If I had tried to sit down and watch the election results come in on Election Night 2012, I probably would have thrown up.
So five years ago tonight, I locked myself in a quiet little room at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston and paced around practicing both of the speeches I had ready for that night. This wasn’t the moment to take anything for granted.
The next few hours are largely a blur of news flashes and cheers and hugs. But I remember exactly what I said when I finally walked up to the stage and delivered the speech I really wanted to give that night.
I told the hundreds of volunteers there that night, and many more watching from home: “I won’t just be your Senator, I will also be your champion.” I meant every world of it. Being a part of this team and fighting for our values has been the greatest honor of my life. But our fight isn’t over.
Exactly one year from today, people will be heading back to the polls in Massachusetts to cast their ballots for the Senate – and I hope to recommit my promise to you and working families across the country.
I’ll be honest: This wasn’t the fight I expected us to be having when I ran for the Senate five years ago. If you had told me that Donald Trump would be President and he’d be delivering one gut-punch after another to America’s working families, I would have thought you were dreaming. But that’s the fight in front of us – and we’re using every tool in the toolbox we’ve got to fight back.
Donald Trump wants to defeat us in 2018. Mitch McConnell wants to make us to shut up. The right-wing billionaires want to spend big bucks to smear us. You know what that means? We must be doing something right.
This fight isn’t about me – it’s about the millions of Americans in Massachusetts and across the country who deserve the opportunity to succeed. We’re in this fight for students trying to get an education without sinking in debt. Seniors trying to live with dignity on their Social Security. Parents struggling to make ends meet. And we’re in this fight so everyone can build a future no matter where they’re from, how they pray, or who they love.
We ran the biggest grassroots campaign in Massachusetts history in 2012 – and if it’s possible, we’re going to run a bigger one in 2018. For the sake of working people in Massachusetts and across this country, we don’t have any other choice.
The year ahead will test us like never before – but there’s no one I’d rather have by my side than you. Let’s get our there and keep fighting.