Thursday, November 5, 2020

Senator Rausch: Onward!


I am deeply honored and humbled to be re-elected as State Senator representing the great communities of the Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex District!

Senator Rausch: Onward!

 

I am deeply honored and humbled to be re-elected as State Senator representing the great communities of the Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex District! Thank you to the voters for putting your faith in me for another term, to continue pushing for progress and delivering results.

Before I go any further, I want to say a massive thank you to my tremendous campaign team. Many of you got to meet and work with some of these incredible people over the course of this campaign, so you know just how phenomenal they are. Thank you doesn't begin to cut it here. I am so grateful for all of you, for the formidable campaign we built and ran even during a global pandemic, and for your deep dedication to justice, equity, democracy, and collaboration. Thank you to our fellows, our youth coordinators, and all of our amazing volunteers. And, thank you to my family, especially my husband Lior and our children, for your patience, love, understanding, and strength.

Friends, this victory is about all of us, and the values we share. Values of justice, fairness, and equity for all. Values that manifest in public health, reproductive freedom, election access, antiracism, education, intersectional civil rights, and so much more. Values that have been under attack seemingly everywhere we look. But yesterday and over the last few weeks, all of you here and tens of thousands of voters in our district said no to unraveling progress. This victory is a resounding YES for truth, science, civility, and policymaking that uplifts our individual and collective humanity.

We all know this is not the first time in history that our shared values have been attacked, or trampled. My grandfather was a Holocaust survivor. His 100th birthday would have been this past weekend, while all of us were busy talking to voters. He passed away when I was young, but one of the things I remember most about him is his love of music. On Monday morning, as I was dropping off our younger son at pre-K, a piece of music my grandfather loved and brought into our family came on the radio. Not just a snippet of the piece either, the whole thing. Hearing it reminded me of our unique legacies, and how those legacies influence the people we become.

I'd never been to Germany until just a few years ago, and it wasn't until that trip that I learned my great great grandfather was a local politician before Hitler rose to power. Before my ancestors' lives were taken from them. Before the values of justice and equity and decency were so horrifyingly overrun by hate and fear.

These have been dark times in our nation – a serious stain on our American story that was unthinkable before 2016. We do not yet know what the outcome will be at the top of the ticket or in other critical races across the country. That great unknown is hard. It's hard to sit in ambiguity that so drastically impacts our lives now and the brighter future we all want to build for our children and generations to come. While we do not yet know the outcome, we know this: we can do hard things. We've been doing it for years, some of us longer than others. And we know that eventually, the arc will bend our way. Good will triumph over evil. Love will triumph over hate. Truth will triumph over lies and manipulation. Democracy will triumph over the denigration of American ideals.

We also know this: whatever happens at the federal level, the sites of social change for the next several years will be state legislatures. And that's what makes our victory particularly important, and hopeful. I'm proud to have achieved many great successes in my first term, from passing two reproductive justice bills on the Senate floor by unanimous, bipartisan votes, to advancing infectious disease prevention legislation, to enhancing transparency in the legislature, to bringing real and meaningful service to every corner of my district. That's what my leadership looks like. That's what voters in this election confirmed they want. And that's exactly what I'll continue to deliver in my next term – actual progress on public health, reproductive justice, election reform, climate action, intersectional civil rights, a government and places of employment free from harassment and discrimination, and more. That's the world we're striving to achieve. That's the sense of community we're fighting to restore.

When I think about our kids, and your kids, and all the young people out there who have shown up and spoken up and reached out and gotten involved, whether through climate strikes or a teen town hall or letters to me or learning how to read… I am inspired by them, and motivated to do better and keep pushing for the brighter future they deserve. That's a legacy I hope our work together will leave for them, both the work that's brought us to this moment and the work still to come.

I hope we achieve that legacy. I hope I'm living up to the legacy my family crafted for me. And I hope I continue to make all of you proud.

To each and every one of you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for your incredible support and for dedicating your time, talent, and treasure to this campaign, to our values, and to hope. We have paved a path forward; let's keep pushing for progress and getting it done, together.

Thank you, everyone.

In solidarity, 

 

Becca Rausch 

 



No comments:

Post a Comment