Turning an Election Result into Real Reform

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Yesterday’s election was history made by the people, a repudiation of Donald Trump, a rebuke of corruption, and a cry of economic pain. Was it more than that? Over the coming months and years, it’s our duty to make sure that it is. 

This century, there have been 13 national elections. In 10 of them, the incumbent party lost control of the White House, the Senate, or the House. We live in an era of unrest that is often unrecognized by political elites until it is too late. This was another backlash election. 

But it was more than that. In its unexpected scale and sweep, it resembled earlier elections, such as the 1974 Watergate babies, the 1994 Republican revolution or the 2006 thumping — a rout of one party, sweeping into office a new cohort of young and unexpected leaders. President Trump insisted he was on the ballot. Voters agreed.  

Voters issued a broad and withering critique of how politics works and how it affects us all. In poll after poll, corruption was identified as a top issue. In the NBC News exit poll, 90 percent said it was a crucial or major factor in how they voted. To Americans in 2026, corruption was visceral. It encompassed how a system dominated by big money hikes costs and crushes opportunity, giving us data centers as well as grifting. 

And let’s not forget: It was far from assured that voters would have the opportunity to speak with such clarity.  

The Trump administration waged a year-and-a-half-long campaign to undermine the election. Its big moves — to wreck mail voting by executive order, to pass the restrictive SAVE Act, to force states to engage in massive purges of the rolls — would have affected millions of people. Those efforts were blocked by states, by courts, by dedicated local officials, by people across the country, and by voting rights groups, including the Brennan Center. We are proud of our leadership role in this drive. It was a major triumph of the civic sector against the full might of the federal government. We’ll have more to say about it in an upcoming event on November 9, in person in Washington and streaming. 

In the final stretch, Trump’s lawyers were forced to make increasingly ludicrous efforts to mess with election administration. By my count, the Justice Department suffered six court defeats in the last 48 hours before Election Day. In one, the Supreme Court unanimously slapped down the Trump administration without even waiting for our side to file briefs.  

In the end, citizens in their numbers overwhelmed any effort to block the vote. And, gloriously, Election Day unfolded smoothly and without major incident across the country. No deployment of ICE to the polls, no national emergency declared, no obstreperous influx of vigilantes.  

Even Trump told The New York Times that he accepted the results. Continued threats to challenge certification of the results should vanish in embarrassment. The people have spoken.  

The other thing that could have smothered the message from voters was the astonishing amount of money spent by a handful of billionaires and one trillionaire. This was the most overt effort to buy an election since the late 1800s. And voters repudiated it. It was perhaps the most reform-focused general election since 1974. Candidates such as Senator-elect James Talarico in Texas found a way to turn the spending against the big-money forces. It seeded a new politics around the sometimes anodyne issue of money in politics. 

What does all this mean for the coming months and years? 

In Washington, Democrats have been given an opportunity. They need to use it, to realize that voters rejected Trump but did not yet embrace them. They need to show clarity of vision and determination to act.  

The new majority says it wants to fight corruption. Speeches and ads are wonderful, but we need action. Legislative efforts can establish an issue and draw divisions. Sometimes bipartisan agreements can be forged when voters care enough. And if not, there are worse things than forcing a highly visible presidential veto. 

There will be oversight, too, of the executive branch and its authoritarian moves.

And lawmakers must build an agenda of deeper reforms to strengthen our democracy. One priority: A push for term limits at the Supreme Court, a widely popular proposal. It was the Roberts Court, after all, that opened the door to this flood of big money and a culture of impunity. The justices have become wildly out of step with the American public. Some basic accountability is needed. There should also be a response to abuses of executive power, especially emergency powers.  

And we know that voter backlash against the Supreme Court’s Callais decision destroying the Voting Rights Act helped drive high turnout, especially in Black communities across the South. Congress should pass a new voting rights law to make sure citizens can sue to protect their rights and to restore protections against discrimination. It should ban partisan gerrymandering in red, blue, and purple states alike.  

And new state legislatures across the country will have a chance to pass reforms and undo misguided policies. 

There is a rhythm of reform throughout history. After scandal and abuse can come renewal — not always, but that is when it happens.  

The Trump era is ending. What will follow? That story is just now being written. As we were reminded yesterday, ultimately the American people hold the pen.