00:15Thank you, Iowa.
00:18Thank you, Iowa.
00:20I love you, Iowa.
00:24We got a family up here of Republicans and Democrats and Independents.
00:28I want to first thank my wife.
00:30Christine and our two boys, Tate and Axel,
00:35for your support and for the sacrifices that you shared in our effort.
00:40I couldn't have done it without you, truly.
00:44Christine, you've carried a weight.
00:46You've offered helpful advice.
00:47You deserve just as much credit for this as I do.
00:51My parents, Leslie and Kevin, my sister Jen, my in-laws, Nix,
00:57your help was invaluable in deciding which tie to wear for the third debate.
01:01Thank you for that.
01:02I really appreciate that.
01:04Augie, thank you for being my bill.
01:06And most importantly, Walter.
01:09Rest in peace.
01:13The energy and the excitement that he brought to the campaign was irreplaceable.
01:21Christine said something profound the other day.
01:24She had been bracing for a difficult October,
01:27and yet everything that we imagined it would be was nothing compared to how hard it has been losing Walter.
01:34There are countless other family members and friends who have been with me every step of the way.
01:40It's been a long 18 months on the campaign trail, and I could not have gotten here without your support.
01:45You know who you are.
01:52Thank you to my running mate and Iowa's next lieutenant governor, Dave Moebauer.
02:18We love Dave, don't we?
02:20We love this guy.
02:23When I asked him to join the ticket, we were actually at his mom's house with his mom.
02:27I looked around the house, and I could tell that he had the same kind of upbringing that I did.
02:32Raised by good people with good values, same kinds of sayings on the wall, same kinds of decoration.
02:38And I've got to say, anyone who can get elected in a county that goes 75% for the other
02:44party in the race for president
02:46has to be a peacemaker and a public servant.
02:49Amen for that.
02:53Literally, no wonder why we had multiple Republican elected officials who endorsed me just because I picked Dave.
03:03I hadn't talked to them.
03:05I hadn't called them.
03:07I hadn't asked for their endorsement.
03:09They just saw that I picked Dave Moebauer, and they were like, well, me too then.
03:14Yeah.
03:15So we've got a good one here, Iowa.
03:17A really good one.
03:22He brings along a great family, too.
03:24Thank you, too, Linda, as well, and the kids for letting Dave help me get here today.
03:29Very excited for our partnership ahead and to have his work ethic especially added to serve Iowans.
03:36Thank you to Republican and independent public endorsers of this campaign for your courage and for your leadership, genuinely.
03:45We do live in a broken, two-choice political system where it requires real listening to learn that a candidate
03:54that is in the other party doesn't see you as the enemy.
03:57You listened.
03:59You knew that you would receive some negative reaction for endorsing across party lines, but you knew that the angriest
04:06ones are the loudest,
04:08and you knew that you were willing to stand publicly on principle to support returning our state to balanced government.
04:16We have to have bigger hearts and minds than just our party,
04:22and everyone who did that across party lines with a public endorsement showed that,
04:27and we thank you for it.
04:34To Iowa Democrats,
04:38you've had a hard few years here in Iowa,
04:43but balanced government has been restored.
05:00You stayed strong.
05:02You worked hard.
05:03So many of you feel what I feel about the divisiveness of our political system,
05:08and you were excited to have somebody as a candidate in your party who was actually talking about that and
05:14focusing on it.
05:15But even among those of you that don't like that part as much,
05:20well, the vast majority of you understood that the smallest party has to appeal to reasonable-minded people in other
05:26parties
05:26if it wants to build a coalition that reaches a majority.
05:30Because of all of us coming together in January,
05:33no Iowan has to fear their government anymore.
05:47to those who did not vote for me,
05:49I'm going to listen to you and serve you just the same.
05:52I hope you already know that I had senior leaders in the auditor's office who were an independent and a
05:57Republican,
05:58who had made campaign contributions to my opponent in 2018.
06:01I'm going to continue a similar approach.
06:03I hope if you see me out and about in our state,
06:06I mean, I'm going to be out and about.
06:08And I know that there's plenty of Iowans who did not vote for me.
06:11So you are going to see me out and about.
06:14I hope that you stop me.
06:15And I hope you introduce yourself.
06:17And I hope you kindly tell me why you didn't vote for me.
06:21I hope you also keep an open mind because you're going to get to know me better over the next
06:25four years
06:26and maybe you'll feel differently the next time.
06:34Bottom line is this.
06:37Again, for the folks who didn't vote for me,
06:39I'm going to work just as hard for you as I do for anyone else.
06:43Thank you also for voting and for being hard.
06:46Appreciate that.
06:46Now, given that we are here tonight, Democrats and Independents and Republicans together,
06:53as we did at 200 town halls and countless rallies across this state,
06:57who is going to start us in singing America the Beautiful?
07:03You know what?
07:04Hold on.
07:05We didn't have anybody go yet, right?
07:07All right.
07:08I'm going to step aside.
07:09And just so that we have a clear note and one person that we can all join in,
07:12Virginia will start us off.
07:16Oh, beautiful for spacious skies,
07:22for amber waves of grain,
07:28for purple mountains' majesty above the rooted plain.
07:41America!
07:44America!
07:47America!
07:47God shed his grace on thee,
07:52And crown thy good with brotherhood,
07:59From sea to shining sea.
08:15Tonight, Iowans sent a clear message.
08:17They want government not to work for a few one-siders or special interests,
08:21or for one party, but for all Iowans.
08:25From the beginning of this campaign, it's been about being something bigger than Democrats versus Republicans.
08:31It's been about our shared yearning to be one with our neighbors.
08:35And it's about speaking that indisputable truth that our leaders, like most of us,
08:41should be seeking in Iowa that isn't redder or bluer, but better and truer.
08:46It's been about returning to our proud and long-standing Iowa tradition of balanced government,
08:51that we do our best work when we're forced to work together.
08:56I actually heard a Democratic and Republican legislative leader, around 2013,
09:03say just exactly that.
09:05We do our best work when we're forced to work together.
09:08Come January, we will be forced to work together.
09:19That teamwork, that teamwork, if we are one as a state, is only natural.
09:26Left wing, right wing, same bird.
09:32When Iowa Democrats and Iowa Republicans and Iowa Independents send their kids off to school in the morning,
09:38they don't tell them, be red or be blue.
09:43We all tell them the same thing.
09:46Be good.
09:48Do your best.
09:50Tell the truth.
09:52It's as simple as that.
09:54It's time that we focus on the values that we share, not on the things that we divide us.
10:00This campaign has also been about returning us to our tradition of leading in good government reforms.
10:05Iowa, first state to create a redistricting commission that was independent from politics
10:10and a judicial nomination system based on merit and the opinions of ordinary Iowans.
10:18We should now return to that tradition.
10:20We should be among the first states to end the special legal privileges of the Democratic and the Republican parties,
10:27end the system that enables the lesser of two evils,
10:31and lead elected officials not into the temptation of politics,
10:35but down the straight and narrow path of public service rather than politics.
10:46These ideas didn't just win, they resonated.
10:49They didn't just resonate, maybe, they caught fire.
10:52I want to thank the Iowans from across the state and across the political spectrum
10:56who not only voted for me, but also got involved, donated, volunteered,
11:01had conversations with people in their lives about the movement that we've been building.
11:05We saw unprecedented support from across the aisle throughout this campaign.
11:09Literally thousands of registered Iowa Republicans and thousands of registered Iowa independents
11:15who didn't just vote for me, but donated to this campaign.
11:18We had over 117,000 donors to this campaign, chipping in an average of $155.
11:30Many of you were here tonight.
11:32Thank you again.
11:34We also heard countless stories from first-time voters in their 30s or 40s.
11:38Getting off the sidelines to vote for the first time in this race
11:42doesn't happen overnight, doesn't happen by accident.
11:46It happens when people who have felt ignored for the last decade,
11:50who have lost all faith in their elected officials or in state government,
11:53or who have struggled to get by while watching politicians work to make life harder for them,
12:00finally feel heard and seen and recognized,
12:04and finally hearing someone say the thing that they think about our political system.
12:11Over the course of 200 public town halls, that's exactly what this campaign did.
12:15We gave Iowans a place to bring their concerns, their complaints, and their ideas to improve our state.
12:21We rejected the idea that you have to hate your neighbor just because they vote differently than you.
12:25And we said that we should expect more from our elected officials who were supposed to be working for us.
12:31That is what this campaign has been about.
12:33Now, it's going to take all of us working together, from all political persuasions,
12:38to address the issues that our state faces.
12:41But I truly believe that we can do great things for this state with all ideas, voices, and perspectives actually
12:47at the table.
12:48Politics should never, ever, ever be about two private clubs who are more interested in beating up on each other
12:56than they are in solving our problems.
13:04Problem solving across the aisle is something that you can expect from me as your governor.
13:09My mission is going to be to make state government work better for all Iowans, to serve all Iowans, and
13:14to be accountable to all Iowans.
13:16We also learned something else in this campaign.
13:20The lies didn't work.
13:23The only two fair attacks about me were that I can ride a skateboard and I do like pizza.
13:31And as Christine said, these lies were nothing compared to our loss on October 15th,
13:37but they're also nothing compared to the struggle that so many Iowans go through every single day,
13:42trying to provide for their families or play the difficult hand that they've been dealt in life.
13:48Enough Iowans know me well enough that they spread the truth to others around them about who I am.
13:53And that proved that Iowa can still work like one big small town,
13:59where being open and being honest is the best way to get through it all in the end.
14:03Here's to Iowa on that one.
14:11I do want to thank my opponent, Zach Lane, for getting in the race.
14:14I said the same thing when Governor Reynolds announced her retirement.
14:17Public office and campaigning is a difficult thing to do in a way that few people truly understand.
14:23Putting your name out there and your ideas out there is tough.
14:26And I appreciated the places where we agreed.
14:29I'm glad to see someone win a Republican nomination talking about water quality and talking about cancer.
14:34Yeah.
14:36So let's use that bipartisan support from Iowa voters to actually get our water cleaned up and our cancer rates
14:44under control.
14:52Tonight, Iowans across the state made their voices heard.
14:55And they voted to restore our public schools to their former glory.
14:59They voted to address our cancer crisis with real solutions, not with rhetoric.
15:03And to make public service the focus of government, not politics.
15:07By regulating, well, the people that need regulation the most.
15:12Politicians.
15:15More than anything else, Iowans voted for change.
15:18They voted for checks and balances.
15:20And they voted to bring transparency and accountability back to state government.
15:26Now, to Iowa's legislators, I look forward to working with you on the same common sense ideas and solutions that
15:32we advocated for throughout this campaign.
15:36Iowans, including Democrats and independents, voted for these issues.
15:40They are broadly popular, and we would all do well to pass them into reality.
15:45As I said on the campaign trail, I'm going to be spending 100% of my time addressing the concerns
15:50of 100% of Iowans.
15:52And you have my word, legislators, any bill you vote for is a bill where you are invited to the
15:59bill signing ceremony.
16:01That's the kind of credit given where credit is due sort of common sense attitude that Iowans expect from their
16:07government.
16:08Thank you again to the people of the state of Iowa for putting your trust in me as your next
16:14governor.
16:16And I hope, no matter who you voted for in this race, I hope over the next week you're going
16:30to go find somebody that voted differently than you and ask them why.
16:34And just listen.
16:37And keep asking, tell me more, or say something else, until they say something that you agree with.
16:46When they do that, let them know, will we agree on that?
16:50That's one thing that you can do, yourself, everyone in this state, to help rebuild the social fabric of our
16:56state.
16:56And remember that all of us together, our neighbors, our friends, we all have a job to do to make
17:03this state better and truer, not just redder and bluer.
17:07Let's get to work.
