Since 2020, incumbent parties in Western democracies have lost 40 out of 54 elections — meaning the odds of an incumbent defeat in the past few years have been just shy of 80 percent.

He showed his famous sense of humor in a 2006 commentary for NPR's "This I Believe" series, writing: "I admire enormously the candidate able to face defeat with humor and grace. Nobody ever conceded defeat better than Dick Tuck who, upon losing a California state senate primary, said simply, 'The people have spoken ... the bastards.' "