Margot's Primary Night Speech

I started this campaign saying that we are in a time of crisis, that we need to do things differently.  I said we need to join together to work for a future we can be proud to leave to our grandchildren, where no one is thrown overboard, where we face the problems before us honestly and find solutions.  I said that there is danger and there is opportunity.  In the face of public officials being shouted down in town meetings; in the face of increasing blame and venom directed toward anyone who could be used as a scapegoat for our economic problems, I sought to create a positive campaign to put forward a positive message.  The message is:  we can create a culture of respect, we can develop an economy that nurtures the world around us instead of using it up and spitting it out; we can affirm and stand up for the dignity of every worker, every student, people of all colors and genders and orientations and income levels.  We can hold our heads up high and work together for a positive future that has room for all of us. 

And I also said we needed a new way of campaigning.  It was about building a team, looking beyond an election to what happens next, a team that is committed to improving the quality of life in our community and being ready to roll up their sleeves to do it. 

We built that team.  Just look around you. You, and some who are not here tonight, converged on our little office on Pleasant Street to make phone calls, go door to door, enter data, put up lawn signs, and stand holding signs.  Others wrote letters of support and many contributed their hard-earned dollars.  You toiled in the vineyards for that dream – of having your best aspirations represented in the halls of power.  You contributed your ideas and your enthusiasm and your hard work and your treasure to accomplish something that would strengthen the foundation of our community.  You deserved a win. 

But the danger might have been greater than we anticipated.  Voters for the most part did not turn out to cast their ballots for Democrats.  They are discouraged.  It is a tough year for a positive vision. 

But if the positive message has been temporarily drowned out, if we were not able to prevail this time over the discouragement and cynicism and distrust of government that is rampant right now, our work is not over and we have not been defeated.  We are still a team.  We will go back to doing what we were doing before.  We will organize and we will advocate for the rights and dignity of workers and the health of our families and the resources we need to make our schools vibrant.  We will organize for fairness in the ways our government collects and distributes money.  And I will be there with you, as I have been, shoulder to shoulder, and perhaps a little more visible and credible and well-known because of what we have done in this campaign.   We will insist on that culture of respect so that all of our voices are heard in the halls of power.  We will continue to find people who can represent us well, and we will again work to get them elected. 

And for now, I challenge you and me and all of us to hold John Mahoney accountable for representing you and speaking up for what we know is important.  We need to support him, and elect him in November and make sure he represents us.  We will organize to find those win-win solutions and we will make sure he listens. We will educate him as you have educated me and we will make him into an advocate.  You deserve no less.

And for now, I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart.

-Margot