Dr. Kim Schrier Primary Election Night Speech

Thank you – I am so grateful to everyone here and to everyone across the 8th District who contributed their time and their financial support to this campaign. And while ballots are still being counted, we feel optimistic that we are on track to make history and send a Democrat to represent the 8th District in Congress for the first time ever!

Thank you to the hundreds of volunteers who spent countless hours making phone calls and knocking doors to spread the “Schrier fire.”

Thank you to the 7,000 people who dug deep and gave whatever they could to support this campaign.

Thank you to the organizations and labor unions who helped us mobilize voters, and who put their trust in a local pediatrician.

Thank you to the community leaders and my incredible campaign team.

Thank you to the other Democrats who stepped forward to make this a lively, competitive race along the way. You made me a better candidate, and I look forward to becoming one unified team to flip the 8th in November!

And thank you most of all to my amazing family and friends. My mom and dad, and my husband David – I am so grateful for their support. And my son Sam, who I hope has learned a valuable lesson: that when you see injustice in the world, you don’t just sit there, you step up and do something about it. And thank you for reminding me every day that I’m in this to make a better world for you and children everywhere.

And let’s be clear — our fight begins anew tonight.

Now more than ever, we need people in Congress who will speak truth to power, leaders who will stand up for average families who are working hard to get by and feel like the politicians in the “other Washington” just have no clue.

Just over a year ago, I stepped up when our congressman voted to cut healthcare for 32,000 people in our district, and make health insurance more expensive for the rest of us. That’s not serving the people. That’s not serving the families who’ve been part of my practice for the past 17 years who are worried about having to go without insurance.

Well, he dropped out once he saw the people of this district rise up.

And Dino Rossi stepped right into Reichert’s shoes.

There could not be a starker choice between this local pediatrician who has served our community and a career politician like Dino Rossi who has only served himself.

Rossi has spent his career lining his pockets with campaign donations from special interests, like big drug companies.

Well, I’ve spent the last 17 years helping local families cope with the skyrocketing cost of medicines. Guess which one of us will stand up to insurance and drug companies in Congress? I will. Rossi won’t.

Rossi has been a leader of the anti-choice movement his whole career. I’m a woman doctor who will lead the fight for women’s rights and women’s health care. Rossi’s idea of bringing back “homes for unwed mothers” as an alternative to Planned Parenthood is right out of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Well, I will fully fund Planned Parenthood, because, with the Supreme Court headed backwards for years to come, we need leaders in Congress who will fight to protect our rights. I will, Rossi won’t.

There are a lot of issues where Dino Rossi and I have a difference of opinion. None affects more people in our district than health care. When I was 16, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and quickly learned what it meant to worry about health and health insurance. It’s what inspired me to become a pediatrician, to help children and their families navigate the health care system. I know firsthand what’s broken in our current system and I put forward a real plan to fix it.

Let me ask you — have you seen the Rossi plan for healthcare? (no)

Have you heard his ideas for education? (no)

Did you see Dino Rossi call out President Trump when he imposed tariffs that hurt Washington state growers? (no)

Probably not, because Rossi has stayed in hiding this whole campaign. Rossi won’t tell you what he’ll do in Congress. He sure won’t stand up to a president whose candidacy he supported. And we know from experience that Rossi will rubber stamp whatever the special interests want, because he values them more than he values the voters.

That’s the problem with career politicians. They’re only in it for themselves.

But these times call for so much more. They call for each of us to step up, to do what we can to protect our country’s values and make sure everyone in our community has a real shot at the American Dream.

Do you think Congress needs another career politician?

Or do you think Congress might make better decisions when there’s a woman doctor at the table — the only woman doctor in Congress?

Even as we await the final outcome of this primary – we must look ahead to the fall. The general election won’t be easy.

The corporate special interests can’t wait to have Dino Rossi to do their bidding, and they’ve already committed millions of dollars to tear down anyone who gets in their way. They will come at us with everything they have. But we have something more powerful than DC dark money. We have a mighty army of everyday citizens who are going to fight for our communities and for the good of our country every day until November 6th. The 8th district is ground zero to flip the House and put the people back in charge. Let’s go – fight – win!