Earlier tonight, I received a gracious call from Congressman Steve Pearce congratulating us on this hard fought victory. We pledged to find common ground, come together, and help the state that we both love.
I would not be here today without the love and support of my family - my two daughters, Taylor and Erin; my fiancee, Manny; my mom, Sonja; and my three grandchildren, Kaden, Avery and Mason. They have sacrificed and inspired me more than anyone will ever know. I love you.
New Mexico, a new day is finally here. Together we will determine a new direction for this state and we will take hold of our future!
Today is a testament to the strength of our vision to transform our state and the lives of New Mexico families.
And as I said time and again throughout this campaign, I believe we have incredible opportunities right here, at home, to realize our vision; we have the best wind and solar resources in the nation; an unwavering and innovative small business community; awe-inspiring landscapes that attract millions; and we have you--the hardest working people I have ever known.
New Mexico, for too long we stopped dreaming, for too long we believed that we would never again forge new paths, but I commit to using every bit of experience, energy, and skill that I have to leverage these opportunities so that instead of continuing to fall further behind, New Mexico blazes the trail of progress and leads our nation forward.
More than a person, more than a party - when you cast your ballot, regardless of what name you marked, you voted for our children and grandchildren. That is humbling--and a tremendous responsibility.
You voted for a more prosperous future for all of us. And now it’s time to deliver that future!
We must begin by seizing the once in a lifetime opportunity to launch an education moonshot to save generations of New Mexicans from poverty and to propel them to unprecedented levels of achievement.
We’ll move quickly to not just expand access to pre-k, we’ll make it universal so that every New Mexico child will start learning in the most critical years of their lives; we will invest in schools and the educators who are the backbone of our communities; and ensure that teachers spend more time in the classroom teaching and less time testing.
Let’s graduate our young people from our public schools and universities; and expand apprenticeships and job training to ensure that every New Mexican is career ready no matter what path they choose to take.
New Mexico, we will build pride and spread hope by valuing and respecting every worker; and finally lift up communities across our state by raising the minimum wage to put more than 100,000 hard-working New Mexicans on a path to prosperity.
We will make New Mexico into the Clean Energy State and expand wind, solar, and geothermal energy.
We will target smart investments in small businesses to grow industry right here at home! And we will continue to produce more film and television programs employing even more New Mexicans in this exciting field.
We will make infrastructure a priority and build roads, bridges, water systems, and expand broadband to both immediately create jobs, and jumpstart our economy.
Together we will invest in our small towns and rural economies. Whether you are continuing our rich traditions of farming and ranching or growing a new business on Main Street, we will make sure every town, from Mora to Lordsburg, becomes a place where New Mexicans can grow up and succeed.
We will treat our parents and grandparents with dignity and respect, and bring back the same accountability and commitment to quality care that I pursued relentlessly while at the Department of Aging;
And we will provide access to quality, affordable health care for all New Mexicans because health care is a right, not a privilege!
This is the way we ensure a future for our children and grandchildren so that they can stay here to raise their families in the state that we love.
As I look around, I see so many who worked together over the last two years to realize this new direction.
I am forever grateful for the dedicated and enthusiastic staff and volunteers who worked late, knocked doors, texted, and made countless phone calls. Your hard work and passion inspired union members, firefighters, teachers, farmers, ranchers, community leaders, Dreamers, and young people to have faith that our unity can overcome any challenge, and that our hard work can build a movement to change people’s lives for the better.
But in order for us to succeed we must harness our most powerful source of potential--the faith we have in each other, and the pride and unity we have in our state.
This is who we are. We are New Mexicans. We are family.
Family is Sonya Romero, a teacher who cares for every one of her students like her own child - for Sonya, caring means not only teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic, it means making sure her students don’t go without a meal or a jacket in the winter so that they can focus on what matters: learning.
Family is Barbara Bensonhaver whose MS has caused her to struggle with simple tasks like standing and walking, but she taps into her unyielding spirit to volunteer her time to take care of and advocate for others with degenerative diseases unable to care for themselves.
Family is my late father, Buddy, who was one of the first dentists to bring public health services to Northern New Mexican communities. Communities where people don’t have the access to the basic healthcare they need, let alone dental care. On top of that he provided free dental care to severely disabled children, underprivileged children and their families for the rest of their lives.
My mom Sonja also worked tirelessly to make people’s’ lives a little easier. Throughout this campaign I have met people for the first time who knew my mother and after decades are still moved by how she always found a way to get them home to their parents when there was no transportation. Recently, I met Bernadette Montoya, a successful businesswoman in Las Vegas. She was a classmate of my late sister, Kimberly, at the school for the visually handicapped. And she wanted me to know how much it meant to her every time my mother took her home. This act of kindness, something that seemed simple at the time left a lasting impact on Bernadette and hfamily. And is exactly the kind of gesture that strengthens our communities.
Family isn’t just the people you’re related to by blood, it’s the people you build a community with, it’s the people you build a state with.
New Mexico, our new day has arrived.
We have so much to do and I cannot wait to get started.
Are you with me?
Let’s get to work!!!! Thank you!!!