On Tuesday, November 7, the American public spoke out loud and clear that they want their elected officials to work on global solutions to global problems. Across the nation, setting aside ideological and partisan divides, voters cast their ballots to elect globally-minded leaders to the U.S. House of Representative and the U.S. Senate.

Of the 176 candidates that were endorsed by Citizens for Global Solutions, 157 – 89.2 percent --were elected and of the 36 challengers we endorsed, 20 were elected (three challenger races are still undecided).

Citizens for Global Solutions-endorsed candidates highlighted their commitment to addressing climate change, promoting energy independence and confronting global health matters. Incumbents won who supported working with our friends and allies through international organizations, spoke out for justice in the Congo and Darfur, and opposed new nuclear weapons development. Newly elected members will hit the ground running in January to work on a comprehensive energy policy, seriously engage with the threat of climate change, and deploy proven U.S. leadership and skills to addressing the global health crises of our generation, including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

Voters went to the polls with a strong commitment and belief in an engaged and multilateral U.S. foreign policy. In polling released just before the elections, a broad majority of Americans articulated their support the United Nations and working with other countries. "Americans prefer Congressional candidates who say that the United States should cooperate in multilateral efforts to solve international problems rather than either remaining the dominant world power or disengaging," said one study, conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes and Knowledge Networks.

In addition, the poll showed that Americans were more likely to support candidates for Congress who share this view.

A Better World Campaign poll conducted in late October by Public Opinion Strategies confirmed bipartisan support for multilateralism and, in particular, for the United Nations. Seventy-four percent of Americans believe that “the U.S. needs the UN now more than ever because we cannot bear all the burden and cannot afford to pay to go it alone around the world,” including 59 percent of Republicans.

Citizens for Global Solutions and its PAC worked hard to identify candidates and provide support to their election or re-election campaigns. Our PAC looked at incumbent voting records and challenger candidate questionnaires.

Looking at some of the globalist challengers, Citizens for Global Solutions celebrates not only their victory but also the defeat of some of the detractors of international cooperation, the United Nations, and sensible health, energy, and climate policies.

• In Pennsylvania, Bob Casey defeated incumbent Senator Rick Santorum, who consistently received a grade of D on our annual Congressional Report Card.
• In Missouri, Claire McCaskill won her bid for the Senate seat occupied by Jim Talent, who received an F in 2005 and a D in 2006. Ms. McCaskill believes the U.S. must return to its leadership role in global health, support for international law and justice, and engaging with the United Nations as a partner.
• While Citizens for Global Solutions did not engage in the Tennessee Senate race, retiring Senator Bill Frist was a perennial recipient of a D grade on our issues.

In the House, many Representatives with poor grades on our Report Card were defeated.

• J.D. Hayworth of Arizona (grade: F) lost his bid, as did Richard Pombo (grade: D) of California.
• Indianan Congressman Chris Chocola, who received a D on our last two Report Cards, was defeated by Citizens for Global Solutions-endorsed candidate Joe Donnelly.
• In southern Indiana, John Hostettler, who got failing grades in 2005 and 2006, lost his bid to Brad Ellsworth.

Many great Members of Congress, who we have supported and received excellent marks on recent Report Cards were re-elected, including Senators Richard Lugar (R-IN), Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Hertb Kohl (D-WI) who handily won their races.

In the House, potentially new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi won her race. Jim McGovern (D-MA 03) and Mike Michaud (D-ME 02) will be able to continue their support of international cooperation in the 110th Congress, as will Allyson Schwartz (D-PA 13), Don Payne (D-NJ 10) and Jose Serrano (D-NY 16). Frank Wolf (R-VA 10), an outspoken Representative on Darfur and democracy won his race in the Northern Virginia suburbs.

Unfortunately, two very internationally-minded Members of Congress lost their seats. Jim Leach (R-IA 02), a longtime supporter of a strong and effective United Nations lost to Democrat Dave Loebsack. And Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), who boldly stood up and stopped the nomination process for John Bolton to be the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, lost to challenger Sheldon Whitehouse.

We raised and distributed more than $90,000 in contributions to candidates, a 6.1 percent increase over the 2004 election cycle. We engaged more candidates earlier on in the election cycle: we endorsed and contributed to 13 candidates prior to their respective primaries and we won 12 of those primary races.

The result of the election should see a huge step forward toward building a globalist majority in Congress, one that believes in working with our friends and allies; engaging with international organizations like the United Nations and the World Health Organization; fighting to apply the rule of law and justice in places like the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Darfur region of Sudan; tackling climate change head on; and stopping not only the proliferation of nuclear weapons but their very development.

None of the successes above could have happened without the vast energies provided by you, members of Citizens for Global Solutions. We would like to extend special thanks to our Partners and the members of our political action committee, who devoted countless hours and expended calories getting our information to candidates and helping out across the country.