Victory speeches generally arrive wrapped in familiar niceties about family, volunteers, hard work and gracious wishes for the defeated. But several Democratic winners discarded that script Tuesday night, replacing polite closure with a much sharper message for Republicans.

In Michigan, incoming senator Abdul El-Sayed aimed directly at opponent Mike Rogers. “So, Mike, enjoy your retirement,” El-Sayed said before declaring, “See, you chose hate, and Michigan chose hope.”

El-Sayed also answered Vice President JD Vance, who had called the Democrat a “psychopath” and “very, very evil.” Smiling, El-Sayed said, “Habibi,” using an Arabic term of endearment, before noting that Vance would be constitutionally obligated to swear him in during January.

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff did not even mention opponent Rep. Mike Collins during his victory speech. Instead, Ossoff said that “the American people have rebuked the depravity, corruption and incompetence of the failed lame-duck president, Donald J. Trump.”

Ossoff had already spent the campaign hammering Collins without apology. During one debate, he told Collins “you’ve hired half the Third Reich to staff your congressional office,” and said, “If John Lewis were marching today from Selma to Montgomery, Mike Collins would be grabbing a billy club.”

That approach may strike some observers as ungracious, but it demonstrates exactly the aggressive spirit Democrats should carry into the new Congress. Republicans have hardly earned deference, and voters have delivered a clear repudiation of Trump and his party.

Not since the midterm following Watergate in 1974 has the country delivered such an emphatic rejection of the ruling party. Democrats should remember that message whenever they speak, govern and enter the political fights that will define the next two years.

The party will face decisions about legislation designed to force Trump’s veto, appointments Democrats may seek to block and potential impeachments involving Cabinet members or Trump himself. Success will require making clear what Democrats believe today’s Republican Party represents.

That does not mean Democrats must imitate the hatred Republicans promoted during the election and before it. There is a difference between encouraging hatred and speaking plainly when political opponents say or do vile things.

Too many campaigns have featured qualified but uncharismatic Democrats offering detailed plans against Republicans who simply accuse those Democrats of hating voters and everything they value. That disparity is one reason voters have often viewed Republicans as strong and Democrats as weak.

The blunt language used by some Democrats could be dismissed as evidence that Trump has coarsened political discourse and dragged everyone toward his level. But calling out corruption, bigotry and ugly conduct is not equivalent to promoting them.

Ossoff should plainly describe the people Collins hired, just as El-Sayed should confront Rogers, Trump and Vance over the bigotry directed at him. Republicans demanding civility can begin by cultivating some themselves.

Not every Democrat needs to copy El-Sayed’s pugnacious delivery or Ossoff’s punchy attacks. Incoming senator James Talarico called Ken Paxton “the most corrupt politician in America,” but trading insults with the vice president may not fit every politician’s natural style.

Some politicians are brawlers, while others redirect attacks with a lighter touch. What every Democrat can adopt is confidence, especially as divided Washington prepares for a continuing series of confrontations.

Republicans are already warning Democrats against engaging in unseemly “retribution” involving Trump and his administration. Naturally, Republicans would prefer to receive respect they have not earned while avoiding sustained scrutiny of their own conduct.

Holding Republicans accountable for corruption and policy failures is not petty revenge. It is a means of pursuing justice, curbing future abuses and ensuring that the people responsible for this damaging political era are remembered with the disgust their actions deserve.