'This is a win the size of Texas': Talarico's full victory speech

[0:00] Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Blanca. And thank you all for being here. [0:18] We just took back Texas. We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people [0:37] of Texas. We just showed that a politics of division is no match for a politics of love. [0:51] And we just sent a message to every billionaire megadonor, every trillionaire megadonor, [1:03] every corrupt defender of this broken political system. In this state, in this country, power [1:14] belongs to the people. I'm reminded of that story from scripture of a shepherd boy who goes up [1:29] against a giant. For 40 days, Goliath teases and taunts. On the day of the fight, he shows up in [1:38] full armor. He's carrying so many weapons, he needs someone else to carry his shield. In this race, [1:45] we went up against our own Goliaths, the richest man in the world, the most powerful man in the [1:56] world and the entire Washington DC establishment. David, David wasn't as big or as strong as Goliath. [2:06] He didn't have as many weapons, but he had hope. He had faith. And he had a slingshot. You were my [2:17] slingshot. The people of Texas were my slingshot. And tonight, and tonight, we defeated Goliath. [2:33] Scripture has taught me. My own life has taught me. Always bet on the underdog. Before I was a [2:49] politician, I was a public school teacher. I taught language arts at Rhodes Middle School on the west [2:55] side of San Antonio. And as I always say, teaching middle school is the best preparation for politics. [3:04] The west side is a beautiful, historic neighborhood. It's also one of the poorest zip codes in the entire [3:10] state of Texas. Every day, my students struggled heroically to overcome a rigged system. My students [3:19] weren't just kids. They were survivors, dreamers, fighters. I saw it in their eyes every day. This [3:28] unshakable resolve, this unconquered spirit. Growing up, I saw that same fight in my mother, [3:38] a preacher's daughter from Laredo, who left home at 19. She moved up to Austin and met my birth father, [3:51] a 21-year-old high school dropout whose drinking problem sometimes led to violence. One night, [3:59] he became abusive again. But that night, that night, my mother's love rose to meet that abuse. [4:08] She packed all our stuff into her little Ford Escort. She drove me to the hotel where she worked. [4:15] She begged the manager to let us stay in one of the rooms until we found this little apartment [4:21] in East Austin. There wasn't room for a nursery. So I slept in a crib in her closet. And she was so [4:31] proud of that closet. She decorated it with pictures and toys. No one was going to tell her it wasn't a [4:38] nursery. Always, always bet on the underdog. We were the underdogs in this race. We went up [4:57] against nearly 40 years of doubt and disillusionment. We went up against more than $300 million, [5:05] more than any Senate campaign in American history. We went up against all the negative ads, smear [5:12] campaigns, foreign bots, and AI deepfakes that money can buy. Those attacks were the final howls [5:21] of a dying establishment. The death rattle of a status quo that knows its days are numbered. [5:39] They played dirty because they were desperate. But we never lost hope. We never lost faith. [5:46] And against big money and long odds, we took our power back. Always, always bet on the underdog. [6:03] We built a movement unlike any this state has ever seen. We united Texans from all backgrounds and [6:11] beliefs onto one team to take on this broken, corrupt political system. First-time voters, [6:18] three-time Trump voters, working people from every corner of the state who are fed up and ready for [6:25] change. This win, this win is for every underdog who's been counted out and left behind. This win [6:36] is for every teacher and every nurse, for every farmer and every rancher, for every young person [6:44] who's trying to buy a home, for every parent who's trying to put food on the table. This win, [6:54] this win is for every Texan who's ever wondered if anyone is listening. I heard you. We heard you. [7:04] And tonight, the world hears you. To the Texans who supported this movement, I am humbled by your [7:20] trust. And I will work every day to be worthy of it. And to the Texans who didn't vote for me, [7:27] I will be your senator too. I will always serve you. I will always fight for you. This win is not [7:41] about the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. It's much bigger than that. There is something [7:48] broken in America. Our economic system is broken. Our political system is broken. Even our relationships [7:57] with each other feel broken. That's because the most powerful people in the world want it that way. [8:06] My granddad was a Baptist preacher in South Texas. And when I was little, he told me that we follow [8:16] a barefoot rabbi who gave us two commandments, love God and love neighbor. Because there is no love [8:29] of God without love of neighbor. Every single person bears the image of the sacred. Every single [8:45] person is holy. Not just my neighbor who looks like me. Not just my neighbor who prays like me. Not [8:54] just my neighbor who votes like me. I am called to love all of my neighbors the way I love myself. [9:00] Because despite our differences, we all want the same things. A safe neighborhood, a good job, [9:15] a high quality, well-funded public school, and the ability to see a doctor when we need one. [9:21] But the billionaires who own the social media algorithms, who own the cable news networks, [9:34] who own the politicians fighting on our screens, they want us at each other's throats. They want us [9:41] focused on how we're different instead of on how we're the same. They want us looking left and right [9:48] at each other instead of looking up at them. The real fight in this country is not left versus right. [9:55] It is top versus bottom. The people at the top work so hard to keep us angry and divided because our [10:12] unity is a threat to their wealth and their power. We saw it in this race. We saw it in every [10:21] billionaire-funded attack ad. The people at the top divide us by party, by race, by gender, by religion, [10:30] by culture, so we don't notice that they are picking our pockets, that they are defunding our [10:35] schools, that they are gutting our health care, that they are raising taxes on all of us while [10:40] they cut taxes for themselves. It is the oldest strategy in the world, divide and conquer. But [10:49] tonight, we sent a crystal clear message to the people at the top. We will not be conquered. [10:55] I think it's safe to say that we are tired of being pitted against each other. We are tired [11:13] of being told to hate each other. It has been 10 years of this kind of politics. Politics as blood [11:21] sport. Politics as trolling and owning. Politics as professional wrestling. It tears families apart. [11:30] It ends friendships and it leaves us all feeling terrible all the time. People across the political [11:38] spectrum are hungry for a different kind of politics. Not a politics of hate, not a politics of fear, [11:47] not a politics of division, but a politics of love. My faith teaches me that love is the strongest force [12:05] in the universe. Love, love is not passive. Love is not neutral. Love is not weak. Love requires [12:15] that we stand between the bullies and the bullied. Love requires that we look evil in the eye and not [12:23] blink. That kind of love has always been a threat to the powers that be. That kind of love is revolutionary. [12:32] That kind of love is creative. Hate is predictable. Hate is boring. Hate can't lower our energy bills. Hate [12:45] can't teach a child to read. Hate can't build a future. But what hate can't do, love can. Love, love, [12:58] love can turn a student into a scholar. Love can turn a closet into a nursery. Love can turn an enemy [13:10] into a friend. Love can turn a campaign into a movement. Love, love can heal what's broken in America. [13:23] We can't defeat the politics of division with more division. We can't win that game. We have to change [13:32] the game. In my experience, when you extend an open hand rather than a closed fist, you'll be surprised [13:40] by who takes that hand. We didn't win this race by alienating our neighbors or shaming our neighbors or [13:49] ridiculing our neighbors. We embodied a new kind of politics, a politics rooted in a deep love for our [13:57] state, for our country, and most importantly, for all of our neighbors. We mobilized our 60,000 volunteers [14:14] in every corner of the state. And together, we delivered bottled water to Sand Branch, a community [14:20] south of Dallas with no running water. We donated school supplies to an elementary school in El Ceniso, [14:28] a small town on the border. We collected more than 20,000 pounds of groceries for families in Fort Worth [14:35] who are struggling under the high cost of living. Before the world changes in ways you see on TV [14:43] or read about in newspapers, the world changes person to person, neighbor to neighbor. In each moment, [14:52] when you choose to be kind. In each neighbor, we choose to love. In each prayer that we say for [14:59] someone who would not pray for us in return. This, this is how we won Texas. This is a win the size [15:08] of Texas. And now, and now we have a mandate the size of Texas. This, this election was about chasing a [15:30] vision of what this state can be. Texas public schools that are the envy of the nation. A Texas [15:40] economy that is second to none. And Texas families that are stronger and healthier than they've ever [15:46] been before. It won't, it won't happen overnight. But a giant state deserves giant dreams. And we know how to [16:00] get there. We must get big money out of our politics so no billionaire or trillionaire can buy our [16:09] elections. We must unrig this economic system that only benefits the top one percent. We must pass [16:22] universal health care so no one goes bankrupt just because they get sick. We must invest in our teachers [16:34] and our students. So every underdog has a fighting chance. We must end these corrupt forever wars [16:45] that are driving up prices and killing our brave men and women in uniform. And we must heal the deep [16:58] spiritual corruption at the root of all of these crisis. We must bridge the divides between us [17:06] and repair the ties that bind us. We forged a new kind of politics here in the Lone Star State. An [17:14] answer to this decade of division. We showed that when working people come together across every dividing [17:23] line, we can do extraordinary things. We won this race because people who are desperate for change [17:30] now are going to get change. That old politics is dying and a new politics is being born through each [17:47] of us, through every underdog, through every David against every Goliath, through every Texan who believed [17:55] in our state and believed in this movement. Now the real work begins. 2,000 years ago when the people at [18:02] the top hurt his neighbors. That barefoot rabbi didn't stay in his room and pray. He walked into [18:11] the seat of power and he flipped over the tables of injustice. As this movement heads to the seat of [18:25] power, as we head to the United States Senate, we know what this moment requires of us. Texas, [18:33] it's time to start flipping tables.