Sam’s Remarks at his Election Night Party
Thank you.
Friends,
I want to thank Dave Cortese for a spirited campaign.
We’ve come a long, long way.
Wow, what a journey! This has been an extraordinary journey, and no journey can be all bad if it ends in a brewery. Thanks to Dan Gorden for hosting us tonight, and reminding us that yes, manufacturing is alive and well in San José!
We began this odyssey over a year ago. This journey has taken us through every San José neighborhood and seemingly, over every street in San José. We started this journey when many folks believed we didn’t have a chance. We started 20 points behind in the polls. We knew we’d be taking on a formidable machine – with armies of hundreds of foot soldiers on the other side, bolstered by hundreds of thousands of dollars coming in to defeat us from every direction: from unions from New York City to Sacramento, from developers, from marijuana dispensaries, from card clubs.
We all knew: this was to be no easy task.
But we took this journey together. We took this journey to homes in 160 neighborhoods throughout San José, as our gracious hosts invited thousands of neighbors and friends to discuss the future of our city. We took this journey to 35,000 doorsteps, to talk about how we can make San José safer and stronger. We had 40,000 telephone conversations with our residents.
I want to start by thanking so many of you who labored with me for these many months as volunteers. I’m incredibly grateful for the time and energy and passion of each and every person in this room. We had the most passionate, inspired volunteers of any campaign I’ve ever been a part of. We had volunteers as young as a 4 year old Veronica and as doubly young as a 103 year old Anna. To each and every member of our team: your passion for a better San José inspired me every day to be a better candidate, one worthy of leading your city. Thanks to each of you.
I want to thank each and every one of our team, who labored in the “call mines,” who delivered 8,000 lawn signs, dropped off 25,000 copies of my book, made 50,000 telephone calls, and ensured that every day, we’d do battle with a much larger, better financed, more experienced machine. We battled them to a stand-off because of your extraordinary work enabled us to come so far.
I want to thank former Mayors Reed, Hammer, McEnery, James, and each of my colleagues Shirley Lewis, Blanca Alvarado and Larry Stone.
Ragan Henninger. There is not a more honest, ethical, and dedicated public servant than Ragan. After spending 6 years running my staff at the Council office, she sacrificed much to run this campaign. I wanted to thank her, and her family, Francisco, Ella, and Charlie, for their continued sacrifice for our common ambitions of making San José an even greater city for every family.
Most importantly, to my wife: Jessica, thank you for giving me the space, and the support to make this run. Thank you for unyieldingly positive spirit, your unfathomable patience, your unfailing love.
So, we return to our journey. Every great journey deserves a book. As many of you know, I wrote a book. Right now, I might add, you can get a copy of that book at firesale prices at our campaign HQ. The book is about San Jose’s future and how we can make a great city even better. How we can improve safety, and restore services, by creating most innovative City Hall in the country.
But you know what surprised me the most about this campaign? People read it. San José residents actually read the damned thing.
In San José, our residents really do want something more…They want something more than bumper sticker slogans. They want something more than vague generalities. They want to engage deeply in solutions to our city’s most pressing challenges. They want innvovation. We want exploration.
We began and ended this odyssey here in San José. But it wont end tonight. As the great poet Eliot reminds us,
“We shall not cease from exploration
And and the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
I am grateful to know San José. I love our community, and I look forward to working with each of you in the coming years to make a great city even greater.
Thank you , and good night.