 And I want the bullets. I'm not reading a speech tonight. Take you all, I want to take you in. I want to take this energy in. I want to take the energy in from out there. I want to take the energy in. Anyone who's watching at home for the folks who will see this in the morning, for the kids are already in bed. I'll just include my own children. This has been a ride. Wow, y'all, wow, wow. The first start was so much immense gratitude. Thank you, Burlington. Thank you, every single voter, every resident, people who tried to vote and still couldn't even vote, people who, I just, I'm so incredibly proud and grateful of what Burlington did today. This is a historic day. Day because we finally have a woman mayor in the city of 159 years. Openly LGBTQ, pretty darn sure that I'm the first out queer mayor in the state of Vermont. Because I grew up in the state, and I will tell you that representation matters. I did not see a leader like me when I was growing up in Central Vermont. I did not see a woman. I did not see a mom who has young kids. I did not see a queer leader. And it took years. And that matters because we need to know, our young people need to know, our adults need to know, everyone needs to know that representation matters. Could decisions change when you have women at the table, when you have moms of small children at the table, decisions change because you remember that humanity matters. You remember that people matter. You remember that young people matter, that children matter. You have come to the table of a different orientation and a different perspective. Organizer. I spent most of my career in the labor movement. Most of my career as a community organizer. And I know you win elections and you win movement work when you build a coalition together. And there's this campaign was won because of a countless number of people who worked in coalition, regardless of political label, regardless of identity, regardless of many, many identities and things. We had over 300 people working on this campaign. I've never seen that before. So many of you in this room were part of that. Probably all of you were part of that. And in deep gratitude, you spent hours, hours you could have been doing anything else, talking with voters, getting new first time voters who are not citizens, residents of the city for the first time being able to vote. Opened your homes. You opened your businesses. You opened many spaces for me to come in and meet with voters. And we all know that one-on-one conversations not only won this election, it built the critical relationships that we need to repair in order to move us forward all together. And who knows me knows that I deeply believe in the need for publicly financed campaigns because I am not a wealthy woman. Let me tell you, this was a truly people-powered, fueled campaign with over a thousand donations of Vermonters in small amounts, knowing that this was possible if we all collectively put our wealth together. But more importantly, money does not win campaigns. I'm also deeply grateful, even though half my family is asleep right now, hopefully. I am deeply grateful to my family who stood beside me throughout this entire campaign. I'm inspired by my activist parents from Central Vermont who came up countlessly to watch our kids, to feed me, to make sure there was food who are there right now, making sure that bedtime, hopefully, was done, and encouraged and supported me to run for mayor. I am so incredibly grateful to my two kids. I have an eight-year-old and a four-year-old, and let me tell you, doing anything with an eight-year-old and a four-year-old is really hard. For running for mayor is incredibly hard, and yet they were my greatest cheerleaders. And my four-year-old said, Mommy, what does running for mayor mean? Does it mean that the current mayor is chasing you? The literal interpretation of a four-year-old keeps me very humble. But more importantly, I know that I'm inspiring a whole generation throughout this campaign. When I came across elementary kids in particular, they were so darn inspired. Because again, they've never seen a mayor who looks like me. This is where I'm gonna tear up. And you know what? It's okay to have emotions as a leader. It means that you have the heart and the brain to do the job. Where's my wife? Where's my wife? So this is Megan, who has been a long-time public servant in her own right. And I am so incredibly grateful for her to be my steadfast supporter. She knew when we actually did our marriage vows. Actually, here's the dorkiest love story ever. We met because I was a city counselor and she got a job in the city of Burlington. So thank you. In the basement of City Hall. It's the dorkiest story ever. But what I really want to say to you is thank you for forever supporting my political ambitions and knowing and believing in my commitment to public service. We are the dorkiest love story ever because we deeply believe in Burlington. And this is what public service can offer you, Burlington. And it'd be possible without this woman right here. So thank you so much. She said, drink your tap water. I want to move forward and really acknowledge that there were other people running in this race alongside me. And I have deep gratitude to the other candidates in this race because seriously, y'all, people who put their hand up to put their name forward to possibly the next mayor, this is no small task. We entered this arena knowing that there is the most challenging set of complex things facing Burlington right now. And I am extremely proud to stand alongside multiple women who put their hand up and said, I am willing to lead the city. That is no small task. I'm going to emphasize the fact that it does not matter the political label of these women who put their hands up. We were all courageous enough, smart enough, capable enough to do this job. And it just works out with a democracy that one person prevails. But I want to send a particular appreciation out to Councillor Joan Shannon. Truly, she has served this city for 20 years. That is no small undertaking. That is a lot of personal sacrifice. It is a lot of hard efforts, a lot of long hours. I've served alongside Councillor Shannon. And she took an approach to tackling very complex challenges with thoughtfulness and her true perspective on how to solve those challenges after 20 years of service to the city. So I commend her for her work. I appreciate her running alongside of me. We had a lot of debates together. She is a smart woman. I appreciate her service to the city. We also were joined by Chris Haseley and Will Emmons who offered a lot of ideas to this race. And again, I do truly mean it is hard to put your hand up to be in this arena. And until any of you join that, you will not know what an elite club that is, frankly, to be able to put that work in time and time again. So thank you both for running, Chris and Will. So Burlington, I am hopeful and grateful to join you in a shared belief of what is ahead of us here in Burlington. I've had a vision from day one of running for mayor. I have a vision of Burlington where everyone truly feels safe and is actually safe in our city. I have a vision that includes a community safety system that is comprehensive and knows exactly what will get to the root causes of making sure we have a safe community that includes police, but it goes beyond police. I want you all to know who to call when you need help. I want you all to have your needs met. I want to make sure that we can house our neighbors, that the folks struggling with substance use disorder actually are acknowledged for the dignity to know that it's a medical disorder that deserves support and care. Know what accountability is about. And those causing the most acute harm to our community will be held accountable. But that does not mean we wipe away human dignity and support for folks who most need it. But this race is so much more than community safety. Yeah, that's the biggest priority that a lot of us see every day. But another crisis is affordability. I'm deeply concerned about losing the economic diversity of our dear city. We are on the brink, and many people have already been priced out of this city. We need to be a city where all folks, regardless of your income levels, can live and work here in Burlington. You deserve dignified housing. You deserve a public transportation system that actually works and is efficient and affordable. You deserve health care. You deserve livable wages. You deserve access to childcare. You deserve so much more because when we actually pay attention to people's basic needs, the vibrancy of Burlington only grows. The last thing I've talked about in this campaign is about livability. And I have two parts of that. Livability for people who live here and livability for our planet. Livability for people means that everyone, regardless of your identity, should be able to feel that this is your community, that you belong, that this is a safe place for you, regardless of your racial identity, your gender identity, or otherwise. I want all marginalized people to feel like they have a rightful place at the table, that when you come to City Hall, you are welcomed and supported for your ideas, your lived experiences, the realities of what you're experiencing in our city. I value that. I know that. And I'm here with you together. And the other piece of the other side of that is around climate. We did not talk about climate enough in this campaign. And if we're going to tackle and be honest about the climate emergency, we have to acknowledge there is an urgency that we are not moving at right now in the city of Burlington. One that acknowledges that we are not moving our numbers down to net zero. One that acknowledges our health is not, our lake is not healthy. And one that acknowledges that even if we do nothing more today, 10 years from now, Burlington's going to be different for our children. So we have to acknowledge that, be honest and transparent, and move forward with the urgency that, frankly, only a mom of small children knows how to move with the urgency to solve the challenge. So Burlington, in the first few months, I'm going to wrap up here. In the first few months in City Hall, I'm going to work very closely with City Council and the new City Council president. As a former City Councilor, as a current state legislator, I know how important it is for both branches of government to be working together as a team. As a former labor organizer, I have led countless teams together, because only with working together can we actually challenge or tackle these challenges collaboratively together. I'm going to have staff in my office who are not only experienced and collaborative leaders, but I'm going to represent a full breadth of knowledge and political perspectives. This is not about an echo chamber. This is about moving Burlington forward with the brightest and smartest and most imaginative people who are very honest in knowing what is not working and switching and moving forward for tomorrow for Burlington that will actually help and move us forward together. So Burlington, voters of Burlington have spoken. I am so deeply honored to be the mayor-elect of the City of Burlington. As your next mayor, I'm going to tell you the future is bright, but you know what? It's not all on me. It's on all of us to do this together. So let's get started. Thank you so much. I so deeply appreciate this. It is a great honor.