Nov 4, 2026

The votes are being counted. Some Americans woke up relieved this morning. Others woke up disappointed. All of us woke up with the same Congress, one that has failed to provide for Americans’ general welfare for far too long. It is time to govern!

Campaigns are like a sporting event. This season, the rules themselves were challenged again and again. When one team could not win, it tried to change the rules. And the game is being played while everyday Americans face harder and harder economic times.

If we want Congress to do its job and provide for the general welfare, it is time to govern. Governing is how we build lasting change and create the conditions for every American to thrive.

A campaign sorts the country into us and them. Governing asks the winners to step into leadership to represent all their constituents – even those who lobbed vitriol during the campaign. Our system rewards winning campaigns and often punishes elected officials for the hard work of governing. Together, we can change that, starting today.

The next two months matter

The new Congress takes office January 3. Until then, the outgoing Congress is still in charge. This lame-duck session can go either way. Members who lost or retired no longer have to worry about the next election. Some use that freedom to finish long-stalled bipartisan work. Others use it to settle scores before the new majority arrives.

Which direction depends on what we demand and who we follow. Ask outgoing members to finish the job, fund the work that serves the general welfare and hand over power in good order. Leaders who keep stirring anger after the votes are counted are still campaigning. We should follow those leaders who have started governing.

What we ask of the people we just elected

Yesterday they were candidates. In January, they will represent Americans, including those who voted against them. That shift to representation should start now.

• Speak to the whole district. Speak to the voters who chose the other side, and promise to serve them too.

• Retire the enemy. The opponent’s voters are now constituents. Speak to them that way.

• Reach across the aisle first. Before the next fundraising email, call a member of the other party and ask, “What do you need from this term?”

• Defend Congress, not just the party. The powers in Article I belong to Congress, no matter who holds the White House.
  

When a campaign is built on fear

When someone wins by telling voters the other side is a threat, they become a prisoner of their own campaign. Fear drives turnout. Once voters believe the other side is dangerous, any deal looks like betrayal.

The Center for Collaborative Democracy grew out of the MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program. We have studied adversaries who have reached lasting agreements. Trust does not come back first. It is rebuilt in three steps.

1. Name it. Publicly say that the campaign went too far, and that the people on the other side are Americans and our neighbors.

2. Separate the person from the position. We can oppose a policy with everything we have and still ask the person across the table what they want or need to move forward.

3. Start with a shared task. People trust each other again when they solve a real problem together and watch each side keep its word.

   
   

Voters have a part, too. If your candidate lost, the winner is still your representative. If your candidate won, the people who voted against them are still your neighbors.

What happens when Congress stops governing

The Constitution gives Congress the power to “provide for the common Defence and general Welfare.”

Our Constitutional Stress Map tracks 21 places where the Constitution has been tested recently. Five are failing. Just two have checks still holding. The map counts only actions the executive branch took without Congress. It demonstrates what fills the void when Congress stays in campaign mode: going to war without Congress, spending and withholding funds without Congress, governing by emergency order and filling top jobs without Senate approval.

That is the common defense and the general welfare slipping out of Congress’s hands. It slips because members who protect Congress’s powers from a president of their own party risk a primary. Members who make a deal with the other side are dubbed as sellouts. The system rewards fighting and punishes governing.

From gridlock to action - 2 paths, pick one

Path 1: The Grand Bargain Project offers every new member of Congress an answer to two questions: what should we work on, and how do we work on it together?

What to work on. The Grand Bargain is a practical, common-sense plan: 39 reforms built around seven aspirations nearly all Americans share, from economic opportunity to better schools. Experts from the left, right and center built it together. Every side gives something, and every side gains something. In YouGov polling, 73 percent of Americans across party lines want Congress to make it a priority.

How to work on it. We propose that Congress write new laws in task forces that include the viewpoints of all members, guided by a neutral facilitator, instead of in committees run by whichever party holds the gavel. That changes what winning means. You win when your constituents get what they need, and so do theirs.

Path 2: Participate in the AllSides RoundtableOnce the Election Is Over, What Comes Next? is a series of eight national online Roundtables, November 16–20, hosted by AllSides and a growing group of builders and bridgers committed to bringing more Americans into shaping democratic reforms. www.allsides.com/whatcomesnext

Why this matters now: Two weeks after the elections, the Roundtables will invite Americans across the political spectrum to set the results aside and answer one question together: Imagine we succeeded in transforming the system, with all the people, for all the people. What would people experience differently in their everyday lives? Participants then discuss what stands in the way, what would have to change, and what would make a national process for deciding these questions legitimate and trustworthy.

How we reward governing

Politicians respond to what voters reward. We are the reward.

• Say thank you, loudly, when your representative works across the aisle.

• Show up in primaries, where a small, motivated group of voters often punishes compromise.

• Ask at every town hall: “Who on the other side will you work with this term, and on what?”

• Give to solutions, not outrage.

• Stop sharing posts that dehumanize anyone, including posts from your own side.
  

Join us

This week, call your representative, whether you voted for them or not. Tell them: the campaign is over, and we expect you to govern. Then pick one area on the Constitutional Stress Map and join the people already defending it. And add your voice to the Grand Bargain through our interactive tool, the Launchpad.

Campaigns choose a side. Governing chooses all of us.