John,

Normally my post-election message is about gratitude and rededication to the important work we do together. Make no mistake, I feel both of those things right now. I am very grateful to have won a resounding re-election victory this week and for your support and friendship without which I couldn’t do this work. And I’m going to work harder than ever in the 119th Congress.

But I can’t sugarcoat the broader election results and the implications of a second Trump presidency. It hurts, and not just because we lost; it’s because we know what this means for the people, values and country we care deeply about.

We knew major headwinds were built into this election cycle, including widespread frustration over post-pandemic inflation which has been toppling governing parties in elections all over the world. But I hoped we could still prevail by passing the torch to Kamala Harris and reinvigorating the Democratic party. I also hoped that the collective wisdom and decency of the American people would shine through and reject Trump’s authoritarianism, corruption, misogyny and hatefulness.

Instead, despite the spectacular Harris-Walz campaign, despite heroic efforts by Democratic candidates and volunteers, and despite our best efforts to warn Americans about Trump and his Project 2025 agenda, voters chose to put Trump back in power with very few guardrails. Worse, he’ll have a Republican Senate and even though House Democrats outperformed the general trend of this election, control of the House is still unclear.

Confronting this harsh political reality starts with acknowledging it. Many of us are struggling through waves of complicated feelings including fear, anxiety, anger and dismay that our fellow Americans voted this way. But unlike Trump, we accept election results and support the peaceful transfer of power. Even when we lose. Even when our democratic system gives power to someone who may try to end democracy as we know it.

And no matter how much we are reeling, it is critical that we quickly get ready for what is coming. As your Congressman, I’m no good to you if I wallow in despair, indulge in rationalization and wishfulness, or otherwise distract myself from the unprecedented attacks on our values, rights, and democratic institutions that are coming in a matter of weeks.

As Thomas Paine wrote at the perilous start of the American Revolution, “the times have found us.” The historic crucible of our time is to peacefully defend the democratic republic our founders risked their lives to create. Our secular democratic republic, despite its problems, is still the best form of government the world has ever known. We cannot surrender it to autocrats, kleptocrats and theocrats.

So, I am going to dust myself off, get back in the arena, and do my very best to meet this moment. I have some experience at this, having served in the minority during the first Trump presidency. I also spent much of this past year studying and warning about Project 2025, including meeting and strategizing with top scholars and experts. I therefore have a good sense of what is coming and what it’s going to take to stop it. I promise to never give up.

I know you’re also counting on me to govern. As I fight to defend democracy and core values and freedoms, you expect me to keep delivering results for our district; keep resolving hundreds of constituent cases each year involving issues big and small, regardless of anyone’s party preference; and keep looking for bipartisan problem solving opportunities in Washington, despite our differences.

And without compromising core values or shrinking from the existential fight for democracy, I’m sure you want to see me and everyone else in politics work to restore civil discourse and avoid gratuitous vitriol, animosity and incitement. Even when that effort feels like one hand clapping, I should keep trying.

It’s a tall order, but I will endeavor to do all of these things as your Congressman. Please hold me to it.

Finally, since we’re in this together and some of you may be wondering what you can do, I have a few suggestions:

• Practice serenity, not disengagement. I don’t pray in the religious sense, but I do believe in the Serenity Prayer attributed to German theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. As he watched the rise of the Nazis, he prayed for “the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.”
• Consider getting more of your news and information from trusted and dispassionate sources. Social media platforms use algorithms to promote conflict and disinformation, and the gladiatorial programs on cable TV are no better. Try sources like NPR and ProPublica, and support honest, fearless investigative journalism wherever you find it. Definitely avoid “doom scrolling” on Twitter/X.
• Stand up for other people’s rights and freedoms, not just your own, and protect our most vulnerable and marginalized neighbors. When Trump targets immigrants, which he will do very soon, remember this poem: “First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up,because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.”
• Continue to speak out. As the apocryphal saying goes, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing.”
• Keep living your life and doing things that make you happy. Autocrats win when they exhaust, isolate and overwhelm us. Especially focus on taking care of yourself and your family.
• Support groups who are leading the legal and political fight to defend democracy and protect civil liberties – groups like the Brennan Center, ACLU, Democracy Forward, Indivisible, and others.
• Support California officials who are building a critical xxxxxx of resistance to Trump’s extreme, hateful agenda and making our state a beacon of good policy.
• In whatever ways you can, big and small, every day, do good things for others and keep trying to build community
• If you find value in any of this, share it with others.

Thank you for standing with me, now more than ever. We will face some dark times ahead but we’ll get through it together. As they say in Humboldt County, onward through the fog!

As ever,

Jared