For the last eighteen months, I’ve traveled across this state.

I’ve listened to your stories. I’ve met your families. I’ve heard about the things that keep you up at night, and the things that give you hope.

So many of you have welcomed Laura, Teddy, CeCe and me into your communities and treated us as your own.

I want you to know how much that has meant to us.

Some of you may have heard me tell this story at a town hall, but about a year ago I was reading my daughter CeCe a bedtime story. I’d already been campaigning for a while, and I’d been away from home a lot, and as I was reading her this story she started crying, and she said, “Dad, don’t do this. Don’t run for governor. Why do you have to do this?” And in that moment I felt my heart break a little, because I knew there was more to this than just a little girl missing her dad. At six years old, she could already see how ugly and divisive and mean our politics have become. Think about that, folks. At six years old, she already sees what the rest of us see: that our politics are broken.

I looked at her, and in that moment words were laid on my heart, I believe by providence, and I said,

“Because when you have a chance to change the world, you take it.”

You take it.

And for the last eighteen months, that’s what this campaign has been about. Changing the world. Believing in something better. And look, it hasn’t been easy. We’ve been up against a lot. We’ve been up against the special interests and their unlimited pocketbooks. We’ve been lied about. But we kept going, because the belief never faded.

Believing in better isn’t just a campaign slogan. I really mean that. I believe that we can do better for so many people here in the state of Florida. I believe that we can have better housing, better healthcare, better education, but more importantly, I believe that we can be better to one another. I know that’s true, because I’ve seen it every day on the trail.

This campaign has asked a lot of my family. I know it has asked a lot of the people who have given their time to be part of it, too.

We’ve been through a lot together.

And I want to thank you.

Whatever happens in these final days, I’ll remember the people who opened their doors, shared their stories, and made my family feel at home.

Because when I think about these eighteen months, those are the moments I come back to.

The people.

The conversations.

The kindness.

The extraordinary generosity of people who didn’t owe us anything, but gave us everything anyway.

We have nine days left. Nine days to tell a friend, nine days to get someone to the polls, nine days to make our voices heard. Nine days to change the world, and I promise you, this is within reach. And on November 3rd the story won’t be that David Jolly and Gwen Graham won the governor’s race in Florida, the story will be that Florida’s voters chose a new direction. And when that happens, when we all do what is within reach, you get to look at your kids and your grandkids, you get to look at your neighbors, you get to look at yourself in the mirror, and I get to look at my little girl CeCe, and I get to say, Sweetheart, we just changed the world. That’s what this is about. Be a part of it, y’all.