Hobbs, Giles celebrate historic Arizona victory

To be honest, right, being the first one of anything is a little bit challenging, right? There's no handbook. There's no predecessor to call and ask for advice, right? But at least on the bright side, there's nobody around to say, hey, the other guy did it better last time, right? But I do know this, that Arizona's voters created this office so the governor and lieutenant governor could work together as one team with one mission. That's exactly what Governor Hobbs and I will be, a team that wakes up every morning asking what Arizona needs and then getting it done. On a personal note, I have to say none of this would be possible without my lovely wife, Dawn. There she is. We met and got married in college at BYU, and we've been married for 43 years. She has stuck with me through 10 years as mayor, through five kids, through 10 grandkids, and through one kind of unexpected campaign. All right? Don, I love you. My kids and grandkids are also in the room with us. And every decision I make, I make thinking that they are entitled to grow up in an Arizona like I did. Right? And I learned that from my own parents. My dad was an elementary school principal. My mom was a school teacher. They taught me that public service means showing up for the people who are counting on you. And I've tried to live up to that every day of my life. To every one of you who has gone out and knocked doors and made phone calls and talked to their friends and neighbors, thank you so so much. And I have to say to all the Republicans and Independents who crossed party lines this year, I know that wasn't easy. I've been there, I've walked that road myself, but putting Arizona first is always worth it. And I'm And I'm grateful to every one of you who believed in the governor and me. Thank you very much. Now, to the Arizonans who didn't vote for us, hey, I promise that the governor and I will wake up every day and work just as hard for you. As mayor, I learned that there's no Republican or Democratic way to fill a pothole. The same is true at the state capitol, right? There's no partisan approach that protects our water, builds homes that families can afford, keeps rural hospitals open, or gets kids ready for good jobs that are coming to this state. My goal is simple, to help Governor Hobbs deliver on all of those things. Starting in January, I'll be working with mayors, county leaders, tribal leaders, business owners, and educators in every corner of our state, rural, suburban, and urban. That's how we built the Mesa College Promise. That's how we passed Prop 479. Everybody at the table focusing on getting things done. For four years, I've watched Katie Hobbs stand up to Washington leaders and to her own party. I've watched her bring Republicans and Democrats to the same table to get things done. Every time the choice was between what's best for a political party or what's best for our state, Katie Hobbs chose Arizona. Yeah. Woo! This morning, Arizona chose four more years of that kind of leadership. And Arizona did something more. You elected a Democratic governor and a former Republican mayor, now an independent, on the same ticket, and you asked us to work together. We come from different backgrounds and different parties, but we share the same North Star, putting Arizona first. All right? And I think that partnership is proof that when you work together, you can get things done. Think for a moment about the moment that we are in as a country, right? All across this country, people are retreating to their partisan corners. Neighbors have stopped talking to each other over yard signs. Families dread holidays. We're told that the people who vote differently from us aren't just wrong. They're our enemies. Arizona has chosen a different path. You have chosen unity over division and respect over resentment. You decided that someone from the other party isn't someone to defeat, they're someone to work with. Finding common ground isn't giving up ground. It's the Arizona way. We bring people together to solve problems. Washington could learn a thing or two from watching us because what happened here proves that politics doesn't always have to be that way. For at least the past year, I've heard very loud voices telling us that we're too divided to come together. And Arizona just proved them wrong. Now it's our job to keep proving them wrong. Every single day. And there's no one that I'd rather be doing that with than Governor Hobbs. This will be the honor of my life to serve alongside her. Please join me in welcoming our governor, Katie Hobbs. I do not like the spokeswomen. They're very tall. Can I move it? I don't love it. Thank you. I got you. Okay. All right, that'll work. Yeah, okay. All right. Hello, everyone. Thank you, John. And good evening, Arizona. As you all know, our race was called this morning and I am honored to stand before you as your governor for four more years. I'm so proud to share this win with John Giles, who is about to make history as Arizona's first-ever lieutenant governor. Thank you. As mayor of Mesa, John showed what it looks like to put people ahead of politics, and I couldn't ask for a better partner for the next four years. I love this state. I was born here. I grew up in Tempe, went to school in Flagstaff, and raised my own kids here. Every day that I get to serve as your governor, I love Arizona a little bit more because every day I meet more people who make this place home. Just look around this room. Every one of you gave something to get us here. Your time, your weekends, your resources, your voice. This victory belongs to you even more than it does to me. I also want to congratulate Secretary of State Adrian Fontes on his reelection. As well as Attorney General Chris Mays. Thank you so much for being here. And for the first time in 60 years, Arizona is sending Democratic majorities to the state legislature in both chambers. First. Democratic leaders Oscar De Los Santos and Priya Sundareshan, congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you. 60 years. I want you to understand what that means to me. When I got to the legislature in 2011, there were so few Democrats in the Senate that we joked the caucus could share one pizza. Thank you, Seth. So we got to work. In 2014, I co-founded the Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee because I believed we could build something special. Ten years later, as governor, I made a commitment to fight for legislative races because they are too often overlooked. We've now gone from a one pizza caucus to a majority in both chambers. Thank you so much. To every corner of the state and you carried it to every door. Volunteers knocked in the summer heat, neighbors talked to neighbors, and voters showed up. Together we have made history. Four years ago I stood before you and said Arizona had chosen sanity over chaos. In this election, Arizona made that choice again. Thank you, Daddy. You chose leaders who answer to Arizona, not Washington. You told us what keeps you up at night. The grocery bill, the rent or the mortgage, the price at the pump, and the cost of a prescription. Washington keeps driving those costs up. And you chose a governor who will keep working to bring them down. You chose a governor who will stand up for Arizonans even when powerful people in Washington come calling. And I know firsthand that standing up isn't always easy. In 2020, as Secretary of State certifying the presidential election, I learned what doing that job could cost. People posted my home address online. People posted, they posted my son's cell phone number and harassed him. Someone wrote that they should burn my house down and kill my family. An armed mob showed up outside our home chanting we are watching you. Bomb sniffing dogs were deployed at my home to protect my family, but I stood my ground. Because the will of Arizona voters was not up for negotiation. In 2028, the whole country will be watching Arizona again. And the people certifying your vote will answer to you, not to anyone in Washington. Let me reiterate my promise to you, I will always answer to Arizona. I want to thank Arizonans for trusting me with this job a second time. Being your governor is the honor of my life and I don't take it for granted. To my husband Pat and my children Sam and Hannah, thank you for your love, your patience, and for putting up with campaigns that took over our lives. To our volunteers who made calls and knocked doors, plenty of them in triple digit heat, Thank you. And to my incredible staff, led by Nicole DeMont, who gave it their all to make sure that we are standing here, this is your win. At our very first rally of this election, I said elections are won in neighborhoods, at kitchen tables, and on the streets of every town in this state. You proved it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. And to the Arizonans who voted for my opponent, I want you to hear this. I will work just as hard for you as for anyone who voted for me. I've worked the counter at Burger King, driven for Uber, and lived through a foreclosure. I know what it's like to lie awake worrying about the bills. That worry doesn't care whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, Independent, or anything else. Over this past year, I've crisscrossed the state, from Prescott to Pierce, from Kingman to Sierra Vista, from Flagstaff to Tucson. I made tortillas at the Chili Pepper in Yuma. I marched in the Navajo Nation Fair Parade. And I'm proud to be the first governor to have visited all 22 tribal nations in Arizona. Here we go. I'm the Burger King where I worked in high school. And everywhere I go, I am reminded that what unites us is so much stronger than what divides us. We all want the same things. Lower costs, safe neighborhoods, a secure border. Good schools and water for generations to come. Four years ago, I stood on a stage like this one and I made you promises and I kept them. We showed the politicians in Washington what it means to deliver for the people you represent instead of playing their cynical political games. We showed Washington you can cut taxes for hard-working people, not just billionaires. We cut taxes every single year for seniors, middle-class families, veterans, and small businesses. We showed Washington that we can lower costs when we put everyday people first. We erased a billion dollars of medical debt for nearly 700,000 Arizonans. Thank you very much. CRX, a free discount card that's saving Arizonans hundreds on their prescriptions. We repealed the tax on rent and we went to bat for you against utility companies saving Arizonans more than 320 million dollars on your bills. We showed Washington Arizona won't be pushed around anymore when it comes to our water. We sued the federal government to protect our fair share of the Colorado River. I'm excited to see you. When a Saudi corporation used our groundwater I'm excited to see you. to ship crops overseas we kicked them off our land. I understand. And we brought Republicans and Democrats together to pass a groundwater law that saves our water and grows the economy at the same time. We showed Washington we can secure the border and take on the cartels without deporting American citizens and indiscriminately rounding up people without indiscriminately rounding up people who pay taxes, work hard and have been in their community for We put the National Guard at our ports of entry and got local, state, and federal law enforcement working as one team, laser-focused on fighting the cartels and keeping our families safe. Together, we've seized more than 19 million fentanyl pills, 9,000 pounds of meth, and 1,600 illegal weapons. Thanks. Thank you. We showed Washington how to invest in working people so they can build a good-paying, family-sustaining career. We created community college scholarships and new apprenticeships so you don't need a four-year degree to get ahead. And we made sure 700,000 kids don't go to school hungry. And we showed Washington how to fight for your freedoms and win. I promised you I would do everything in my power to repeal the 1864 total abortion ban that put so many women's lives at risk. And I did what 23 governors and 55 legislatures before me couldn't or wouldn't do. I repealed it. Let's do it. Now my daughter and women and girls like her across the state won't be forced to live in a state where they have fewer rights than I did at their age. Thank you. The challenges we face weren't created overnight, and we knew we wouldn't solve them overnight. There's so much more to do, and I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work. In my second term, we'll continue protecting our water from the upper basin states, from the federal government, and from the out-of-state corporations who want to use it for their own gain. We'll secure our border from the cartels who are pushing poison on our streets. We'll crack down on the waste, fraud, and abuse in the out-of-control ESA entitlement And I'm like, oh yeah. while delivering one billion dollars to our public schools without raising taxes. Thank you very much. we're going to slash red tape for starter homes to lower costs and make it easier to build a life here at home and we will keep expanding apprenticeship opportunities so every arizonan has a shot at a good paying career even if a four-year degree isn't the right path for them these are arizona challenges and they deserve arizona solutions in my second term we'll keep building on our progress and make arizona the affordable state it was when i When I was growing up. To my colleagues in the legislature, My door is open just as it has been for four years. Republicans and Democrats have sat at my table and together we've passed balanced bipartisan budgets that put Arizona families first. But to anyone who would rather obstruct and chase Washington's agenda over Arizona's, look at the results of this election. Actually, I'm not. The voter sends a clear message. They want us to deliver and they will hold us accountable if we don't. Thank you all so much for coming out. Every race I've ever run I've been counted out and every time Arizona has had the final word. Arizona, I have never been more hopeful for our future. I've seen what this state can do when we stop asking what side you're on and instead start asking what Arizona needs. When we set aside partisan politics, focus on the problem in front of us, And get we can and get the job done. There is nothing, nothing that we can't accomplish. Woo-hoo! Arizona has always been built by people who looked at the desert and saw opportunity. People who knew this can be a place where you can live in a safe neighborhood, where you can work hard and build a good life for yourself and your family, and where you have the freedom to live your life the way you choose without the government telling you what to do or who to be. That same spirit is in every one of you. You voted to help make that potential a reality. And together, we will ensure that Arizona's best days are still ahead of us. Thank you so much. Four years ago, I ended this speech by saying, let's get to work. We did, and we're not done. Let's keep Arizona moving forward. Thank you. Thank you.