--- title: Wendy Davis Gets Candid About Losing in Lenny Letter description: Says she "hates to lose" canonical: https://time.com/4130583/wendy-davis-losing/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-01T13:56:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:59:19.136Z article:section: Politics og:title: Wendy Davis Gets Candid About Losing in Lenny Letter og:description: Says she "hates to lose" og:url: https://time.com/4130583/wendy-davis-losing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a67adb6d7611659/698873303c16392e4045af41/476660589.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Voting Texas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Wendy Davis Gets Candid About Losing in Lenny Letter twitter:description: Says she "hates to lose" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a67adb6d7611659/698873303c16392e4045af41/476660589.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Wendy Davis Gets Candid About Losing > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 1, 2015 1:56 PM UTC  Gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis makes an election day visit to her campaign phone bank at Wendy Davis campaign headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas on March 4, 2014. Gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis makes an election day visit to her campaign phone bank at Wendy Davis campaign headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas on March 4, 2014. Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 1, 2015 1:56 PM UTC Former Texas state Senator Wendy Davis, who lost a bid for governor a little over a year ago, really hates to lose. Yet losing, she says in an essay for [Lenny Letter](http://www.lennyletter.com/), has helped her realize what’s most worth fighting for. “Don’t get me wrong. I still think that losing sucks. And it’s OK to hate losing,” Davis writes. “That hatred provides us with the drive to face great challenges. But the losses I’ve endured have taught me that I am more powerful than the limitations of failed efforts.” Davis says she’s seen in Texas a spark among other activists who also “hate to lose” and hopes they will continue to push progressive policies in the conservative state. The Texan sprang into the national spotlight following a 13-hour filibuster of an anti-abortion bill in the state Senate. Despite her retribution of the bill, it was later signed by the governor. She tried to use the momentum she gained from the filibuster to catapult her gubernatorial run, but she lost against former Attorney General, Greg Abbott, who is now the governor. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4130583/wendy-davis-losing/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4130583/wendy-davis-losing/"},"headline":"Wendy Davis Gets Candid About Losing","datePublished":"2015-12-01T13:56:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:59:19.136Z","description":"Says she \"hates to lose\" but it's made her better","url":"https://time.com/4130583/wendy-davis-losing/","keywords":["Texas","abortion","feminism"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a67adb6d7611659/698873303c16392e4045af41/476660589.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a67adb6d7611659/698873303c16392e4045af41/476660589.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Voting Texas","caption":"Voting Texas","creditText":"Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4130583/wendy-davis-losing/","name":"Wendy Davis Gets Candid About Losing"}}]}] ```