The noise was deafening. I don’t know how many people they anticipated at the party, but the room was packed. I have no idea what this crowd was doing on Election Day two years ago, but I was at home with my husband watching early returns through horrified eyes. I went to bed extremely early that night, unable to watch the train wreck that was taking place. Upon waking Wednesday morning, November 9, 2016, I immediately checked Twitter to see my worst fears confirmed. Our country elected a foul-mouthed, misogynistic bigot as president. I honestly don’t remember much about the other races on the ballot that year, beyond my senator Tammy Duckworth (Tammy Duckworth!!), mostly because of how unbelievable the race for president became.

For me, that election was a reckoning.  Hillary Rodham Clinton’s candidacy laid bare once and for all how far women still had to go in order to break through that final glass ceiling. Much would come to light thanks to #metoo about how terrible men in media shaped our national dialogue about her candidacy, her viability as a candidate. Men such as Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, Mark Halperin. But the deed was done as they say, and no measure of consequence could set back the clock a decade or two (or three) to change the conversation about the woman who was bold enough, ambitious enough, to want more.

But her candidacy and ultimate failure lit a lot of us on fire. I’m guessing there was no shortage of people, particularly women, in that big hotel lounge on Tuesday night who were there in large part due to Hillary Rodham Clinton. Women like my dear friend Jill, who the morning after in 2016 said “what next?” and immediately got to work connecting with other people who felt the same. I’ve known Jill for ten years, since we worked together as administrators at the local community college. We became good friends after we moved back from Colorado several years ago, and the conversations she, myself and our friend Julie have about politics at our regular dinners are always a highlight of my month. These women are thoughtful, articulate, well-read, but most of all gracious and kind. I’ve learned so much from them in their willingness to talk about Hard Things.

Several months went by, and we’d get regular updates from Jill regarding the local meetings she attended. Soon enough, she floated the idea of running for office. Deliberately and intentionally, she set her sights on her state house race, as the current representative had been in office for nearly 20 years and ran unopposed for the last decade. This was summer 2017, and I couldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams that just a few months later I’d be joining her campaign staff. But there we were at a dinner that September, with Jill mentioning her difficulty at finding a campaign treasurer, and me just a few months into my sabbatical to finally address my persistent and debilitating health issues. Knowing nothing of political campaigns, but with an affinity for numbers and mundane details, I thought I could help. So before I could talk myself out of it, I jumped in. We were nearly a year into the Trump presidency and in many ways, he proved as terrible as we feared. Voting wasn’t enough at this point, I needed to DO something.

So that’s how I found myself at a watch party Tuesday night, an event coordinated by the McLean County Democrats. Being an introverted introvert means I didn’t attend many events during Jill’s campaign, preferring to work anonymously in the background, but I recognized a lot of faces that night. I felt part of something bigger than myself, part of something even bigger than Jill’s campaign. This was the start of a movement, regardless of who won or lost.

As the night wore on, the energy in the room got more intense. Returns on the east coast started coming in, the crowd cheering or booing with every result. I took refuge in the war room for a time, sitting with Alanna, Jill’s campaign manager, while she watched for returns. Even though I rarely stay up past 10p, I wanted to be there as our local races were announced. Lizzy, Jill’s volunteer coordinator and a candidate for county board in my district, rode the roller coaster of thinking she’d lost but then learning she’d won. Two more county board candidates won their races, as did the dem candidates for state-wide offices. Jill would lose her race, despite running an incredible campaign, as would the other dem candidates for state and US house.

Even though the results were a mixed bag for local candidates, Tuesday night felt like a tremendous win. Not only did local residents have more ballot choices than they’ve had in decades, but local democrats were energized and mobilized like never before. All residents benefit from an engaged and participatory electorate, and the increased organization by local democrats is no exception. Voter turnout in my county increased from 49.2% in the 2014 midterms to 61% this year. Because so many races were contested, elected officials participated in debates and answered questionnaires…or didn’t answer them, which was feedback in-and-of itself. Many of these same elected officials hadn’t been held to account for their votes in years. So even though a number of our candidates lost, they forced increased engagement from those who did get elected, a win for all constituents. The fire that started on November 9, 2016 is in many ways still just a spark. It will take time for democrats to build the visibility and infrastructure to win more elections locally, and this year was an important next step.

For me personally, getting involved with Jill’s campaign provided an outlet for the seemingly endless frustration and despair that accompanied the news reports each morning. I still can’t reconcile that we are a country that imprisons children, that sends the military to the border to confront asylum seekers, that put another sexual assaulter on the Supreme Court. But writing checks, keeping spreadsheets, making deposits provided an unlikely outlet for that frustration. Knowing that I was doing something to get good people elected provided tremendous peace-of-mind.

For my friends who are similarly discouraged, regardless of political affiliation, I encourage you to connect with local politics. There is no shortage of campaigns that need good, dedicated volunteers. While there will always be a need for canvassers and phone banking, there many other things that don’t require knocking doors or making calls. I couldn’t have imagined two years ago that a good friend of mine would be running for office, or that I would be volunteering with her campaign. But I am so encouraged knowing that people like her are stepping up and stepping in, and many of those candidates got elected Tuesday night. And many more people like me were pulled in with them. Together, I believe we are laying the foundation for transformative change in this country.

And I’m going to try to get myself to more meetings now that this campaign is wrapping up (there are still checks to write and data entry to do, even after the election). I want to stay engaged with this movement, to get more connected. There are municipal elections next spring, and then it’ll be time to start looking to 2020. But not until next month. During this month’s meeting I’ll be at the spa.