From the very beginning, and on every day of this campaign over the last year and a half, I have asked you to see this not as my campaign, but yours. Not my chance to be governor, so much as your chance to reclaim your own political and civic future. So, tonight’s victory belongs to you.

I want to say a word about two good men, Tom Reilly and Chris Gabrieli. Each ran a competitive campaign. But even when things got a little heated, I have never doubted the sincere commitment to service that each brought to the race -- and neither should any of you. I spoke to each of them earlier this evening, and they were warm and encouraging. I welcome their counsel and support in the weeks and years ahead, and I am proud to be a member of a Party that counts them among its leaders.

Tonight’s victory belongs to the countless numbers of you who voted for the first time or the first time in a very long time;

to the folks from all across the Commonwealth, from all political perspectives, who decided that it was time to see your stake again in your neighbors’ dreams and struggles as well as your own;

to each one of you who took a chance not on me, but on your own aspirations.

Thanks to you, not only did we win at the polls today; we turned a political campaign into a movement for change.

We defied the odds – the old fashioned way, by grit and hard work and determination and perseverance. We built neighbor by neighbor, block by block, town by town, listening to you, asking those of you who had checked out to check back in.

You knew an outsider wasn’t supposed to win without the blessing of the insiders. You knew a grassroots campaign wasn’t supposed to win against connections and money. But you also knew that that’s precisely the kind of politics that has been holding Massachusetts back.

You know it’s time to get serious about expanding our economy, about building successful businesses, large and small, and about making good jobs more plentiful across the state – and that it is just as critical to get serious about expanding economic justice.

You know it’s time to get serious about delivering both quality health care and universal health care – and getting control of runaway costs.

You know that education transforms lives and that it’s time to get serious about the need for consistent excellence in every public school; not just success on a test, but success at teaching the whole child, and about assuring every child a place in a public college and university worthy of the preparation we expect of them.

And you know that to get serious about any of that and more, we have to stop dwelling on the difference between the right and the left, and start focusing on the difference between right and wrong.

This victory belongs to the tens of thousands of Democrats, Republicans and Independents who believe that we can do so much better and we can hope for so much more in Massachusetts, who believe we don’t have to agree on everything before we can work together on anything.

That is what the voters said today.

They said no to the Big Dig politics-as-usual, and yes to the politics of hope and possibility.

They said no to the inside deals and mediocre performance of our current administration; and yes to accountability, candor and leadership.

They said no to division and exclusion, no to government by gimmick and slogan and photo op; and yes to lasting and meaningful reform.

I look forward to the coming contest with Kerry Healey and Christy Mihos and Grace Ross over the next seven weeks.

I look forward to comparing our leadership experience, our records and our visions for the future of our state.

I don’t have all the answers. No candidate does. But I do bring a broader range of leadership experience – in government, in business, in nonprofits, in community groups – than any other candidate in this race.

I know it will be a vigorous debate. I hope it will be a valuable one, too: a contest of ideas and not insults; of discussion and not distortion; of meaning and not just money.

Because you deserve, and Massachusetts badly needs, the best that we have.

And let’s make it a truthful debate.

We should talk about business growth.

And how this administration touts its business friendly credentials while throwing up obstacles to stem cell research and Cape Wind, and standing by while 148,000 jobs and 60,000 people left our state.

We should talk about education.

And how this administration has starved public schools of the funding they need, left teachers to spend thousands of dollars of their own money for required materials in the classroom, left kids without enough books to be able to take them home to study at night, has let our public colleges and universities slip to 47th in the Nation.

We should talk about crime.

And how this administration has done little while gun and gang violence went out of control on urban streets and has closed detox facilities while heroin and oxycotin addiction soared in the suburbs.

We should talk about the Big Dig.

And how it took a tragedy to get this administration to pay attention to cost overruns and structural defects that go back years.

We should talk about taxes.

And how this administration’s fiscal shell game is responsible for an explosion in property taxes and hundreds of new and increased fees for everything from parking in the school lot to playing on a high school team.

Make no mistake.

This election is about whether we want more of all that, or lasting and meaningful change.

About spinning our wheels, or aiming high.

About government by sound bite and slogan and gimmick, or leadership that strives to serve our long-term interest in stronger, healthier, safer and more prosperous communities.

I choose change. I choose hope. I choose to believe in what Massachusetts could be if we bring to state government the talent and idealism and creativity of women and men who are willing to challenge the old ways that have let us down.

And I invite everyone in our state to join us on this journey. We need the best ideas, and the best people, from all comers, Democrats, Republicans and Independents, to help turn our state around.

Kerry Healey was gracious when she called me this evening. But, Kerry, if the best you have is what divides us, let me tell you what I know from the grassroots: we have all had enough of that. But if you want to engage on issues, real solutions and how to advance our common future, then we will give the people a contest they deserve and a clear choice.

I came to Massachusetts when I was 14 from the south side of Chicago, with nearly nothing but a strong family, a faith in the unseen given me by people who had little reason to hope themselves. The people and the institutions of Massachusetts changed my life. Ladies and Gentlemen, every day from now through the November election, I will give you in return the best that I have and the best that I am. If that is what you want, if that is what you hope for, if that is what you are willing to work for, I will win in November. And when I win, so do you.

We’ve changed politics in Massachusetts tonight. But this is not the end. At most, this is the end of the beginning. Because the real change does not come tonight. It doesn’t come with victory in November or even when – God and the voters willing -- I take the oath of office in January. It comes when every man, woman and child in the Commonwealth has a reason to hope.

I thank each and every one of you who played a role in this victory.

I want to make special mention of my family, especially my extraordinary wife Diane and our daughters Sarah and Katherine, each of whom not only endured but joined this cause.

I thank our campaign leadership and staff, which has become like family:

Norm and Amy Gorin, our campaign chairs and number one volunteers;

John Walsh, our campaign manager and Doug Rubin, our chief strategist, the best team in politics.

Betsy Wall, Suzanne Bump, Nancy Stolberg, Ron Bell and the entire field team, who made the grassroots into the engine of change you saw perform today;

Liz Morningstar and the finance team who raised nearly $5 million in 18 months, from more donors than ever before in Massachusetts history;

Charles SteelFisher and his webmasters, who broke the mold for Internet campaigning in Massachusetts and across the nation;

Richard Chacon, Libby DeVecchi, Larry Carpman and the communications team, for dealing patiently and forthrightly with a deeply skeptical, mischievous and often insightful press.

Every union, social worker, business leader, policy expert, academic, youth worker, police chief, elected official, homemaker, teacher, small business owner and venture capitalist who volunteered your time, your thought, your counsel to make me a better candidate and ultimately a better governor.

Diane and I thank you all. Let’s celebrate tonight. You’ve earned it.

But bright and early tomorrow, let’s get after it again. We have more work to do. Because the bigger victory is yet to come.

I have heard a few of you wonder aloud whether I can I win in November? Whether a campaign with less money and fewer insider connections, and a candidate unwilling to tear his opponent down to build himself up can win?

First of all, we just did. In case you haven’t been watching, we just won with less money and fewer connections. We just won with a candidate who believes that a positive vision for our future and the experience to lead through change beats the cheap political shot and empty slogan every time.