One child in me.
Not divisiveness, on hope. Hope and not on hate. And it is time to move this state forward.
I am not interested in moving Minnesota to the left or the right. I want to move us forward, working not just for everyone who voted for me, but for all Minnesotans.
Whether or not I got your vote, I will give you my best.
I want to thank my family, John, our daughter Abigail, my lieutenant governor-elect Ben Schrader, and his family, his wife Tessa, who you're about to see, his five kids, his two cats, and his one dog.
I want to thank my incredible staff on this campaign. I want to thank our Senate office, and I also now, listen, I want to thank my opponent Lisa Demuth, who just called to congratulate me, which I truly appreciate, and I want to wish her family and Lisa the best and thank her for her work with the House of Representatives. I want to thank this incredible ticket, which is going to win, Amy to Zach, A to Z. And to the people of Minnesota, thank you.
Make no mistake, this was a hard election. Outside money flooding our state, ugly and hateful attacks that were meant to divide us. But I think we learned a few things tonight. For one, we learned that a Packers fan cannot buy our governor's seat, even if that guy is a billionaire. We learned that dark money doesn't win, even when we were outspent two to one on ads. And we learned that you can't buy a seat when the people of Minnesota vote. And when the people of Minnesota show up, and you showed up, Minnesota. You showed up like you have all year. You inspire me. And as your next governor, I will work my heart out for you. I promise that I will be a transformative governor for this state.
In Minnesota, trust is not given, it is earned. It comes with expectations, and that is results. And we will deliver results, results that you can see and feel in your life, and we will do it with our legislature.
So you deserve to afford a good life, buy that first home, start that business, retire with dignity. You deserve a state government that matches your drive and ambition. And that is what we're going to do. We will root out the waste, the fraud, and the abuse, and cut through the red tape. A top-to-bottom audit of state government that starts on day one. If something works, we will keep it. If it's broken, we will fix it or get rid of it.
We are going to speed up government, rebuild trust, and work for you. And I'm looking forward to bringing in a new team and working together with our state employees to make that happen.
This is not going to be easy to do. I will need people out there at my side, both parties. And spoiler alert, you may not like every single thing I do, but that is what I ran on, and that is getting things done. So we face headwinds every day: skyrocketing gas prices due to Trump's war, rising health care costs, and his tariffs. But as you know right now, he has had a lot of rubber stamps to enable him in these last two years. But tonight, the ink ran out.
It ran out in Texas. It ran out in Ohio. It ran out in South Carolina. And it ran out because the next senator from the state of Minnesota will be our own Peggy Flanigan.
So, Minnesota, I'm not going to be a rubber stamp for Donald Trump, and I will do my job without fear or favor. I will govern for Minnesotans and nobody else.
And while the headwinds we face may well be a constant, they can never be an excuse. That's why I've committed to bring down the cost of health care premiums and bring down the cost of prescription drugs. Working with the private sector to build 100,000 new homes, from apartments to single-family homes. We are going to have a growth mindset, and we're going to have a growth agenda.
Because we must continue to be a state that makes stuff, that invents things, and exports to the world. And we are going to make it easier to start a business and double the number of apprenticeships.
And when it comes to our schools, we're going to see student achievement up and screen time in the classroom down.
So, after Tim decided not to run, and by the way, we thank Tim and Gwen for their commitment to our state. I look back at the year Minnesota had: losing Melissa and Mark, the shooting of the Hoffmans, the kids in the church, the 3,000 ICE agents, the serious fraud problem, and the affront on trust in our government. You know, I've loved my job in the Senate, but I love our state more.
In the words of Harry Truman about his years in Washington, I tried to never forget who I was, where I came from, and where I would go back to. I know where I come from. I know who I am, and I know who I run for: the people of Minnesota.
People across each of our 87 incredible counties that I travel to every year. I want to thank our staff because we walked 40 miles of parades. We had hours-long lines outside our State Fair booth. We did 30,000 lawn signs thanks to you.
I think of the people we met: the Nelson family outside of Moorhead, four generations who have now farmed the land. Kate Lundquist, a breast cancer survivor. Julie Pider, who turned her grief into a mission and carried it all the way to Washington after losing her husband to cancer from toxins. The students at Apollo High School in St. Cloud. Gwen Elliott, who lives in a manufactured home in Blaine and has fought, as we will do, with the legislature, to make sure these homeowners are treated fairly.
And I think of my friends, Harper Mo's parents. Listen to this: Mike and Jackie, little Harper, who had just begun fifth grade when those bullets rained through the stained glass windows. She would have turned 12 today. Today is her birthday.
So, thanks to your work and what I think is happening with the Minnesota legislature today, we will get that gun safety vote, and I will sign that bill into law.
I think of so many of you that have stood up when ICE descended on our state. You brought food to strangers and kids to school. You marched 50,000 strong in subzero weather in what will be one of the top civil rights moments of our century in this country.
And after the horror of Renee Good and Alex Freddy, their senseless killings, we didn't look down. We looked up. We didn't look away. We looked at each other. And with their family's guidance, I went back to Washington and grilled Kristi Noem. And the next day, she got fired.
And months after that, I got a call from Ambassador Caroline Kennedy. She said they were giving the Profile in Courage Award, named after her dad, to Minnesota. And she asked me, should it go to an elected official? And I said, 'No, give it to the people.' And that is what happened. And a few weeks later, a middle school class from St. Paul came to see me. And this little 14-year-old girl who was this tall, but she stood like she was six feet tall. She looked at me and said, 'So the people got the award?' I said, 'Yeah.' And then she said, 'That means I got the award.' She said, 'I got the award.' That is the spirit with which I decided to take this job. And that is the spirit of our state. It is a spirit that will carry us to a higher ground. We will not rest on our laurels.
And I will end with my story. My grandpa worked 1,500 feet underground up in northern Minnesota. He saved money in a coffee can in the basement to send my dad to a two-year community college. My dad went on from that hardscrabble mining town to be a beloved journalist covering the Minnesota Vikings. My mom, a proud union member, and thank you, labor, for being in the house.
My mom taught second grade until she was 70 years old. I still have people come up to me on the street and say she is their favorite teacher. So, I stand before you today as a granddaughter of an iron ore miner who never got to graduate from high school, the daughter of a teacher and a newspaperman. And thanks to you, the first woman elected to the United States Senate from the state of Minnesota. And thanks to you, the first woman elected governor of the state of Minnesota.
Our past, Minnesota, has made us who we are. But our future is up to us. I want to build that future together. I want to build that future for everyone. And I know you do, too. We have a lot of work to do. We're going to start right away working with our legislators, Aaron Murphy, Zack Stevenson, the next leaders, Peggy Flanigan. And by the way, let's thank Tina Smith for her service, with Keith Ellison and Steve Simon and Zack Philovich. And when we're done, everyone will know how to say his name. And Ben Schrader, Minnesota's next lieutenant governor, the first person elected statewide from the seventh congressional district in over 90 years. So, let us get to work. Let us move forward. And tonight, we will celebrate this election. Thank you, everyone.
