Fort Worth how we doing?
Good to be with you.
Let's hear it for Crystal Mason.
Absolutely amazing.
So courageous. So tenacious.
And not only does that describe her
describes every single person here tonight,
because I'll tell you what.
This group of people and then some
in 2018 made me the first Democrat
to win Tarrant County since 1994.
And this group of people and
then some are gonna make me the
first Democrat to be governor of
the state of Texas since 1994.
This is on us. This
is on all of
us. Listen, I, I feel extraordinarily
lucky to be here with you tonight.
It looks like from the early
returns I will be your nominee
for governor for the state of Texas.
And because we knew that there'd be such
a great group of people out fired up a
little bit of alcohol in their systems.
I I have, I've only asked my
entire family to join me once on
this campaign and is tonight. This
is my wife, Amy. My son, Henry,
my daughter Molly, my son Ulysses,
and our friend Wallace back there.
They wanted to be with
us tonight on election night here
in Fort Worth in Tarrant County.
Tell me there's a more
important place in Texas for
us to be a more important place for
us to win than this one right here.
And we have traveled the breadth and
the length of this state starting
out in the westernmost county,
in the mountain time zone,
in the Chihuahua desert
connected to Ciudad Juarez,
her sister city, El Paso, TX.
And whether I'm in El Paso,
whether I'm in Lewisville,
whether I'm in Texarkana,
which is as far away as you can
be and still be in the same state.
I find the most amazing,
the most beautiful, the most creative,
the most inspiring people on the planet.
This is our home and.
The beauty in this state and our values.
We work hard and we do good work
and we're good to one another
that's not reflected in those who
hold power and positions of public
trust in this state right now.
The things that we want are
not just good for Democrats.
They're not just good for
Republicans or independents either.
They are good for all of us.
We want to make sure that the
best jobs in the United States
of America are created right
here in the state of Texas,
right? Argue that one. We want
to make sure that we get behind
our world class public school
educators so that we have world
class public schools in the state of Texas.
We all want that. We want to make sure
that we finally expand Medicaid
so that people can see a doctor.
No one dies of diabetes or
curable cancer or the flu.
And don't you think it's time that we
legalize marijuana in the state of Texas?
I do too. We can get that done.
But in order to make that happen,
we have got to get past. The incompetence
the corruption and the cruelty of
Greg Abbott are you with me on this?
I mean this guy. Cannot
even keep the lights on in the energy
capital of the world. This guy has
presided over a Child Protective Services
system and the foster children within
it who are sleeping on desks in the
hallways right now because we don't
have the resources or the attention,
or the accountability that they deserve,
this guy may say he's pro-life.
I think he's just pro birth.
We are going to be pro kids no matter where
they are or who they are in this state.
This crazy aggressive pursuit
of transgender children.
In our communities and in our
schools and in their families
when we have real challenges in
the state of Texas right now,
like 7 out of 10 fourth graders
cannot read at grade level.
And it's not that our kids are any
worse than the kids in other states.
It's not that our teachers
are not trying hard.
In fact, they're working two or three jobs
just to support their main job right now.
It's because we have so
underpaid those teachers
and started to attack them from
the highest positions of power.
When I am governor we are going to
support public educators and public
education and make sure that every
child has the resources and support
that they need to be able to get ahead.
We're gonna make sure when
I'm governor that we keep the
light on in the state of Texas.
The heat flowing. The water running.
And that we make sure. Then we make
sure that everyone understands
that this state is big enough for
all of us.
That the leadership in Texas
truly reflect the genius and diversity
of the people in this state that we
don't have to be afraid of one another,
or pitted against each other or further
polarize an already divided state.
Ladies and gentlemen,
whether you are a Republican and
I hope you're here tonight or an
independent or we certainly have
some Democrats in the House as well,
I want to be a governor for each
and every single one of you.
And I want to bring us together to do the
big things that we are truly capable of.
Once we get past the smallness and the
cruelty and the divisiveness of this moment.
But if we're gonna do this if we're
going to build upon our gains that
we all realize together in 2018,
then it's going to take all of us doing
all that we can with what we have.
Where we are right now.
And just as Crystal urged us to do,
we've got to sign up to volunteer.
And we've got to join an army of
volunteers out there, a peaceful army.
That over the course of February has been
trying to knock on every single door in
every one of the 254 counties of Texas.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I'm here to tell you tonight that so
far 53,500 people have signed up to pick
up a clipboard to become a volunteer
and to win this election. We set this
ambitious goal because.
Not just in Crystal Mason's case,
but in the case of millions
of our fellow Texans,
this governor does not trust the
voters of this state to make their
own decisions about who should
represent them or the course,
or the direction that Texas will take.
And so last year he signed the
most voter suppressive most voter
intimidating legislation that we
have seen since the Texas President.
LBJ signed the Voting Rights
Act into law in 1965.
It is harder to cast a ballot.
In this state than it is anywhere
else and look democracy is under
attack the world over right now.
I don't have to tell you
that you watch the headlines.
You see it happening half a world away.
Well, it's happening right here as well.
And when I talked to Catherine,
our organizing director and I said, look.
I wish the Department of Justice
would ride to the rescue right now
and enforce that Voting Rights Act,
but they're not.
I wish the Supreme Court would
make sure that they strike down
the unconstitutional voting laws
that we have in this state,
but they will not.
There's no cavalry coming to
ride to our rescue.
This one is on us and Catherine said,
let me get those volunteers out there.
Let me get them knocking on doors
and making phone calls and lighten
up the phones of our fellow Texans.
And I'm going to try Beto.
As best as I can to get to 2,000,000
voters by the end of February,
which was yesterday.
Well,
she told me today we reached 4.5 million
voters over the course of February.
Boom, milagrow. Absolutely amazing
a miracle and it's a miracle
born of the people of Texas.
This campaign is powered
by the people of Texas.
We will win this race together because
of by and for the people of Texas.
All I need to know from you is
Are you ready to sign up and
to be part of this campaign?
Because if you will do
this. I promise you, we will win this.
The people of Texas are sick of
what we have and they wanna change.
They cannot believe they cannot believe
that the governor of this state will not
trust women to make their own decisions
for themselves. That he set a
$10,000 bounty on the back of anyone
who assists any woman in making
her own health care decisions.
Well, you don't have to be a
Democrat to know that that is wrong,
but it's gonna take all of us working
together to elect me so that you
have a governor who trusts every
woman to make her own decisions about
her own body and her own
future and her own health care.
Each and every single time.
We're gonna do this. I really
feel this. See sip weather.
And I just want you to think about.
What you are willing to do right now
and how you want to feel on this night.
November 8th 8 1/2 months from today.
Now I hope and I have to check
with with Amy and the kids,
but I hope we're back in Tarrant
County on election night.
And just like we are gonna do tonight,
I hope we're drinking beer on that night.
And I hope we wake up
on the 9th of November
with the best hangover we
have ever had in our lives because
we've celebrated the best victory
we've ever seen in the state of Texas.
But think about how you wanna feel that
night, how you wanna look back on this one
and say look on March 1st of this year.
I dedicated myself to my kids to my family,
to my state, to my country,
to the generations yet to come.
And when all was on the line and we
knew that we had the odds against us,
and they were trying to rig the rules
of the road while we were actually
running this race in the election,
I did not allow that to deter me.
I did not succumb to the temptation
of despair. I got up.
I got after it.
I knocked on my neighbors door.
I invited them into this democracy,
voting in this election,
and I made sure that their voice was heard,
that their vote counted that their
vision was reflected in the campaign
that we ran together on that night,
November 8th of 2022.
You want to feel completely exhausted like
you've done everything you could have
done within your power to win this race.
Nothing but nothing left on the
field that beer is going to taste
so much more refreshing that victory
is gonna be all the sweeter for it
and we are gonna celebrate like
Texas has never celebrated before.
Are you ready for this?