Congressional Primary Concession Speech by Eric Cantor Lyrics
Look, obviously, we came up short. And, there's so many people in here I want to thank. First of all I want to thank my wife, Diana, who's put up with me in elected politics now for twenty some years, and in the process raised our kids, one of whom is here tonight. The other two are off working. My mother-in-law, my mother, brothers, thank—cause it all starts with family, we know that. I want to thank them.
And then to all of you, so many of you who not only today spent endless hours in the heat with your undying loyalty and effort, I want to thank you for that as well. I tell you, absolutely. It's not only the hundreds of volunteers here, it's also my team. Both my team that have served the constituents of the seventh district both here in the district office, having continued to serve the seventh district constituency in Washington and Culpeper, but also my political team. They have put in so much extraordinary work to try and win this campaign, but have done so for the last decade or more, so I want to thank them.
Now, serving as the seventh district congressman, and then having the privilege to be majority leader, has been one of the highest honors of my life. And what I set out to do, and what the agenda that I have always said we're about, is we want to create a Virginia and an America that works for everybody. And we need to focus our efforts as conservatives, as Republicans, on putting forth our conservative solutions so that they can help solve the problems for so many working middle class families that may not have the opportunity that we have.
We can also put our solutions to work for the most vulnerable. I've spent a lot of time on charter schools and education opportunity to make sure that everyone in America can have access to that American dream, starting with a quality education.
We talked about research a lot in my office, and in our campaign, and in Congress. I am really proud of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act. Because what it says as conservatives that we don't believe you ought to spend taxpayer dollars on political conventions. That in fact it's probably better to help cure disease, because not only do you save lives and help people, you can ultimately solve the federal deficit problem by bringing down health care costs.
So these are the kinds of things that I know we'll continue to work on. You know, I know there's a lot of long faces here tonight, and it's disappointing, sure. But I believe in this country, I believe there's opportunity around the next corner for all of us. So I look forward to continuing to fight with all of you for the things that we believe in, for the conservative cause, because those solutions of ours are the answer to the problems that so many people are facing today.
Thank you all very, very much.
And then to all of you, so many of you who not only today spent endless hours in the heat with your undying loyalty and effort, I want to thank you for that as well. I tell you, absolutely. It's not only the hundreds of volunteers here, it's also my team. Both my team that have served the constituents of the seventh district both here in the district office, having continued to serve the seventh district constituency in Washington and Culpeper, but also my political team. They have put in so much extraordinary work to try and win this campaign, but have done so for the last decade or more, so I want to thank them.
Now, serving as the seventh district congressman, and then having the privilege to be majority leader, has been one of the highest honors of my life. And what I set out to do, and what the agenda that I have always said we're about, is we want to create a Virginia and an America that works for everybody. And we need to focus our efforts as conservatives, as Republicans, on putting forth our conservative solutions so that they can help solve the problems for so many working middle class families that may not have the opportunity that we have.
We can also put our solutions to work for the most vulnerable. I've spent a lot of time on charter schools and education opportunity to make sure that everyone in America can have access to that American dream, starting with a quality education.
We talked about research a lot in my office, and in our campaign, and in Congress. I am really proud of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act. Because what it says as conservatives that we don't believe you ought to spend taxpayer dollars on political conventions. That in fact it's probably better to help cure disease, because not only do you save lives and help people, you can ultimately solve the federal deficit problem by bringing down health care costs.
So these are the kinds of things that I know we'll continue to work on. You know, I know there's a lot of long faces here tonight, and it's disappointing, sure. But I believe in this country, I believe there's opportunity around the next corner for all of us. So I look forward to continuing to fight with all of you for the things that we believe in, for the conservative cause, because those solutions of ours are the answer to the problems that so many people are facing today.
Thank you all very, very much.