Good afternoon.

Thank you all for being here.

This is a momentous occasion for the Council of the District of Columbia.

We don't do this very often.

I will note that this swearing in is taking place today and not earlier because we have to wait until the Board of Elections actually formally certifies the results from the June 16th election, which they did earlier today.

And it is under the Home Rule Act that we are required, or at least we are supposed to swear in the winner of the election on the same day as soon as we can.

So here we are.

Would have been a few weeks earlier if the votes could be tallied more quickly, but the board, and I mean no shade to the Board of Elections.

They did their process, uh, but that's why we are here today in the middle of July.

I do want to congratulate Alyssa Silverman for her victory.

And you know, with ranked choice voting, everybody speculated before July 6 uh before June 16th how many candidates would have to go through the ranking and how long it would take.

And Alyssa uh commanded enough votes that it was she was the winner with the first ballot.

So congratulations on that.

I will note as well, usually we had doing these swearing ins on January 2nd, and there's always somebody who's newly elected.

Uh and I know from experience that the newly elected folks are folks who have to kind of figure out where the bathrooms are, as they say, and figure out what the processes are.

And we know that with Alyssa Silverman that she has experience with the council, and so she'll be able to hit the ground running, and that's a good thing.

Uh so this is a consequential time, and I am going to proceed now to ask uh Councilmember Alex Overman if you would come forward.

I think you want some family to come up here.

Yes.

And then we will administer the oath of office.

Thank you.

I'm my parents are here, but area and I stay, and we're seated by like my brother and see and Laura and Jack Bob.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

So I think you need a Bible.

Okay.

All right.

So you have to put your hand on the Bible.

Raise if you would raise your right hand.

I guess we'll put this over here.

Uh if you would raise your right hand and repeat after me.

I.

I Alyssa Silverman.

Do solemnly swear.

Do solemnly swear.

That I will faithfully execute the laws of the United States of America.

Will faithfully execute the laws of the United States of America.

And of the District of Columbia.

And of the District of Columbia.

And will, to the best of my ability.

And will to the best of my ability.

Preserve, protect, and defend.

Preserve, protect, and defend.

The Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution of the United States.

And the District of Columbia Home Rule Act.

And the District of Columbia Home Rule Act.

And we'll faithfully discharge the duties.

And we'll faithfully discharge the duties.

Of the Office of Member.

Of the Office of Member.

Of the Council of the District of Columbia.

Of the Council of the District of Columbia.

On which I'm about to enter.

On which I am about to enter.

Congratulations.

Thank you too much.

Thank you.

And I think we will get some remarks.

Yes, that is right.

Brief.

Very brief.

As long as you want.

The floor is yours.

Actually, I have to have a glass of water in the phone.

While we are waiting, I just want to acknowledge, excuse me.

Council members Matt Freuman, Anita Bonds, Traon White, Mundell Felder are here.

There were, because the date was unclear, there were other members who are out of town and couldn't be here.

But I wanted to acknowledge you all for being here.

Thank you guys for being here.

My fellow Washingtonians.

It is exhilarating to be in a room full of people dedicated to making our home, the nation's capital, a better DC for all.

This is not my first time reciting the oath of office.

It is not my first time standing before you vowing to uphold the Constitution, to defend DC home rule, and to do everything in my power to improve the lives of Washingtonians.

From Harriet Tubman to Nelson Mandela to Rocky Balboa.

But we are here in the Wilson building.

And the most appropriate person to quote is the man known as the Mayor for Life, Marion S.

Berry Jr.

His endorsement of me in the 2014 at large DC council race took many, many people by surprise, and it catapulted me to my first electoral victory.

He also made a big political comeback.

Mayor Barry was known for saying, and I paraphrase, it's not how you get knocked down, it's how you get back up.

And I think he went further on to say when you knock down, he advised to get knocked down on your back.

And he always said, and I know Councilmember Trayon White knows this.

If you can look up, you can get up.

That's right.

So I have a few thoughts to add, given my experiences.

And the first thing is that you cannot get up alone.

You can't do it by yourself.

You need others to help lift you up.

Because when you're knocked down, whether it's losing a job you love, or losing a person you love, or navigating illnesses or facing a bully, it's disorienting.

You lose your sense of direction and identity.

And you need others to remind you of your strengths, of your integrity, of your promise, and of your hopes for the future.

The people who surrounded me are the core of those people who helped me.

And I look around this room, and I see the people who lifted me up.

And I'm thinking of others who helped me from near and from far who can't be here today.

It was in acts that were very big and small, helping me put one foot in front of the other.

And in this very public setting, I want to say thank you.

Thank you guys so much.

I would not be standing here without you.

I will never forget the lunches and the dinners, the trips, the book sent, the check-in phone calls, the emails, the movies we went to, the bike rides, and the dinners, and the tennis games, and all the love you expressed to me.

Thank you so much.

And in some ways, as a city over the last few years, we've been knocked down.

Whether by a worldwide pandemic or by a reckless president and a Congress that has lost its moral compass and backbone.

For some Washingtonians, this is not a new feeling.

It's a generational struggle.

It has been a challenge for more than just a few years, having the feeling that they can no longer live here.

That they wonder whether there is a place for them here, a home for them here.

For others, it has been more recent.

I'm thinking of a woman that I met at an Adams Morgan movie night.

The movie was Hamilton.

I was not there to watch the movie.

Pretty much all I do is collect signatures and hand out campaign literature for the past six months.

But in all seriousness, she intentionally came up to me and she told me she lost her job with USAID.

And it has been more than a year of trying to get back on her feet.

Hundreds of job applications she's filled out that just seem to go into a black hole.

Difficulty collecting DC unemployment.

I know something about that.

She lost her employer-based health insurance and access to health care.

And she worries every day, every day, about how she can pay her bills and whether it really makes sense to stay in DC.

I know how terrifying and isolating that feels.

Thank you.

And to those who didn't vote for me, to those groups that didn't endorse me.

We met the Tuesday morning before the last legislative meeting a few days ago.

And we had a very good conversation.

I look forward to continuing to work with her.

I also had the opportunity to sit down this week with State Board of Education President Jacques Patterson.

We talked about how we can both partner with the Ward Seven and Ward Eight Council members on getting our kids back in school and bringing more and better economic development to our communities east of the Anacostia River.

I look forward to working with Jacques as well.

Some are in our control and some are not.

That we keep our integrity of making this a government by the people and for the people.

And not just the chosen few based on what people look like or how much money they have or who they know.

It's time to get back up, DC.

It's time to get to work, and I am here to do the heavy lifting.

Thank you.

See you downstairs.

Thank you again, Chairman Mendelson for administering the oath.

Thank you to my colleagues for being here and to everyone for coming today to be a part of this moment.

I think I have to sign a few papers apparently and make this all official, and uh they need to be notarized.

Um thank you again.

It is truly my honor to represent you and represent this city.

Thank you so much.

Thank you all very much.

That's the end of this uh event, and congratulations again, Councilmember Alyssa Silver.