Editor’s Note: The following is the prepared text of the speech Leah Cole Allen, Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, delivered to delegates at the Massachusetts Republican State Convention in Springfield, Mass. on Saturday, May 21, 2022.
The statement appears below, in full.
NewBostonPost has also requested the text of the speech of Allen’s GOP rival in the race for lieutenant governor, Kate Campanale, and will publish it if received.
It’s great to be here with so many patriotic, hard-working, Americans — or what some like to call us … a basket of deplorables!
I’m Leah Allen and I’m running to be your next Lieutenant Governor.
You may remember me as Leah Cole, my maiden name.
When I won a special election in Peabody, and served as a Republican member of the House of Representatives.
Let me bring you all up-to-date.
I am married now to a wonderful man, my husband Ryan.
And together, we have two terrific kids, Brooke and Joshua.
I enjoyed my time serving you in the Legislature, where I fought hard to cut wasteful spending, lower taxes, and protect your rights and freedoms – including the Second Amendment, and I never missed a vote.
Once I made my voice heard, I left the Legislature to finish my nursing degree in order to work in acute care.
Nursing was a calling and a passion for me.
What happened next was something nobody, including me, ever expected.
The pandemic hit in 2020. Working at a local hospital, it was as if the entire world changed overnight. The health care system was turned upside-down as medical professionals scrambled to take care of patients with a disease we didn’t fully understand.
I am proud to say that I worked on the front lines of the pandemic, taking care of patients hospitalized for COVID.
For me, the pandemic was more than a news story or a two-year-long Zoom call. It was a way of life and a daily emergency.
Making this situation more difficult, I was pregnant with my second child.
And yet, I kept right on working and caring for patients until I was ready to deliver our baby.
Looking back, this whole experience changed me and gave me a new perspective. I know first-hand what it’s like to watch someone’s condition deteriorate.
Separated from their loved ones, I was the one who held their hand and witnessed their fear, while I was unrecognizable in full protective gear.
I appreciate the sacrifice our health care workers and first responders make each and every day to keep people safe.
At the same time, I was deeply troubled by what I saw happening to my friends and neighbors, people I know and love.
How could our government fire police officers and firefighters for refusing to accept a vaccine they did not feel was right for them?
It’s an issue that is very personal to me, too.
I chose not to get vaccinated while I was pregnant.
When my maternity leave ended, I was told by my employer that I would be unable to return to work unless I consented to being vaccinated.
I believe strongly that vaccination is a personal choice, and as a nursing mother, it’s not one that I was comfortable making for myself. So, I said no.
Under the guise of the COVID pandemic our elected officials overstepped their authority.
The government told small businesses they had to close their doors with no concern for how they would survive.
I promise you as your next Lieutenant Governor that we will never do that, because government doesn’t have a right to tell you that your business is not essential.
Kids were forced to wear masks in schools, even after it was determined that they were not at high risk of contracting or spreading COVID.
Geoff Diehl and I will make sure that parents have control of their children’s education ….. that unelected bureaucrats have no right to push agenda-driven curriculum, like CRT, in schools.
Our state has collected billions … well beyond benchmark …. of our hard-earned tax dollars, and have the audacity to tell you, during this time of historic inflation, that you don’t need a tax cut to feed your family and fill your car with gas.
You deserve better!
Officials are elected to represent us, not to decide what’s best for us behind closed doors.
When the opportunity presented itself to partner with Geoff Diehl — to change Massachusetts for the better — I immediately jumped at the chance.
Having served with Geoff in the Legislature I have seen his passion for freedom, personal responsibility, and doing what’s right.
I am running for Lieutenant Governor because our state needs leaders who are willing to stand up for what’s right. And when the progressives in our state try to take us in a different direction, we need to say no.
Now that I’m a mom, my drive to stand up for these values has only grown more intense — I want my kids — and your kids and grandkids — to inherit a Massachusetts where they have the freedom to pursue their dreams and goals without government standing in their way.
That is our challenge in 2022.
Daunting?? Perhaps.
But let’s put it into perspective.
It was here in Massachusetts that George Washington’s ragtag band of Continentals, with weapons they used to hunt squirrels and deer, challenged 11-thousand expertly trained infantry of the British Empire.
They used those weapons to hold this “unbeatable” army at bay until a 25-year-old bookseller named Henry Knox could retrieve cannons from Fort Ticonderoga, 300 miles away.
As we stand here today we are the firepower that will stand against the radical left.
Our fight today pales in comparison to what our Forefathers were up against. It will take hard work, but it is not impossible. The left is not trying to hide their radical agenda any longer, and they are alienating everyday Americans because they are pushing too far. Our values are the steadfast answer to the questions keeping the people of Massachusetts awake at night as they see their world transforming into something they don’t recognize.
We are the ragtag band that will accomplish what they tell us is impossible. We are the future of our great republic!
I’m Leah Allen and I am a proud Republican asking for your vote for Lieutenant Governor.
Thank you!
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