Polls to choose the candidates they wanted to see on the ballot in november. Remarks from gop candidate, who bid. His [country music plays] thank you. [applause] thank you very much. Lets talk about the numbers. Cannot tell you how grateful i am to see you here tonight. The energy, the enthusiasm, the fact that you are here is speaking to something that is so persongger than any one in so much bigger than anyone of you individually. Give yourselves a round of applause. [applause] nine months ago, people thought we were crazy. Some thought we were crazy the whole time. Reality. E we know why we are here. You know the significance. We know the fact that this is not unprecedented. That when our Founding Fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes, their sacred , when their midnight runs they pledged those things, they meant it. Everyone one of them gave some or all of the above. I am humbled by that. I am a guy who, nine months ago, most of you wouldnt have known from a hole in the ground. Yet here i stand, as the votes votes thanin more anyone anticipated. You of the votes are are yet in, and that is ok. We have consider the fact that Mitch Mcconnell will have the votes. That is not the conversation we wanted to have when we were here. This isnt what drew us to this race. I want to start by acknowledging for those of you have never met them in person, this is my beautiful wife. [applause] i shouldnt have turned around and looked at her. That was a mistake. I was doing well until i looked at her. I am so blessed by an extraordinary wife. An extraordinary mother. Somebody who has poured herself into this in ways that have truly been above and beyond. I am blessed by nine beautiful children. Awesome children. Attentive, well behaved. Able to act as if i am still interesting when they have heard the same thing 400 times. They are extraordinary. [applause] this is jonah over here. Raise your hand. Olivia. Sophia. Grace. Madison. Mckinsey. Lydia. Isaac on the end. Dan the man. [applause] this is not a path that any of us sought out. It is amazing how things unfold and turn out to be ways you will never would have anticipated. We have been as best as we have been able obedient to what we were supposed to be doing. We find ourselves standing before you, nine months after starting an adventure we couldnt have imagined. The people we have seen and places we have gone it is starting to sound like a dr. Seuss book. The places we have been. Old places youll go. We have driven over 40,000 miles in the last nine months. We have seen every corner of kentucky. We are blessed to live in an extraordinary state, we really are. The people of kentucky [applause] the commonwealth of kentucky, the beauty of kentucky. It is exceptional. We have been blessed to interact with them to the degree we have. I will tell you this. This was never about winning a single seat. It was not. It was never about winning a single seat. This was never about becoming some new version of the same old thing. This was never what that was about. This was about the heartbeat of america. We have had a lot of discussion about how this is some sort of schism, a battle for the heart and soul of the republican party. Some of you have heard me discuss how this is so much bigger than this. This is a battle for the heart and soul of the political process. This is a function of who was in charge. Whether it will be of and by and for the people. We be people have exercised an extraordinary voice here. We have come out look at the energy in this room. Some of you have been involved in the political process. You dont typically have this much fun, this big a crowd, this much excitement when you are in the wrong side of the equation in a campaign. You really dont. [applause] it is not that fun. Come on now. In seriousness, i am seeing some of the same people wearing the same hat that they were wearing at fancy farm many months ago. These are the kinds of things that give me the faces i am seeing in this room. The people i have met. The friendships i have developed, i am grateful for. This whole race has largely been about exercising our right to vote. Exercising our right to have our voices he heard. It is about choices and competition. Im asking you i know theres a lot of disappointment nobody more than myself. I poured my life into this for the last nine months. I have given it everything i have. I have been blessed by the fact that so many of you, including those behind me on the stage, have done the same. But i am asking you to take the higher road. Be the bigger person. Return the scorn and enmity of others with dignity. [applause] if we as voters, as a party, as citizens of this great nation if we returned fire for fire, then we will burn our great nation to the ground. We deserve that are than that. We deserve better than that. Dont return fire for fire. Dont burn this great nation to the ground. Thomas jefferson noted there is nothing that gives one man such advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under every circumstance. My challenge to each of you, specific to this race and to every race, my challenge to you is to remain cool. To remain unruffled. We know when we will not forget that we have been lied about. We have been boxed out. We know we have been ridiculed. Often by people who have never even met us. By us i mean every one of us in this room. And yet we have held up our heads high through this process. You could feel good about that. You have held your head high. We have fought on. We fought on because we are fighting for a higher purpose than ourselves. We fought on because this is bigger than one race. This is bigger than one senate seat. This is bigger than just another political contest. This is bigger than anything we have been involved in perhaps for many of us on a number of fronts. This is about the future of the United States of america. This is what this has been about. [applause] the attacks we have received, been on the receiving end of, have made our opposition smaller people. It has cheap and there are compos mentis. Cheap and their accomplishments. It has weakened the foundation of their platform. It has eroded our faith in the political process and our political leaders. This in fact has undermined the very pillars of our great nation. When threads are pulled from a tapestry, it distorts the beauty. It damages the integrity. It is difficult to restore. Difficult but not impossible. We must not succumb to being defined by the pettiness of others. We must be better than that. We must be bigger than that. We, and i mean every single one of us in this room started with me, we must model for our fellow citizens and the generations to come what dignity and respect look like. We must demand a better than that. We are better than that. We must do this because america is worth it. America is worth it. [applause] there is something powerful about one nation under god, indivisible. We must ensure our actions and reactions do not weaken that power. Do not sully the beauty of that power. Do not cheapen the value of that unique influence in the world. We have long been a beacon of light in the dark world. We continue to be. May that beacon not flicker because of our response to the smallness of others. May that beacon burn brighter than ever. We choose to stoke that blame rather than extinguish it. This is my challenge to you tonight. Do not let history show that the torch when the dark on our watch because we chose to repay lies with lies. To repay featured with heady it to repay hatred with hatred or pettiness with pettiness. Do not leave this place with a sense of defeat. Go up with your heads high. With your faith in our great nation renewed, restored, encouraged. With a stronger appreciation for the exceptionalism of america and a commitment to fight for its preservation. May we be bigger than this. May god continue to shine his favor on our great land and continue to bless the United States of america. [applause] we love you. Thank you. The love is mutual. I see the distance people have come. The effort they have poured in. So many of you have put so much of yourself into this. It will never be forgotten. I will ask you to understand that what is at stake for our nation is significant. This race is not done for the state of kentucky. I want to make very clear to each of you assembled that i have no intention whatsoever in this race or any other race i am aware of at this time in the state of supporting the democrat platform over that of the republican platform. I have no intention of doing that. [applause] there is much that ails us as a nation. As a state. As communities. As individuals. In our homes, our schools, our churches. The fabric of the station is being stretched and we know that. It is not going to help if we find ourselves contributing to the shredding of the fabric. My challenge is, rise up. Go out of here boldly. Be part of the solution for this great nation. We need solutions and it saddens me to say there is no chance the solutions will come from the democratic party. There is zero chance, certainly at the national level. That means the only chance for our nation as it currently exists and given the current structure is that the Solutions Must come from within the republican ranks. That is the nature of things. To that end, be part of the solution. Dont be discouraged by this. Let this be an inspiration for those of you younger than me. Those of you from my same generation. Let us be the ones who rise up. Who stand up. Somebody needs to. The somebody is always somebody. Sometimes the somebody is you during just as the somebody was me in this instance. Take this challenge and run with it. Walk out of here, run out of here, keep your heads up. Stay engaged. Support the solutions this party needs and the state needs and this party needs. Dont feel you have to disburse. This is a good look of goodlooking group of people. Stay here. Share stories. I know some of you do have tight time frames, but before you do, introduce yourself to at least one person you do not know. Take a moment to introduce yourself to one person you have not met. Ask them why they are here. Ask them what drew their attention to this. Take that away. We are the tapestry. We are the fabric of america. We are the future of america. I thank you for being here and i