Congratulations, Tammy Baldwin. You did it. It took a lot of work and some pretty decisive, thought-out campaigning, but you did it.

Now the real work starts.

Sen. Baldwin, D-Wis., has remained fairly under the radar during her time as U.S. representative for the second congressional district. The accomplishments she has successfully built have been under-acknowledged, but she hasn’t accomplished that much relative to other representatives. Now is the time for that to change.

Baldwin has been a proponent for social issues during her political career, and we hope that continues with increased vigor. But she will also be facing a congressional session largely focused on economic recovery: Baldwin, your work is just beginning.

Senators have much more sway than representatives from the House, so Baldwin’s vote in Congress will carry much more weight. Fortunately, she will have a progressive ally, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and will thus have greater clout to further progressive ideas. Baldwin has a great opportunity to advance a progressive voice in Congress, and she better not waste it by remaining in the shadows like she has while in the House of the Representatives.

Baldwin showed herself to be level-headed in the face of strong opposition during the televised debate between her and Tommy Thompson. She needs to continue that sensibility while in the Senate. We look forward to a strong progressive voice in the Senate, but we also hope that this voice will not hijack the left in the way the Tea Party has hijacked the right. She must make sure her forward-looking views are advanced. However, she also needs to be wary of letting those views interfere with her ability to work across the aisle on legislation.

Baldwin has suffered through an aggressively hostile campaign for Senate, and in doing so she has proven she can keep a clear mind during critical times.

Baldwin also has experience serving in the House of Representatives, but now her voice will have much more weight. With that in mind, she needs to further social issues, economic solutions, the progressive ideals she represents – but not to the point of partisanship – and the sensibility she has exhibited during the campaign. Baldwin: Congratulations on winning, but we expect more results from your time in the Senate than from when you were in the House.