We knew before November. We knew before voters in every part of America signaled their disconnect with a conservative ideology that led us into a disastrous war while ignoring the battle to create justice at home.

We knew before voters in six states offered a stinging rebuke to the abandonment of the working poor by passing minimum wage increases.

Virtually all of the newly elected representatives and senators ran on economic populist platforms that rejected race-to-the-bottom trade agreements, the shameful healthcare system in this country, and the dramatic increase in the disparity between the wealthy and everyone else.

This is great news for all of us but hardly a surprise as we have watched events around the country: living wage victories in traditionally conservative cities like San Diego and Santa Fe, landmark community benefits agreements that include environmental protections and provisions for good jobs and training opportunities in Milwaukee and Denver, and labor organizing breakthroughs in Houston and Honolulu. As people are organized and mobilized, the movement is spreading at a rapid pace beyond the traditional liberal strongholds on the coasts.

The geographic breadth of these achievements was a bellwether of change. It wasn’t long ago that Los Angeles and its bold movement to lift working people out of poverty stood out as an exception in a nation drifting toward economic apartheid.

Now cities across the country have seen the birth and growth of progressive coalitions that include labor, clergy, community activists, environmentalists, and others who are using creative approaches to address the challenge of working poverty and deteriorating urban centers. This new movement, anchored in a resurgent progressive labor movement, is becoming a force not seen in this country in half a century.

The challenges before us are daunting and the opposition formidable—as the reaction of the Los Angeles business elite to the just-passed living wage policy for hotel workers demonstrates—but we have come a long way and the signs are auspicious for even more progress in the future.

– Madeline Janis