Thread by @LavoraBarnes

I'm not trying to sugarcoat a difficult election. I am heartbroken that @KamalaHarris and @Tim_Walz won't be in the White House. But as the final ballots are tallied across Michigan, it’s clearer and clearer that the work you did mattered 🧵

Over the last decade, we've worked hard to build a year-round Dem party in Michigan. We know you can't just show up once every few years and ask people for their vote. You have to be in the community every day. You have to listen to people, invite them in and build power together

Thanks to our year-round infrastructure, we've had incredible successes — electing and re-electing @gretchenwhitmer, securing the first Democratic trifecta in decades and amending our state Constitution to protect fundamental freedoms

Here's how the results of this election show that our plan works — everywhere you showed up made a difference. This race was about much more than just the top of the ticket. And from the top to the bottom, the work you did and the work we'll continue to do matters.

Nationwide in 2024, the presidential vote count shifted right almost 6%. In Michigan, we shifted right just 1.4% at the top of the ticket. That’s because even in the face of strong headwinds nationally, the hard work we’ve put in together allowed us to build trust with voters.

That’s not just numbers — it’s critical races that we won. The results are worth celebrating. Of course, the biggest result was electing @ElissaSlotkin to the US Senate, where she will be a critical champion for Michigan families in Congress.

We protected the 8th Congressional District, electing @McDonaldRivet. Kristen ran on her working class values, her deep roots in the community, and with the support of thousands of Michigan Dems who showed up to talk to their neighbors and help send her to Congress.

While we lost the state House majority narrowly, MDP volunteers defended critical seats. We re-elected almost all of our frontline candidates, including @betsycoffia, @JoeyforMichigan and @MaiXiongMI. Our @MIHouseDems will keep fighting to put Michigan families first in Lansing.

In a historic win, we re-elected @khbforjustice to the Michigan Supreme Court AND EXPANDED a pro-justice, pro-equality majority by electing @ktforjustice to join her. This majority will do incredible work to protect our freedom and defend the rule of law in Michigan.

Across the state, we won hundreds of races for school board, city council, mayor and dozens of offices that you might never have heard of. Our Project 83 team worked to recruit, train and support more than 5,000 candidates who will make real differences in their communities

None of this would be possible without you, our members and volunteers. Every dollar you gave, every person you talked to, every time you showed up helped Democrats hold ground in Michigan in a historically difficult year – and I want you all to hold your heads high.

I think we all know that the next four years will be hard. Donald Trump is already announcing his radical, extremist picks for the cabinet, and we’ll need to wake up every day ready to defend our country, our state and our communities. But we can win, and I believe we will.

At the end of the day, this country, and this state, were built to move forward — there is much more work to be done and the Michigan Democratic Party stands ready to do it.

Thank you. From the bottom of my heart. The work you have done has already made Michigan a better, more fair place. And as we link arms and move forward, we will win because of the courage, dedication, love and compassion that each and every one of you has shown.