Kathy Castor wins reelection

Well, I love my neighbors, and I love our community, and tonight I am full of gratitude for the faith and confidence that our neighbors have in me to do. Life is way too expensive out there, and we have to do more to root out the corruption that is costing everyone so much. I want to say to the voters across Hillsborough County this was a close race and there are many that went to the polls today and did not vote for me but I want them to know that I'm going to represent them fiercely. I'm going to represent them regardless of how you voted. I pledge to to represent you with dignity, with determination and humility because I love our hometown. Thank you to the most fabulous campaign team and every volunteer who knocked on doors, who did phone banking for us, and to my family and friends and my colleagues who stood with me. My husband Bill and my daughters Julia and Chrissy Let's see. and my mother Betty, they lift me up every day. Laura Hopkins, Marcia Mejia, Charles Martinez-Cartagena, campaign manager Sarah Green, and Lillian Gardner, they threw themselves into this race with professionalism and grit. Thank you. Jack, Kate, Jay, Jordan, the entire field team, come on now. You rocked it. You are incredible. Now, I think we learned some things in this campaign, didn't we? I'm Wayne. We learned that people power can overcome a flood of outside special interest money. It's safe to turn your TV back on and to stream your favorite show. But I want you to know that they spent $25 million to defeat me. Big tech. CEOs, AI, tech, tech bros, polluters, they spent $25 million. Meanwhile, we had 16,000 individual supporters contribute to this campaign, oftentimes just a few dollars that really made a difference. Thank you. We work harder than ever to get this special interest money out of politics. It is not fair that people can drop millions of dollars from out of town to try to take away your voice and your vote. We can't let that happen here in America. Every time I knocked on doors and I had conversations, people shared with me how fed up they are with the corruption in Washington, D.C. and in Tallahassee. I am too. We have to fight to bring accountability and integrity to every level of government. A public office is a public trust. Don't you agree? So I would promise... Everyone, I will do everything in my power to root out the corruption, to bring greater transparency to government, ethics in government, because government exists to serve the people. It does not exist to enrich a certain elite and powerful few. Do you agree? something else as well. I think we learned that this egregious gerrymandering where they try to rig the game and take away your voice. Contrary to the will of Floridians, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents who put fair district standards into our Constitution to avoid just this, the ability of elites and the powerful to choose their voters rather than have voters choose their representatives. This was, what it was, was an attempt to avoid accountability for the very unpopular policies of the Trump administration that are costing you so much. The inflation, the high gas prices. We know that these policies are unpopular and they wanted to keep getting away with it, but they didn't get away with it. It didn't work here, families are swallowing hard when they go to the grocery store, when they pull up at the gas pump, when they try to afford their health coverage, when they open their electric bills, child care, farmers, I've learned a lot about strawberry farming and I can't wait to get to the strawberry festival by the way, to balance these challenges right now. And I want folks to know that lowering the cost of living is going to be my highest priority. We had conversations, didn't we, with so many neighbors from the small business owner in town and country to the city of Tampa firefighter in South Tampa who I talk with to the military spouse in Riverview to the farmer in Plant City to the senior citizen in Sun City Center. You know, there's so much that we have in common, no matter how they draw the district boundaries. Thank you all to my neighbors for sharing your story with me and I commit to you I'm going to take your stories and your everything that you've poured into into this campaign back to Washington DC to fight for you. You can count on me to continue to fight to keep more of what you've earned in your pocket to do everything I can to make sure that you can afford to see a doctor. That you can trust that I'm going to fight to keep Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security the economic floor for stability that you've worked hard and earned for. I'm proud to be an outspoken advocate for a clean and healthy environment and Floridians you deserve cleaner cheaper energy. There is no reason in the sunshine state that we shouldn't be harnessing the cheap and abundant power of the sun and I'm really tired of electric utility monopolies from keeping us from low-cost energy. I will work with anyone No matter the political party to deliver for our neighbors here in the Tampa Bay area, Here we are. this is also a patriotic community, right? We are rich in veterans. We're rich in military families and service members. God bless you. You are always going to be top of mind for me. Especially at a time when we are embroiled in a war overseas with great uncertainty. This community has the highest expectations that we take care of our veterans and service members. And you have my commitment. That is also going to be at the top of my list. I am immensely proud of what we have accomplished together. Thank you. The investments at MacDill Air Force Base, to the Tampa International Airport, to Port Tampa Bay, to the University of South Florida, the Moffitt Cancer Center, to the Tampa River Walk, Can you hear me? everything that we've done together to build housing and make our community more resilient and still recovering from Hurricanes Helene and Milton. But I have to tell you, after knocking on doors in the South Shore in the eastern part of the county, Brandon, Plant City and Wimauma deserve investment too. So inspired by my neighbors across the Tampa Bay community. You inspire me every day. We have a fantastic team. We try to solve problems. We always pick up the phone. We are a proactive office that tries our very best to serve you as you deserve to be served. So many stories like Like I look out in this crowd, you know, here at the Tampa History Center, so many stories told here in the Tampa History Center. And I want to thank everyone at the History Center for hosting us tonight. But tonight, I have to tell you, I'm filled with hope. Change is on its way in Washington. And I know when we work together and we listen to each other, we find common ground and we stand firm on our values, we can accomplish anything. So to everyone who entrusted me with another opportunity to serve, I will not let you down, I will not let you down. I accept this responsibility with gratitude and a renewed commitment. I will keep showing up, keep listening, keep building bridges. Working with everyone across this community to make sure everyone has the opportunity not just to survive but to thrive in this beautiful, beautiful community. I'm grateful to all of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, and God bless.