Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honor to introduce Secretary of State Catherine Durant. Thank you, thank you very much.I know that all of you join me. I know that all of you join me in offering our sincere condolences to the First Lady for her loss.Tonight, I want to offer my sincere gratitude to all the delegates who have honored me with their support during the course of this convention.Thank you so much. However, after much deliberation…I have decided that I have more to offer you as Secretary of State than to resign and run for office. But I want to encourage every one of you who has supported me to join me in supporting this extraordinary woman, the First Lady of the United States, Claire Hale Underwood. Thank you.
Good evening. As all of you know, my mother, Elizabeth Constance Hale, passed away last night after a long illness.She was a strong woman…a fierce Texan…We had… a difficult relationship from childhood onwards.At times, there were long periods of estrangement. We hurt each other… often and deeply. If there was one good thing that came from my mother’s illness…it gave us a chance to reconnect, to mend old wounds. And that’s not an opportunity people always get before a parent dies, and I’m grateful to have had that.And what am I doing here? I’m here because my mother wanted me to be. Yesterday, before she passed, she said to me, “Claire… do this. If the people want it, listen to them. And if you lose, then you lose. But if you win…be honored, be humbled, and win this election with Francis!” And I told her, I said, “The Conway’s are tough opponents.”And she said, “They may be tough, but they’re not Texas tough.”Loss is a sobering phenomenon. Several months ago, I almost lost my husband. Our nation almost lost a President. Loss makes us re-evaluate what we hold dear. And I’ll tell you, there were…times in the not too distant past, where Francis and I, we… almost lost our marriage. Hard times when we thought we wouldn’t make it. And like many of you know, marriage isn’t always the smoothest road.And it took the actions of a deranged young man to remind me how important Francis is to me.And now, with my mother gone…He’s the only family I have left.I trust Francis Underwood with my life, with our nation, with our future. I hope you will, too. And if you trust the both of us, I’ll heed my mother’s words, and I’ll be honored if you nominate me as his running mate. Thank You!