Lori Trahan gives her first speech as the official Democratic nominee for Massachusetts’ 3rd Congressional District

LOWELL – The following are Lori Trahan’s remarks from this evening’s press conference.

Good afternoon, and thank you for being here.

A couple hours ago, Dan Koh called to congratulate me and graciously offer his support in the weeks to come.

His campaign stood for many of the values that are important to me, and we will continue to fight for those values together.

I had the privilege of campaigning alongside Dan and a field of diverse, high-caliber candidates who share the same sense of urgency and purpose that compelled me to get into this race.

We all surfaced issues that are important to us, our families and our community. We made each other better, stronger.

I could not be more proud to stand before you here tonight, finally, officially the Democratic nominee for Congress in the Third District. And we have a lot of work to do.

I want to thank Secretary of State Galvin, and all the city and town election officials for an orderly and efficient recount process.

I believe campaigning is about building trust with the people you hope to serve, which is why it was vitally important for everyone to have complete confidence in the election results.

I also want to thank ALL of the volunteer attorneys and observers from both campaigns who worked tirelessly these last five days to ensure an accurate recount.

There are so many things about this campaign that I am proud of – including the fact that the women in this race won the majority of votes – nearly 60%.

I’m incredibly proud of our team, our volunteers, their commitment — but there will be time for that later.

As I stand here today, we are less than 50 days away from November 6. We have a well-financed, Republican opponent who looks forward to being another voice, another vote for this President and his divisive agenda.

I go into this job with both optimism and pragmatism. I am optimistic about the future because no matter the industry, when disruption happens, change follows.

And we need change. We need to get Congress back to work. We need to transition our Democratic Party to the future and design an optimistic path forward; create a movement that articulates what we’re for and how we’ll get there.

I am pragmatic knowing we have immediate, urgent needs to address and it’s going to mean busting the political gridlock in Washington, finding coalitions, solving problems and compromising if that’s what it takes.

I will leverage all of my experience – working in Washington, serving the communities of this district, leading a tech company, starting a successful business – to get things done. And my deep roots in the district will be a constant reminder of who I am doing this job for.

It’s time for a new breed of leaders. Leaders who will stand up for working class families, seniors and women, and root out the corruptive influence of corporate money and special interests.

I look forward to the work ahead, and becoming not just the Democratic candidate but the person – the woman – who will follow in Congresswoman Niki Tsongas’ remarkable footsteps.