A group of Northern Kentucky University College Republicans were celebrating on campus Tuesday night as Congressman Ernie Fletcher gave his victory speech on television, announcing his win over Attorney General Ben Chandler.

“We knew that this year was going to be close. This is definitely a victory party,” Michael Tobergta, chair of the campus events committee for the College Republicans, said.

Tobergta said his group started a “very grass-roots campaign” last spring, which included going door-to-door and spending 72 hours last weekend campaigning, to get voters to the polls.

“Voters have helped someone that is really going to help Kentucky,” Tobergta said.

Fletcher said in his speech Tuesday, that he, and running mate, Lt. Col. Steve Pence, now Lt. Governor elect, want to unite Kentuckians and “restore hope and faith” in the Commonwealth.

“We’re gonna put people above politics and above parties,” he said.

During his campaign, Fletcher promised to lower the cost of healthcare and prescription drug cost for seniors, cut government spending, fight drug abuse, protect farmers and the tobacco industry, while making Kentucky more “business-friendly” to create jobs.

Wes Irvin, a spokesperson for Fletcher, said the governor-elect realizes the importance of the Northern Kentucky region to the future of the Commonwealth and will work for both job creation and higher education.

“He is a product of higher education and wants to make sure every Kentuckian has that opportunity,” Irvin said.

Fletcher also wants to bring a federal research lab to Kentucky, one of only two states in the U.S. without one. Irvin said a lab would be a magnet to the region as well as keep college graduates in the state.

“Ernie Fletcher is going to be a friend to Northern Kentucky and a friend to the whole state,” Wes Irvin, spokesperson for Fletcher, said.

Fletcher is a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Engineering and the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. He was an F-4E Aircraft Commander for the United States Air Force. Fletcher lives in Lexington with his wife, Glenna, and two children, Rachel and Ben.