KANSAS CITY, Mo. – To cap off the Statewide Lincoln Days weekend, roughly 500 Republicans gathered for the Gold Ticket Banquet Saturday night to hear keynote speaker and former White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Sanders, a candidate for Arkansas’ 2022 gubernatorial race, built a robust reputation for being a strong conservative leader while serving as Press Secretary for the Trump Administration from 2017-2019. She was welcomed on stage by Gov. Parson alongside an eruption of applause and cheering from the audience.

She began by discussing the different titles she’s had in her life: Governor’s daughter, wife, Press Secretary and so on. But she placed extra emphasis on the importance of her favorite title that she holds: a mother. 

“The best job, the best title, the greatest role and responsibility I will ever have no matter what I do from here, is that of being a mother,” Sanders said. 

She explained what it was like being a mother of three children that were five years old or younger while working for the White House and shared a few comedic stories and anecdotes from her experiences.

Sanders continued by telling the crowd a valuable rule that she learned growing up as the Governor’s daughter and a rule that she is instilling into her own children, which is how important it is to have good people engaged in public service.

“Good people have to be engaged in the political process or frankly and very simply, bad things will happen,” she said. “One of the reasons I think it is so important for good people to get involved, is because every kid growing up in my state and growing up in this country deserves to run full speed towards exactly what they want.” 

She further discussed her belief that many people disagree with that sentiment and are actively trying to put hurdles in front of children in their path to success.

“I refuse to sit back and allow that to happen,” Sanders said. “Our country is too important to allow the radical left to come in and destroy the opportunities of the kids growing up in this great country.”

Sanders then delivered a convincing call to action, encouraging everyone in the room to maintain their beliefs and to put their efforts towards getting conservative leaders elected.

“One of the reasons that it is so important that we do everything we can to protect our freedom, to preserve our freedom and pass it down to the next generation, is because that’s the very essence of what makes America the greatest country the world has ever known.

“The reason the United States is the greatest country is because we are the freest country. If we lose sight of that, if we lose sight of who we are at our core, we lose our country.”

She concluded her speech by emphasizing the importance of the military and shared a touching story about an experience she had while visiting American troops in a dangerous part of Iraq alongside President Trump.

As they entered the room to excited “U-S-A” chants and a standing ovation, Sanders recounted hearing a soldier scream something from the back of the room.

“Mr. President, I reenlisted into the military because of you!”

“Son, I’m here because of you,” Trump replied to the soldier.

That soldier later approached Sanders and applauded her work as White House Press Secretary, saying she had a “tough job.” She nodded it off and replied, “I take questions. You take bombs and bullets.”

The soldier then reached over and tore off the Brave Rifles Patch he wore showing he was a member of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, and placed it into Sanders’ hands.

“Sarah, we’re in this together,” the soldier told her.

“That is who we are as a country,” Sanders continued. “That young man serving and everyone serving with him, everyone who has served before him, and the hundreds of thousands that will serve after him deserve to know that they are not doing so in vain. 

“They deserve to know that they are not paying, in some cases, the ultimate sacrifice for this great country only to watch our freedoms get destroyed by a small group of people who don’t appreciate that that is what makes us so great.

“The greatness in our country is in our freedom, and the people who recognize it.”