00:08 And so, thank you for all of you coming out today.
00:12 And I just also want to stop for a moment and thank all of the candidates that ran.
00:20 You all know this is a tough thing to choose to do.
00:24 And I think we have a record number of new candidates elected into our General Assembly.
00:31 About 36% of our General Assembly will be new.
00:35 We have a few that have moved from the House to the Senate.
00:38 But that is an extraordinary number of folks that are coming in with fresh perspectives.
00:43 And that's just a good thing for government.
00:45 So, I want to, again, thank those that ran that may not have won.
00:49 It's tough.
00:50 But also thank those and congratulate those that did win.
00:53 So, let me begin with just a clear statement.
00:57 I'm a little disappointed, to be clear.
01:00 And I think that that's just a natural reality.
01:04 But we've stepped back and we recognize that, boy, this was a razor-thin set of decisions
01:12 that were made on both sides of a number of these races.
01:15 And I think it underpins the fact that Virginia is clearly a state that has historically moved back and forth
01:23 from control of one party in the legislature to control the others, the governor's races,
01:29 with very, very thin margins.
01:32 And we saw it on display again last night.
01:35 And I think what that reflects is the fact that we are a state that is very comfortable working together,
01:43 working across party lines in order to get things done.
01:47 And that's exactly what we have done over the course of the last two years,
01:51 where we have worked with a legislature that has had divided government.
01:55 And we're going to continue to do this.
01:58 The priorities for Virginia will continue to be those priorities that, when we come together
02:04 and recognize that cost of living is a real challenge, and we recognize that we need to grow jobs
02:10 and create economic activity, and, boy, the progress that we've made over the course of the last two years,
02:16 I think has truly led the nation in so many ways.
02:19 We also know that educational excellence and making sure that our children have an opportunity
02:25 to not just go to school but receive an extraordinary education continues to be hugely important,
02:32 and that our neighborhoods need to be safe, and that we can, in fact,
02:36 provide a full transformation of a behavioral health system that can provide help for Virginians the day they need it.
02:44 These will continue to be so important, and these are areas where, over the course of the last two years,
02:50 we have come together on a bipartisan basis because that's what Virginia requires.
02:56 In order to move forward on all of these topics, we have had to bring together Democrats and Republicans,
03:02 and we've had to bring together a House and a Senate, and we've had to bring together a General Assembly
03:07 and a governor in order to move forward, and I am optimistic that we can continue to find
03:14 these most important areas that we can move forward.
03:17 I think this is what Virginians expect.
03:20 I think they know that in a state that is so purple that we do debate, we do argue,
03:28 but they expect us to find common ground on these most important topics and to press forward,
03:34 and I am optimistic that we will find these most important areas to come together over and over again
03:41 because that's exactly what we have done, and so I look forward to working with the House and the Senate,
03:48 going forward just like we have and finding these most important areas of making sure we're reining in
03:56 the cost of living, that we are providing some tax relief, that we continue to stand up for excellence
04:02 in education and safe communities and transformation in behavioral health in a government that works
04:08 for Virginians and provides services and responsiveness that reflects the fact that we work for 8.7 million bosses,
04:16 and I do believe that we can find that continued path to making Virginia the best place to live, work, and raise a family.
04:23 I'm very proud of what we have accomplished together, a divided government that demonstrates that, yes,
04:29 we can do this, and I'm optimistic that we can continue to find a path forward.
04:35 So I thank you all for coming out today, and I am happy to take a few questions.
04:39 Okay, there are a few. How about that? Yes, sir.
04:43 Excuse me?
04:46 Well, I have answered this question the same way for a long time, which is I am focused on Virginia.
04:52 I have been in Virginia. My name is not on the ballot in New Hampshire.
04:57 I have not been in Iowa. I'm not in South Carolina. I am in Virginia, and I look forward to staying focused on Virginia
05:03 just like I have been.
05:05 [inaudible]
05:08 Well, I actually think that when we look back at the results from last night and people are going to slice and dice them
05:16 in millions of different ways, I think there will be a lot of lessons.
05:21 I think the number one lesson is that Virginia is really purple, and that going into these elections,
05:30 we knew that they were going to be tough.
05:33 I mean, we absolutely knew that these were going to be tight, tight, tight races, and guess what?
05:38 They were.
05:40 And so all of the topics that people talked about I think were really important.
05:44 I think one of my aspirations was to find a place to come together on one of these most difficult topics.
05:53 So abortion is potentially one of the most difficult topics in Virginia and around the nation,
06:00 and my hope is, continues to be, that we can find a way to come together as Virginians and lead.
06:08 I do believe that there is a place we can come together, common ground.
06:14 This is difficult, and I'm hopeful that the dialogue that we started can continue.
06:21 To be clear, over the last two years, we've had divided government,
06:26 and we have found so many things to work on together that have propelled Virginia from a state that was so far behind.
06:33 I mean, we were bottom third in job growth, and over the last 22 months, we are now number three in the nation in job growth.
06:39 We have found a way to come together around funding education.
06:43 We've found a way to come together around supporting law enforcement.
06:46 We've found a way to come together around transforming behavioral health.
06:50 And so these are areas that I know that we can continue to work on together, and that's what we've demonstrated.
06:56 And so when we have difficult topics, we come together and find a way to move forward.
07:01 And I guess I would just repeat that it requires all of us.
07:04 It requires both houses and a governor.
07:07 And I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. I'm here to continue to serve Virginians.
07:12 We are not going to move forward. We're not going to move backwards. We're going to move forward.
07:17 And most importantly, I think it can be an arm and arm moving forward that puts Virginia, again, at the top of the pack in so many areas.
07:25 What was the message that voters sent to you, do you think, on abortion?
07:29 Well, I think the message that everyone should recognize on abortion is that this is a very difficult topic across Virginia and across the nation.
07:39 And let's just go back and look at the races.
07:42 These races were decided on a razor thin margin, and we expected that.
07:47 And that's what Virginia is.
07:49 And so there were so many topics that went into these results.
07:54 I do think that the fact that we tried to find a place to bring Virginians together will be a lesson that there is a place that Virginians can come together.
08:04 There is a place that Americans can come together.
08:07 I think Virginians don't want to be extreme either direction.
08:10 I think they actually want to find a place to come together.
08:13 And that's what I think we tried to represent, reasonableness.
08:16 And I think in the long term, I think reasonableness is where people will come together.
08:21 [inaudible]
08:46 Well, let me just be clear.
08:47 I'm not going anywhere, and we still have a divided government, which means that we all have to come together in order to progress legislation.
08:55 And I guess I was looking at it over the course of last month in the Constitution.
08:59 It requires both houses to pass a bill and a governor to sign it.
09:02 So this is still the reality of where we are versus the same place we have been the last two years.
09:09 And yet I'm encouraged by the fact that over the last two years, we had record tax relief.
09:14 We came to that together as Republicans and Democrats.
09:17 Over the last two years, we funded record investment in our education, Republicans and Democrats.
09:22 Over the last two years, we funded record investment in behavioral health and signed 22 bills to unlock our Right Help Right Now initiatives as Republicans and Democrats.
09:32 We came together to provide record funding for law enforcement as Republicans and Democrats.
09:36 We came together to provide record investment into making sure the Chesapeake Bay and our waterways are clean as Republicans and Democrats.
09:44 So I'm encouraged that we have demonstrated that we can do this.
09:48 It still requires us to come together.
09:50 And I'm here, and I'm the executive branch, and I will continue to invite our leadership from the legislative branch to work with us and deliver these important objectives.
10:00 Yeah, we'll go over here.
10:01 Hey, Greg.
10:02 [inaudible]
10:06 Well, I think what voters said yesterday broadly across the board is that Virginia is a purple state.
10:13 And literally every one of these races that was in the crosshairs was decided on a razor's edge.
10:20 And that's what we expected going in.
10:23 And so I think the one thing that we know is that abortion is a really difficult topic, that there is a place to come together around a reasonable limit.
10:33 And I think Virginians can come there.
10:36 And that's something that I continue to be committed to work on with our legislature in order to see if we can find.
10:42 But again, I think that there is one basic takeaway from yesterday, which is the history of the Commonwealth of being a purple state that moves through a very, very thin margin.
10:55 They described it again yesterday.
10:57 I mean, for example, neither party received a majority of the vote yesterday.
11:02 I mean, this is just another statement of where Virginia is and why it's such a bellwether for what's going on across the nation is that we tend to be in the middle on topics.
11:14 And I think that's why we continue to work well together is because it's very rarely been a moment where we have seen single party rule other than in the last two years of the last administration.
11:27 But people have had to work together for a long time.
11:30 And I think that's representative of how Virginians get things done.
11:40 Yes, so I have not spoken to folks on the Democratic side, not because I don't want to, but because they haven't gone through the process of formally naming their leadership.
11:51 And when they do, I look forward to speaking with them again.
11:54 This is how we get things done.
11:55 But I think that over the course of the next week, I'm sure they're going to meet and they're going to formally elect their leadership.
12:01 And then I will look forward to meeting with them and working together to deliver for Virginians.
12:05 This is what we have to do.
12:06 They know that I know that.
12:08 And we're going to be able to find places to work together.
12:10 I'm quite sure.
12:12 Yeah.
12:22 I really I really think that the issues that were represented in the election yesterday were Virginia issues.
12:29 And I'll repeat something I said earlier.
12:32 We fully expected all of these races to be very, very tight.
12:36 And they were.
12:37 And and we knew that retaking our Senate was going to be really, really hard.
12:42 We saw a path to 19 and we thought we saw a path to get into 20 to be an uphill climb.
12:47 We had great candidates that ran.
12:49 But we knew that.
12:50 And guess what?
12:51 We're here at 19.
12:52 And and we knew that the candidates in the House were going to have some really, really tight races in a number of places that that Joe Biden had won by a lot.
13:00 And I think we performed really well.
13:02 The bottom line is this.
13:03 This is a reflection of how tight Virginia races have been will continue to be issues in Virginia or Virginia issues.
13:11 And that's one of the reasons why I have been so proud to serve all across the Commonwealth is because at the end of the day, Virginians know we have to come together to accomplish anything.
13:22 And there is a Republican governor.
13:24 And now there's a General Assembly that has that has a twenty one nineteen Democrat control in the Senate and a fifty one forty nine Democrat control in the House.
13:35 And and that is pretty bipartisan looking.
13:37 And we're going to have to find a way to get things done.
13:39 I'm optimistic that we can.
13:41 But the key thing is that we have to both be committed to doing that.
13:45 Perfect.
13:46 Thank you all for coming out.
13:48 Put your put your sunscreen on.
13:50 It's a bright day.
13:51 But, you know, as I said from the very beginning, the sun shines in Virginia every day.
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