Tuesday was a big day for incumbents. Congratulations to Rep. Elise Stefanik, New York Sen. Betty Little, Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill, Franklin County Legislator Lindy Ellis, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and U.S. Sen. Kisten Gillibrand. Voters re-elected all of them in contested elections Tuesday.

The non-incumbents who won Tuesday often didn’t face incumbents, such as Letitia James for attorney general and Karl Law for St. Armand town councilman. We wish them well, too.

We also congratulate those who were elected without competition Tuesday. This includes incumbents such as state Assemblymen Billy Jones and Dan Stec (Stec technically had competition from Katie Wilson, but she didn’t campaign for the job and only switched to this race from the congressional one so primary winner Tedra Cobb could have the Working Families Party endorsement in that race) as well as Essex County Treasurer Michael Diskin, and Tupper Lake village Trustees Clint Hollingsworth and David “Haji” Maroun. It also includes new candidates such as Essex County’s next sheriff David Reynolds and next coroner Jay Heald, and North Elba town Justice Alec Friedmann.

And we share condolences and encouragement to all who ran did not win. It takes a lot of guts to run, and we wish them well in their future endeavors.

Like pretty much every voter, some of the candidates we supported won, and some didn’t. But we have no hard feelings. All of those elected Tuesday are the people’s chosen representatives and must be treated that way — with respect, engagement and human decency.

Our news team will want to converse with these public servants regularly, on behalf of our thousands of readers. We promise we will report on them accurately and fairly.

The North Country’s congressional race was the hottest up here this year, having been fought for more than a year-and-a-half. We didn’t endorse Stefanik, but we highly respect her. As we said in our endorsement editorial, she is very smart and hard-working, agile at navigating Washington, moderate on many issues and often willing to work across the aisle. She and her staff are also good at helping North Country individuals, municipalities and businesses.

Stefanik promised in her victory speech to represent everyone in the district, according to North Country Public Radio. She also said the sometimes bruising campaign would make her a better representative.

We would have liked to hear that sense of public service from some other election victors Tuesday night, but nonetheless, we will take it where we can get it.

It’s time to move on from a time of choosing to a time of working for the common good.