Lujan Grisham Wins Gubernatorial Primary

ALBUQUERQUE -- Voters across New Mexico came together to

cast their votes in New Mexico’s primary election, including over
108,000 Democrats who voted for U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan
Grisham (D-NM). Lujan Grisham will now face-off with Steve
Pearce in the general election in November.

Tonight, Rep. Lujan Grisham joined over 200 supporters and

volunteers to celebrate her victory in the gubernatorial primary.

Please find Rep. Lujan Grisham’s remarks as prepared for delivery

below:

Thank you!

Tonight we took a giant step…toward a New Direction for New Mexico.

A giant step toward increasing the minimum wage and raising the pay
for more than 100 thousand New Mexicans.

A giant step toward jumpstarting New Mexico’s economy by investing

in infrastructure, small businesses, apprenticeships, and skills training
for workers.

A giant step toward leading the nation as a 21st century clean energy
economy that not only protects our air, land, and water but creates
good paying jobs for countless New Mexicans.

A giant step toward ensuring that affordable and quality health care is
a right for all New Mexicans, not a privilege.

And a giant step toward both respecting our teachers who sacrifice so
much for our state’s future and finally giving them the raise they have
earned.

We took this step together and I want to thank everyone who supported
us.

From the firefighters who supported us early to the veterans, the

students, the moms and dads, the members of our land grants and
acequia communities, craftsmen, carpenters, women, the LGBTQ
community, teachers, union members, retirees, young people, members
of our tribes and pueblos, and everyone who believed in our campaign.

From Taos to Anthony, from Deming to Mora, from Hobbs to Shiprock.

To those in the Espanola Valley, Albuquerque’s North and South
Valleys, and the Mesilla Valley in Southern New Mexico. Thank you!
I am very proud that we took this step by running a positive campaign
based on issues, ideas and a vision for New Mexico’s future.

If you were on the internet in the past few weeks and following this
campaign, the amount of relentless, false and misleading attacks
against me was mind numbing.

I will tell you – I think the Russians and Wikileaks could learn some
things about how to spread falsehoods and phony stories on the
internet from some of the folks attacking me online. Talk about
alternative facts.

But let me tell you this, as a public servant and as a successful

businesswoman, I am proud of the honest, hard work I have done to
help the most vulnerable and sick people in New Mexico get the health
care they need.

This is one woman who will not let the internet trolls and the forces of
dark money stop me from doing my job and doing what is right

My public career and my small business have been devoted to one

principle: Fighting for People!

I’m committed to taking the fight to anyone or anywhere. I promise

you, I will never back down!
When Donald Trump tried to keep me out of a White House meeting on
immigration because I oppose his reckless policies and his wasteful
border wall, I crashed the meeting to make sure that New Mexicans
had a seat at the table.

When senior citizens and veterans were enduring long lines and poor
treatment that jeopardized their health, I went to the VA and Social
Security myself. I stood up and stood with Vets and seniors to demand
they receive the service they deserve.

When the federal government refused to clean up the jet fuel spill at
Kirtland Air Force Base that threatened Albuquerque’s water supply, I
went straight to the Secretary of the Air Force and now they are
cleaning it up and preserving our groundwater for current and future
generations of New Mexicans.

And as your next governor, when it comes to winning the fights that
matter most and taking New Mexico in a new direction, I won’t back
down.

I will fight to invest every dollar we can in our classrooms, to expand

early childhood education and pre-k to every child, to build community
schools that give our children every chance to succeed and prosper
right here in New Mexico.

I will fight to support our law enforcement, make our streets and
communities safer and make sure everyone respects the law.

I will continue to fight against the rise of opioid addiction, to get people
the help and treatment they need just like I did at the Department of
Health.

I will fight to build a thriving New Mexico for the long-term with green
energy jobs and new industries like cybersecurity, biotech, and tourism
so that anyone willing to work hard can get a job to support a family.

But before we can do all these things, we need to take one more giant
step and win in November. And I will need your help.

The false attacks and phony scandals that were aimed at me during the
last few weeks are nothing compared to the negative campaign of
distortion and lies we are likely to see from the national Republican
Party and their special interest friends like the Koch Brothers who have
targeted New Mexico and this Governor’s race, and who will aim their
attacks right at me.

But I have a secret weapon! I have each of you and the people of New
Mexico.

We have thousands of volunteers across the state, over 13,000 donors

to our campaign and over tens-of-thousand voters who spoke clearly
tonight!
No matter who or what stands in our way, we have the resolve and the
vision to move our state forward!

This election will come down to a simple choice. Do we want a new

direction for New Mexico or do we want our families to be pushed
further away from a better future?

Do we want our state to be defined by the bankrupt and intolerant

values of Donald Trump who said that Steve Pearce has his “full
support?”

Do we want the values of hyper-partisanship and obstruction that we

see in the Tea Party Congress that Steve Pearce has embraced?

Through his words and his actions he has shown New Mexico exactly
where his loyalty lies.

It isn’t with the four hundred thousand New Mexicans whose

healthcare he tried to take away.

And it’s not with the thousands of New Mexicans whose Social Security,
Medicare and Medicaid he wants to cut, while supporting a tax plan
that has failed to create jobs, stimulate growth, and does nothing to
help the hardworking people we’re fighting for.
When Steve Pearce has stepped off the sidelines it has been for
billionaires, big corporations, and well-connected special interests.

Let me ask you, are these the values and priorities we want in our
next Governor?

We all know those values aren’t New Mexico values.

Our campaign offers a different vision and a different set of values…

A vision that will build the middle class and invest in their future…

A vision where everyone in New Mexico has the chance to get ahead
and an opportunity to realize their full potential and achieve their
dreams.

Where New Mexico's government represents hard working, everyday

New Mexicans – not well connected special interests.

A vision that recognizes that we all have a shared responsibility to

work together and help one another succeed.

And more than ever I was reminded of that on the campaign trail.
During one of my latest visits to Pecos, I met a man name Richard, who
told me he was best friends with my late sister, Kimberly.

They both attended the School for the Blind in Alamogordo. And like
many of the students, he was separated from his family by hundreds of
miles.

Then he told me that if it wasn’t for my mom, who took it upon herself
to fill her car with children and drive them hundreds of miles to their
homes, that he and several of his classmates would not have been able
to get back to their families for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Or to
receive the love and support they needed to succeed and not feel alone.

He reminded me, in that moment, that family isn’t just who you share
blood with, but it’s the people you share life’s experiences with. The
people you build communities with. The people who out of the kindness
of their hearts decide to help one another.

It’s in that spirit, as a family, that we will take a new direction together.

We will make sure that New Mexico isn’t just the land of enchantment
but also the land of opportunity, and make the kind of differences that
lift people up for a lifetime.

I know the challenges we have to face are daunting but I know that
together we can overcome them.
I won’t promise you that we’ll turn this state around overnight. But I
will promise you this: I’ll be a Governor who takes on your fights as if
they were my own.

And you’d better believe it’s a promise I’ll do anything to keep because
we’re in this together.
And I still believe, even in tough times, that if we’re willing to fight for a
better future, we can deliver on that promise for our children and our
community.

And, today, I’m asking you to believe, too.

I’m asking you to take this moment and help me build a movement.

I’m asking you to come together and share your strength, your
courage, your faith.

I’m asking you to get in the fight right alongside me.

I’m Michelle Lujan Grisham, and I’m ready to fight like hell for New
Mexico. Are you ready to join me?