The Fight Continues

I was in New York City on election night in 2016. It was awful. As the general counsel to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, my job was to monitor and respond to legal issues that might arise on Election Day or afterwards.

That night, as election returns came in, I was huddled with a group of other senior staff just down the hallway from the candidate and her family. By 10:30 p.m. we were nervous but still hopeful. By midnight the dawning reality of what was happening had set in. By 3 a.m., I was in an Uber back to my hotel knowing that it was over. Donald Trump had won.

The next morning, Hillary gave a gracious concession speech. It was iconic in the way almost everything she does in a big moment is iconic. Towards the back half of the speech, she spoke the words that inspired me, and millions of others, to be a part of a movement that we did contemplate:

I’ve had successes and I’ve had setbacks. Sometimes, really painful ones. Many of you are at the beginning of your professional public and political careers. You will have successes and setbacks, too. This loss hurts, but please never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it. And so we need — we need you to keep up these fights now and for the rest of your lives.

This call to fight would later become known as the “resistance.” But, at that moment Hillary was offering a guiding principle that was larger than Trump and his presidency. It was a perspective on politics and life. In good times and in bad, we were to continue to fight for what is right.

After Joe Biden defeated Trump, we prayed the crisis had passed. Trump was a failed one-term president, tarnished by impeachment and a failed insurrection. When he was renominated, despite having been indicted, we hoped that America would see him for the unhinged con man that he is.

Yet, Hillary’s words continued to echo in the background. As the 2024 election grew near, the nervousness was palpable. Trump was again sowing doubt in the elections. Republicans were attacking the right to vote in state legislatures and the courts.

But along with fear, a feeling of excitement was also building. Momentum seemed on the Democrats’ side. Republicans were losing in court.

Election Day was largely uneventful — other than a series of false bomb threats aimed at disrupting Democratic voting precincts. Yet, as the returns came in, a feeling of dread set in. At around 9:30 p.m., I texted my wife: “It’s still close, but honestly feels a little like 2016.” As in 2016, by midnight the reality of the outcome had set in. 

Except this time, it was different. There was no mystery about what kind of president Trump would be. There was no question that he wanted to use the government to exact revenge against his enemies and enrich his friends. He had made his racist, authoritarian preferences more explicit and more well organized. 

Most chilling, it was clear he was going to win not just the Electoral College, but the popular vote as well.

At 4 p.m. Wednesday, I turned on the television for the first time all day. I had been avoiding political coverage, but I wanted to see Kamala Harris offer her concession speech. She sounded a lot like Hillary, but more resolute and more specific:

We will never give up the fight for our democracy, for the rule of law, for equal justice, and for the sacred idea that every one of us, no matter who we are or where we start out, has certain fundamental rights and freedoms that must be respected and upheld.

Though both Hillary and Kamala are lawyers, given her background as a prosecutor, Harris was always more comfortable using references to the legal system. Unlike Hillary, Kamala connected the fight ahead specifically to concerns of courts and lawyers — democracy, rule of law, justice and fundamental rights.

A few sentences later, I felt her speaking to me directly, just as Hillary had eight years earlier:

We will continue to wage this fight in the voting booth, in the courts and in the public square.

My entire career has been spent in the political arena taking on the fights Kamala describes. I began by representing the Democratic Party working to convince voters to support their candidates. Later, I became a courtroom litigator focused on protecting the right to vote. In 2020, I started Democracy Docket to be a fearlessly pro-democracy voice in the public square.

Hillary’s concession speech helped guide me to a worldview that has served me well ever since. I will always be an admirer of her tenacity and grit. But in her speech, Kamala spoke to what I value and who I am. We all owe Kamala a lot for her fight and perseverance. But I owe her much more.

We will fight. And when we fight we win.