November’s election ripped off the Band-Aid covering a long-worsening wound for Democrats. Control of the White House made it easier for members of our party to brush off dramatic down-ballot losses the past six years. Now it is clearer to everyone that the picture is bleak.

Fewer states are positioned to counter the agenda of a Trump administration and a Republican Congress, and we are in desperate need of new Democratic voices to rise up the political ranks and lead our party at all levels of government.

Before November’s results, Republicans already controlled both the governor’s mansion and legislature in more than 20 states. (It’s now 24.) The GOP also controls about 70 percent of state house and Senate chambers nationwide.

The results have meant a lot more than bragging rights. Republican-dominated state governments are limiting key benefits to working families like paid sick leave, cutting education funding across the spectrum — from early childhood to public colleges — and restricting access to voting through partisan gerrymandering and other maneuvers to reduce the influence of minority groups.

Donald Trump’s Electoral College victory and the continuing run of GOP dominance show that Democrats can’t count on demographic advantages to do our work for us. We need a vision and a message that resonates with Americans from all backgrounds.