Today, Let’s Elect a Senate That Will Work Again

Here’s a simple fact: If you want to complain about gridlock in Congress, you’d better be ready to play your part in making it work again. That means turning out in this election and voting not just for president, but all the way down the line today.

It means voting to give our next president a Senate that she can work with.

I served in the United States Senate for more than three decades. I’ve seen them do the job that voters sent them to Washington to do — and do it well. Come together, fight abuses of power, improve the lives of everyday Americans.

I can remember a time not so long ago when our elected leaders used to work together. We’d disagree, but we respected each other — we got along with one another. And the way we did that was we tried to understand the other person’s point of view. That’s how we found consensus. And that’s how we came to respect one another.

I learned a lesson early in my career from Senator Mike Mansfield, the Senate Majority Leader. When I questioned the motive of another colleague, he said:

“Joe, every single person, no matter how fundamentally you disagree with their judgment, was sent here because the people of those states saw something good in them. You’ll get along a lot better and make more progress if you look for what those people saw in them. And never question another man’s motive. Question his judgment — but never question his motive.”

When you question another person’s motive, you can never get to compromise. When you question one another’s judgment, you can usually reach a compromise. You can govern.

From that moment on, I never questioned another man or woman’s motive. But I’ve continued to question their judgment.

And we’ve got to get back to that. We’ve got to stop talking past one another and return to civil negotiation and discourse. We’ve got to compromise. And we’ve got to listen. Until we do, we’re only standing in the way of our own progress.

When you work that way — legislating by consensus, not crisis — you can do extraordinary things. You can secure budget agreements that help bolster our middle class and grow our economy. You can pass legislation that protects hundreds of thousands of people from abuse and changes a culture of condoning violence against women.

And, by the way, you can fulfill your basic constitutional obligations like advising and consenting on the President’s nominee to fill the still-empty seat on our nation’s highest court.

So here’s the deal: The issues facing our country right now are so much bigger than partisan politics. It’s time to stop the cycle of putting radical obstruction before meaningful action. We have to get back to civility, and I believe that we can.

How do we do it? By electing folks who are ready to get to work.

Folks like Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada and Katie McGinty in Pennsylvania. Jason Kander in Missouri and Deborah Ross in North Carolina. Ted Strickland in Ohio and Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire. Patrick Murin Florida. And two of my former Senate colleagues, who are some of the very best — Russ Feingold in Wisconsin and Evan Bayh in Indiana. Proud Americans who know that while progress isn’t easy, it’s always worth fighting for.

And they’ll never stop fighting for you.

The vote you cast today for Democrats up and down the ballot will help decide whether we return to civility and continue the progress we’ve fought so hard for over the past eight years.

Let’s get it done. I’ll see you out there.

Visit IWillVote.com to confirm your polling place, head to the polls to cast your vote, and go to democrats.org/calls to encourage others to do the same.