FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Gerry E. “Gerry” Connolly is headed back to congress, re-elected to serve Virginia’s 11th Congressional District.
He beat out Republican challenger Chris Perkins, as well as a sea of independent candidates.
Here is Connolly’s acceptance speech:
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Elections are about many things. Values, philosophies, world views. And choices ultimately after the billions in television ads, direct mail, debates, conventions, and rallies, we the voters must make a choice.
Here in the 11th District of Virginia the voters made a clear choice. They voted for pragmatism over ideology. They voted for investing in America’s future in education, R&D, and in infrastructure, rejecting the mindless can’t that government does nothing well and all spending is the same. Our voters understand that investments have returns to them and that even as we get our fiscal house in order, we must prepare for the global competition that is facing us the next generation.
Our voters asserted the value that women have the right to decide their own reproductive choices without government restriction. And they further reinforced their collective value that Medicare and Social Security are inviolable social contracts-promises made to our seniors-promises that must be kept.
Tonight our voters also sent a message about our politics. They want more functional government. They don’t want more rabid, partisan rhetoric as a substitute for real solutions to real problems. More get something done than gotcha again.
Our voters embrace the constitutional framework that asserts strong individual rights within the context of a community “we the people” and a role for a functional central government “in order to form a more perfect union.” They reject the extreme philosophy of individualism that would dismantle our hard fought social contract and return our country to a 19th century social darwinism that fosters a society of the fittest-a survival conveniently suited primarily for the already successful among us.
I am honored to have been reelected (by my widest margin ever) and to have received the thrust of our voters to represent them for the next two years. On their behalf I will fight for the values we share while seeking common ground to move our country forward.
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