Posted in its entirety, above the fold, because she deserves it.

My thanks to the Party Chairs and County officials for their professionalism in the recount. It went extremely smoothly. The people in charge of the ballots and the process have great integrity and I thank them.

Nathan, to you, your family, and your supporters, I wish you the very best as you set upon your journey to represent District 73 and the State of Texas. If elected in November, your job will not be easy, and I hope that you are up to the task because what you are able to do will reflect upon us all.

This campaign has been one of many for me. I chose service in the community where I lived and I have greatly enjoyed the challenges. I have run a number of campaigns and enjoyed them all until this one. I never dreamed that one person would spend close to one million dollars to purposely misrepresent and lie about my record. I hope those who seek public office now and in the future will honor the ninth commandment. I believe that people of faith owe that much to their constituents.

To my supporters, I thank you for your love, friendship and support. Your strength has been my strength these past few weeks. For those of you who have asked about our family, thank you. Tom will tell you that he won because he got his wife back. Barron and Cheryl regain their Mom and law partner and my grandchildren, Travis, Catherine, Morrigan, and Jace get their Grancarter back. My Aunt Hellen gets her kid back.

For those of you who had an issue with me, you have a chance to work on issues to make Texas a better place. I hope that you will continue your service to the process. You will need to be there for the next District 73 State Representative because this journey is not easy and it is impossible to please everyone. I hope Governor Perry will work with our communities to resolve the important issues such as toll roads, immigration, increasing taxes and the budget, which all seemed to be at the front and center for District 73.

God has other plans for me and I hope that I will be able to accomplish them. My life of public service was my choice. I hope I have been an inspiration to my children and grandchildren, so they will continue to pay back to the communities where they live. I believe it is important for them, and everyone, to leave life better than they found it.

I believe we need to have campaign finance reform in Texas. I also believe the Republican party needs to learn to govern and develop positive public policy, rather than trying to destroy others.

I urge you to continue to believe in the process and our democracy. It is the best thing we have going.

Carter Casteel