Feeling Lost After Losing: Mindful and Strategic Next Steps Post-Election

The sting and the stakes of losing feel really high right now. Because they are. 

If you ran for office and didn’t win it can feel even more personal. It feels like failure. And in the face of a catastrophic Trump presidency, it may even feel like you failed your community. The party. The country. 

You’re searching for the same answer a lot of people are: now what?

But it goes deeper for you.

You’ve spent months — maybe even years — working tirelessly at an unpaid full-time job that you call your passion project. You got all the right endorsements. Spoke at all the meetings. Knocked on all the doors. Begged for all the money. Managed dozens of people. Balanced all the expectations and personalities. And if you’re honest, you sold your soul a time or two to make progress on the campaign trail. It consumed you, your relationships, and every aspect of who you were.

You’re a different person now. You’re a politician. 

But you lost. 

So you’re a politician without a political home base. The campaign is over. You’re not being sworn into public office and everything you stand for is being threatened. What do you do now? 

Elections are emotional, high-stakes events and there’s nothing more gut-wrenching than coming up short. But a loss, while tough, doesn’t mean it’s over. A well-prepared post-election strategy is essential, not just for bouncing back but for continuing to push the progressive movement and our shared values forward. And, if you play your cards right, you will find yourself in the process again.

While the disappointment can feel overwhelming and your first instinct may be to hide at home and trash all your data and materials, it’s important to remember your infrastructure has value beyond this painful moment in time. You are a leader in a movement that’s bigger than one single election.

Movement building and long-term strategy are critical to protecting our communities from the GOP’s dystopian agenda.

Below, we’ve outlined some of the immediate steps you should take in the days and weeks after the election to help you handle the aftermath of a loss with grace, resilience, and long-term vision. Because we need your leadership now more than ever.

1. Communicate

First, focus on internal communication and supporting your team. Losing an election hurts, and that emotional impact needs to be recognized. And everyone on the left is reeling after the presidential results. One of the first steps after the election results come in is acknowledging the emotions involved. Let yourself, your team, and your supporters process the results, but your communications should emphasize your gratitude for their efforts and the importance of resilience moving forward. It’s crucial to remember that your life became their life too, and your shared values and their communities are also under threat..

Next, you need to communicate externally. If you haven’t already published a loss statement, write something as soon as possible and have a trusted advisor or campaign staffer review and proof it. For high-profile campaigns, a loss statement may be highlighted by the media or online, so this should be polished and well done. A good loss statement is thoughtful and heartfelt while also emphasizing gratitude for your supporters and optimism for the future in the face of uncertain times. In recent years, where Democrats and Republicans differ is, among other things, using these statements to strengthen your supporters' belief and trust in the validity of our elections.  

Messaging on social media should encourage your team to look at this as part of a broader journey and a mission to protect the most vulnerable among us. Positive energy must be preserved for the next step, even if that step isn’t immediately clear. The movement isn’t over — it’s evolving.

2. Grieve

You are a human being before anything else, and it’s okay that this hurts. Now that you’ve taken time for the public leadership portion of your responsibilities — focus on your private life and your responsibilities to yourself. 

You are likely experiencing depression, rage, and/or an identity crisis, and all you want to do is hibernate or leave the country and run away forever. This is doubly true with the presidential results and exponentially worse if you are a member of a population the MAGA movement is targeting. 

Let yourself feel these things. Cry. Scream. Throw an adult tantrum. Sleep all day. Don’t answer your phone unless you have to. Buy too much wine or whiskey. Go to therapy. Deal with it however you need to. 

Just don’t make any big decisions until you’ve got some sense of self back.

3. Analyze What Happened

After the immediate aftermath, it’s time to dive into the data and seek feedback. Every campaign should conduct a thorough post-mortem, examining the factors that led to the loss. Was it messaging? Fundraising? Did turnout not meet expectations? Were certain demographics unreachable? By analyzing the results, you can pinpoint what went wrong and what went right. This knowledge is crucial for future campaigns.

Be sure to include grassroots feedback. Listen to field organizers, volunteers, and community leaders. Sometimes, the people on the ground offer insights that data alone can’t. Ask them what resonated with and where they feel the campaign struggled. It may not be fun to hear, but it’s important information that could be the key to winning next time. And even if you don’t plan to run again, the data may be useful to the next Democrat who runs for this seat. Again, this is bigger than one person and one election. 

For this to be most effective you have to be brutally honest with yourself. Resist the temptation to give into the idea that just because things went poorly for Democrats nearly everywhere, there’s nothing you could have done better. You made mistakes that cost you votes. So did your team. What were they? Whether you’re running for office again in the future or mentoring someone else who is — the only way to prevent those things from happening again is to identify and name them. 

The whole Democratic Party and progressive movement needs to do this. If we have any hope of turning things around in the future, this is CRITICAL.

4. Preserve Relationships, Networks, and Infrastructure

Even after a loss, the relationships built during the campaign are invaluable. Whether with donors, volunteers, or local leaders, these connections should be maintained. Keep communication open — these connections may be key in the future. 

A great place to focus your network right now is mutual aid for the most vulnerable people in your community. This can keep relationships alive and do good work at the same time. 

And — this is important — encourage your staff and volunteers to stay involved in ongoing political efforts! Whether it's working on another campaign or joining progressive causes, their experience is needed elsewhere. By encouraging them to stay active in Democratic spaces, you’re capitalizing on the momentum you’ve built and keeping them engaged — the value of which cannot be understated. Their skills are needed to fight the GOP just as much as yours. 

And remember, a loss isn’t a reason to dismantle your campaign entirely. Keep the infrastructure intact — your volunteer lists, voter data, and communication channels will all be invaluable in future efforts. By maintaining this foundation, you’ll have a head start when it’s time to run again or it could be a jumping-off point for the next Democrat running for that seat.

5. Start Setting Long-Term Goals

You didn’t win, but your political career doesn’t have to be over unless you want it to be. Shift your attention from the present pain to possibilities for the future. What are the opportunities? You might consider running for a different office, running for chair of the local Democratic party, taking on a leadership role in an advocacy organization, starting a PAC or nonprofit, becoming a political operative, or simply supporting other Democratic candidates. Remaining visible and involved in the community is critical for keeping political doors open.

Democratic candidates have shown time and again that losing an election isn’t the end of the road. Stacey Abrams lost the 2018 Georgia governor’s race but turned her efforts into a voter mobilization movement that helped flip Georgia blue in 2020. Ayanna Pressley lost her first run for Boston City Council in 2009, then ran again and won, becoming the first Black woman ever elected to the city council. Then, she successfully ran for Congress in 2018, defeating a long-time incumbent and becoming the first Black woman to represent Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives. There are countless examples of comebacks at all levels of politics. These serve as important reminders that — while it’s painful right now — your political impact is not over if you make the right moves.

Losing an election is tough, but it’s far from the end of the road. You can turn a defeat into an opportunity for growth and movement building. With the right strategy, today’s loss can lead to tomorrow’s victory.

As the old saying goes: “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”

If you want to strategically craft the next chapter of your political career, don’t miss our exclusive webinar recording on how to transform your electoral loss into lasting change.