John,

It’s been three weeks since Election Day, and in typical 2020 fashion, it’s been a whirlwind. As we take a moment to take stock of things before Thanksgiving, I wanted to sit down and share a few of my thoughts on the election, what we did right, what we must do better, and where we go from here.

First things first, there was one overriding goal on November 3rd: Defeat Donald Trump and elect Joe Biden. That was goal one, two, and three. And we did it. By that existential measure alone, the election was a vital success and we can all be proud of the role we played to make it so. I don’t know about you, but my predominant reaction when the size and certainty of Biden’s victory became clear was “thank God,” accompanied by a tremendous sense of relief.

Now, we can begin to mitigate and repair the horrendous damage this president has inflicted on the nation, an injury to the body politic that he is deepening even now with his outrageous and despicable claims of fraud. President-elect Biden is already assembling an incredible team of Cabinet members. Experienced, compassionate, no drama, and ready to serve.

Even while we celebrate the end of the Trump reign of terror, I cannot help but feel the deep dismay of not yet taking over the Senate, and learning that too many of my brilliant new colleagues in the House will not be coming back. These are painful blows. And still, we have two runoff elections coming up on January 5th in Georgia, and they’re going to be close. If we elect Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, we can still flip the Senate, and by doing so, make sure Mitch McConnell doesn’t have a veto over health care reforms, a new economic relief package, climate change, and more. I’ve already asked you to help them, and you have stepped up — once again. I can’t thank you enough.

As far as the House races, and the utter collapse of campaigns against GOP incumbents, I’ve been giving a lot of thought over the past couple weeks about what happened, and I wanted to share some preliminary insights with you.

My first conclusion is an unsatisfying one: This election was little more than a referendum on Donald Trump. Across the map, it proved nearly impossible for Democrats to win in districts that Donald Trump won, and similarly nearly impossible for Republicans to win in districts Joe Biden won. With a huge surge of turnout — the highest in decades — people came out in record numbers to cast their ballots, and very few were in the mood to split their tickets. That made it tough for some of our candidates to differentiate themselves, and make the case. For Democratic challengers in particular, who never had the benefit of holding office and giving voters the proof of performance they needed to split the ticket, the national retreat to party and tribe was too much to overcome.

Second, I concur with the diagnosis of leaders across the spectrum — from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Beto O’Rourke to Doug Jones — that Democrats have been underinvesting in party building, both in-person organizing and digital. For too many voters, Democrats seem to show up in November and ask for their vote or money, rather than building a lasting infrastructure to organize and maintain communication with residents. It is not enough to simply ask people for their votes and then disappear until the next election, we must earn people’s confidence and support and keep it.

Finally, we have always been the party of working people, but not all working people know that or see that, and we need to reestablish that bond.

The economy is simply not working for millions of Americans, and this was true before the pandemic and is even more of a problem now. The Democratic Party needs to change that, articulating policies that will help middle class families stay in the middle class and give working families the chance to succeed. Whatever your race or ethnicity or whether you live in the city or a rural area, Democrats have always been the party that stands up for workers. When voters in Florida voted by more than 20 points to raise the minimum wage to $15 while Joe Biden lost by 3 points, that tells me that we’re not doing a good enough job connecting economic issues to our party.

The economic challenges facing our country need not divide our party or our efforts. This is not a left, right, or center problem. There is so much common ground within the Democratic Party on how to help working people and families, and address the persistent inequalities in economic opportunity around the U.S. that we can unite the party around a central ethos:

We leave no person, no family, and no community behind.

Stepping back, if you had asked me before Election Day whether I would be pleased with a result that had Joe Biden winning the presidency by 6 million individual votes and 306 electoral votes, holding the House, and improving our position in the Senate with a chance to flip that body in a Georgia runoff, I would have been more than willing to accept that prospect. And I’ll take it today. The country has been saved from four more years of Donald Trump and all the devastation that would go with it. And it’s because of your amazing work.

I’m so grateful to you for your support, and for your efforts, for everything you have done over the past four years to keep the faith, and for everything you’re still doing today to build a stronger union. The work goes on. Have a happy, healthy Thanksgiving.

— Adam

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