In his concession speech to Senator-elect Cory Booker in Bridgewater, N.J., on election night, Steve Lonegan announced that he would retire from elective politics and enter private business, rather than mount another U.S. Senate race against Booker next year or return to his post as New Jersey director of Americans for Prosperity, a high-profile position he held from 2007 until mid-2013. Whether or not he holds to this withdrawal, conservatives not just in New Jersey but the nation owe Lonegan a debt of gratitude for the underfunded yet exciting campaign he waged, and what it suggests for the future of Republican politics.

Lonegan was given zero chance of winning this election, and he waged his campaign with virtually zero resources compared to the eight-figure Booker financial juggernaut. Official Republican party committees in Washington, all rolling in money, spent not a dime. Even in terms of independent expenditures, Lonegan’s handful of outside backers were outspent more than 10 to 1.