 14 years, and we have made a difference.
To each of you, thank you from the bottom of my heart, for your dedication and commitment, to me and to this campaign. I promise to show the same commitment to you: even if I’m not a Representative on Beacon Hill, I promise to be a representative for the values and priorities that you and I share.
Thank you all – and drink up!
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