By Thom Little, Ph.D.
As I write this, we are less than two weeks from election day, so most of you are laser-focused on November 3rd. Soon, however, your attention as a legislative leader will shift from campaigning to governing and assisting your members, especially those newly elected, make that transition. A few years ago, former Washington Senator Karen Keiser published Getting Elected is the Easy Part: Working and Winning in the State Legislature, in which she writes that campaigning and governing require distinct skills and that governing is not only different from campaigning, but also more difficult.
I agree with Senator Kaiser, and we’re here to help you enable your new members to do the “hard part.” We are sharing some sessions we offer in collaboration with the National Institute for Civil Discourse and introducing you to a guide for new legislators prepared by the Center for Effective Lawmaking, a partnership between the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University. Let’s begin with a glance at some sessions and workshops that we believe can help with the transition.
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. Governing is very different from campaigning. To win an election today, candidates are expected to treat their opponent as the enemy. They are expected to have a position and opinion on every issue. They win by raising money, attacking their opponent, and speaking in soundbites. On the other hand, governing requires legislators to rely on one another to cast informed votes, work together to get bills passed, work within the rules of the legislature, and build broad, diverse coalitions.
Engaging Differences – Civility Makes Better Policies and Better Politics. The polarization that grips our nation also defines many state legislatures, making it more difficult to pass legislation and address the pressing needs of their states. In this session, we examine how America’s founders anticipated partisanship by establishing a governing system that required compromise. Further, we discuss what civility is and what it is not, and how treating each other with respect yields better policies and better politics.
Relationships Matter: Building Trust through Civil Discourse Workshop. This half-day workshop encourages legislators to get to know each other beyond party, ideology, and other political labels. In this session, legislators explore what makes each other “tick,” and often find they have more in common than they expected. Legislators who really know each other are more likely to work together.
Getting to Yes: Strategies for Building Winning Coalitions. The only way to get a bill passed in the legislature or an ordinance passed through city council is to get a majority of your colleagues to support it. While coalition building is essential for a functioning democracy, it seems to have become a lost art. In this session, we will help participants rediscover the art of finding common ground by examining and practicing strategies for finding that “sweet spot” in negotiations where everybody gets something and nobody gets nothing.
What Does it Mean to Lead? A Look from Plato’s Cave. Using Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” this session examines the responsibility of legislators when their constituents, perhaps out of fear or ignorance, are basing their positions on false or distorted information. Should the legislator try to correct their constituents and perhaps risk alienating them and losing their support or should he or she allow them to remain comfortably in their altered universe? We will examine what it means to lead and the “darkness” that may restrict all of us in our own ideological or partisan “caves.”
In addition to offering these sessions, we would also recommend that you consider distributing to your new members the Center for Effective Lawmaking’s New Members Guide, which offers advice from seasoned legislators and data-driven insights about how to be an effective legislator. This document offers advice on how new members can “DEFINE Your Lawmaking Agenda” and “ENGAGE With Your Lawmaking Partners.” The Guide offers a thorough explanation of each of the strategies for defining the agenda and engaging partners based on conversations with state legislators from across the nation. If you are interested in learning more about the sessions noted above or the New Members Guide, contact Thom Little at Tlittle@sllf.org.
With that, we wish you good luck on November 3 and stand ready to help you and your colleagues as you transition from the 2026 campaign to the 2027 legislative session!
(1) D=Draw from Your District; E= Employ Your Personal Expertise; F=Focus on Your Priorities; I= Integrate Your Committee Work Into Your Agenda; N= Never Give Up on Your Core Causes and E=Explore What Works in Other States.
(2) E= Enlist Experts, Staff and Advocates; N= Negotiate Early with Leaders; G= Grow Bipartisan Support; A= Articulate Shared Goals Clearly; G=Galvanize Grassroots Support; E= Expand Your Coalition Beyond Your Chamber.
