Here's the big news from Tuesday’s election: Faced with gridlock in Washington, more and more voters are turning to states and municipalities to do the work that the nation's capital seems increasingly unable to do.

Let me give you one example: Voters in four states -- all of them won by Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential race -- passed ballot measures increasing their state’s minimum wage. In those states, many local Republicans favored the increases, even as Republicans in Washington have refused to take up the issue. I would have preferred to see Congress pass an expanded earned income tax credit, which is the most effective way of increasing real incomes for low-wage workers. But after it did nothing, voters decided to take matters into their own hands. Waiting for Washington is like a Samuel Beckett play without any of the intrigue or humor -- just absurdity. And voters have seen enough.

I share their frustration, and as a strong believer in the idea that cities and states are the laboratories of democracy, I share their determination to act. This fall, I supported state-level efforts on several ballot measures designed to bypass Washington on three major issues that are hurting the country: gun violence, obesity and political polarization.

So how did we do?

In Washington state, an organization I helped found, Everytown for Gun Safety, worked with local advocates to pass a ballot measure requiring a background check for all gun sales, a step 16 states have already taken. In those states, the rates of gun trafficking and gun suicides are half of what they are in states that don't require universal background checks. The vast majority of Americans support this common-sense step, but the gun lobby has fought it tooth-and-nail -- both in Congress and in states.

David Fuller's view

Imagine how much stronger the US economy could become if Michael Bloomberg was elected president in 2016.  It will not happen, of course, but a top business brain with a strong social conscience sounds to me like the answer to governance problems in any country.

Fortunately, the former New York City mayor remains politically active and is a force for good.