No losers...

In 1850, the poet Lord Tennyson famously wrote, “’Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” In the ensuing years, the phrase has been extended beyond romance and it has been invoked to argue that meaningful effort, attachment or risk still has value even when it ends in disappointment.

To that end, I would like to suggest that it is better to have run and lost than never to have run at all.

We will have plenty of time to celebrate (and scrutinize) the winners in Tuesday’s political races, approximately half of whom will not be winners five months from now, but we should take a moment to appreciate those who may not particularly feel like winners today. Those include unsuccessful challengers, unseated incumbents and the many individuals who backed, volunteered and voted for the candidates. They’re hurting too.

We should appreciate anyone willing to step forward and take part in the legislative process; to accept a great deal of work and sacrifice in exchange for little or no compensation, to make difficult decisions and to endure angry calls from constituents–often over policies enacted long ago by others. We should particularly appreciate those who accept the challenge of running for those offices, knowing that there is a 50 percent chance they will experience a strong dose of humility in the most public way imaginable.

Anyone willing to stick their necks out that far deserves our respect. I like those people. They believe in something. I hope you will share that appreciation and, if you see one of them this week, say a kind word.

In addition to my gratitude, I would offer the following charge to our friends recovering from Tuesday: start planning your next run.

Political history is filled with careers that appeared finished, only to reemerge in ways that reshaped nations. Few stories illustrate that better than Abraham Lincoln. Before reaching the White House, Lincoln lost races for Congress and the U.S. Senate. His defeat to Stephen A. Douglas in 1858 might have ended another man’s ambitions. Instead, the debates elevated Lincoln nationally, and two years later he won the presidency, guiding the nation through its greatest constitutional crisis.

The career of Winston Churchill remains one of history’s great political resurrections. Churchill spent much of the 1930s isolated within British politics, dismissed by critics as erratic and outdated. His warnings about Nazi Germany were often ignored. Yet when war came, the same traits that made him unpopular in peacetime became indispensable. Even after leading Britain through World War II, Churchill suffered the indignity of electoral defeat in 1945 before returning to power six years later.

The comeback of Franklin D. Roosevelt was personal as much as political. Stricken with polio in 1921, Roosevelt faced assumptions that his public life was over. Instead, he rebuilt both his health and political career, eventually leading the nation through the Great Depression and World War II.

Political comebacks endure because they speak to something larger than elections. Democracies can be unforgiving, yet they occasionally allow defeated figures to reinvent themselves, outlast their critics, and return stronger than before.

To all who ran, we thank you for your offer of service. Know that you are appreciated and that we will be watching for your next public initiative.