So You Lost Your Election- Now What?

On Tuesday, Kansas held its primary elections, as did a few other states, and while the results are overwhelmingly positive, let’s face it: elections are about choices and sometimes the voters don’t choose you.  Or don’t choose the candidate you believe so strongly in and worked so hard to elect.  And that’s hard.  With our primaries over in the state, and with many other states’ primaries coming up soon, let’s talk about what comes next.

What happens after you lose an election?

Your phone stops ringing.  This is true for both the candidate and the volunteers.  As a candidate, everyone wanted to talk to you, wanted to interview you, wanted to give you advice.  After election night?  Silence.  For volunteers, your life was full of the hectic busyness of campaign season- sign waving here, door knocking there, parades on the weekends.  After election night?  If you’re like me, you wander through your house, putting dishes in the sink and clothes in the wash, suddenly having ample time to accomplish all those little day-to-day tasks that went undone during the campaign.

You’re disappointed.  As a volunteer, it can hurt to know that all those hours you put in didn’t end up paying off in the end.  And as a candidate, you feel like you let yourself down, and let down all those people who believed in you.

You feel angry or frustrated.  Why did the other candidate win?  Why did the voters choose someone else?

I’ve been there.  It’s not the best feeling in the world.  But this year is too important to not stay involved!  What we do this year will determine how free we are in 20 years, who we are as a nation, whether my children will grow up to be able to start their own businesses and buy their own homes.  Your leadership on the campaign trail is needed still.  The lessons you learned are valuable for others, and the skills you gained need to applied in another campaign that is going on right now, today.

How To Survive Losing An Election:

1. Take a breather. Catch up on the yard work you’ve neglected, go out to dinner with your spouse, take a nap.  Give yourself time to recover from the mad dash you just made to election day.
2. Find a candidate. That’s enough resting, it’s election year and we have work to do!  Choose someone in a different race than the one you ran- there are many to choose from.  State house, secretary of state, governor- whatever the case may be.
3. Start looking towards the future. Think big picture.  Abe Lincoln ran many unsuccessful campaigns before he eventually became President.
4. Identify ways to capitalize on your efforts this year. Did you lose a primary for the state house?  How about running for city council or school board this spring?  Compared to a state legislative race, districts are much smaller but will still enable you to grow your networks, stay involved, increase name identification and more.
5. Plan for the next cycle. Does the position come up for re-election in two years?  Four?  Plan out your strategy.  Go back to the voting results and identify your weak areas.  Was there one county where your opponent received many more votes?  Think about ways to reach out to that county.
6. Find ways to increase your networks in the community. Attend meetings.  Run for a position within a local organization.  Join the rotary club or chamber of commerce.  One of my former bosses always used to tell me that 80 percent of success is showing up.
7. Be honest with yourself. Was there a failing in your strategy?  Did the opponent come out with something unexpected that changed the game?  Was there not enough time to reach everyone you needed to reach?  Did your opponent heavily outspend you?  Were you not as up-to-speed on the issues as your opponent?
8. Identify practical steps to remedy those issues. If your strategy wasn’t on-target, get to a candidate training to learn how to run an effective campaign.  If you were outspent, spend some time researching potential donors in your area and reach out to them in advance of the filing deadline.  If you felt under-prepared to discuss the issues, visit the state house during the legislative session so you can increase your understanding.
9. Be proud of the race you ran. Maybe you were a volunteer and you put in as much time and energy as you could.  Perhaps you were a candidate who threw yourself into the campaign.  The majority of Americans participate only by voting; some will put a sign in their yard; some may donate.  Very few get involved in campaigns as candidates or volunteers.  You did that.  You stood up for change and resisted the status quo and fought for freedom.  The result of an election does not negate the importance of the issues you championed, the changes you sought, or the campaign you waged.
10. Above all, don’t stop being involved. Your voice, vision and leadership are needed.  Take some time to rest and recover- but then get back in the fight, because we’re waging a battle for liberty this election year, and we need all hands on deck if we’re going to win it.  And friends, the stakes are high- we can’t not win.