Congratulations to all the tea party-backed candidates who overcame a determined, partisan opposition to win their elections. The next campaign begins today. Because you must now overcome determined party insiders if this nation is going to be spared from fiscal disaster. 
 
 Many of the people who will be welcoming the new class of Senate conservatives to Washington never wanted you here in the first place. The establishment is much more likely to try to buy off your votes than to buy into your limited-government philosophy. Consider what former GOP senator-turned-lobbyist Trent Lott told the Washington Post earlier this year: "As soon as they get here, we need to co-opt them." 
 
 View Full Image Getty Images Tea Party-backed candidate Rand Paul won Kentucky's Senate seat . 
 
 Tim Phillips, President of Americans for Prosperity, explains the Republican wave. 
 
 Don't let them. Co-option is coercion. Washington operates on a favor-based economy and for every earmark, committee assignment or fancy title that's given, payback is expected in return. The chits come due when the roll call votes begin. This is how big-spending bills that everyone always decries in public always manage to pass with just enough votes. 
 
 But someone can't be bribed if they aren't for sale. Here is some humble advice on how to recognize and refuse such offers. 
 
 First, don't request earmarks. If you do, you'll vote for legislation based on what's in it for your state, not what's best for the country. You will lose the ability to criticize wasteful spending. And, if you dare to oppose other pork-barrel projects, the earmarkers will retaliate against you. 
 
 In 2005, Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) offered a measure to kill funding for the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere." Before the vote, Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.), an appropriator, issued a warning on the Senate floor. 
 
 "If we start cutting funding for individual projects, your project may be next," she said. "When Members come down to the floor to vote on this amendment, they need to know if they support stripping out this project, Senator Bond [a Republican appropriator] and I are likely to be taking a long, serious look at their projects to determine whether they should be preserved during our upcoming conference negotiations." 
 
 Paul Gigot explains the demise of the Pelosi Speakership. 
 
 The threat worked. Hardly anyone wanted to risk losing earmarks. The Senate voted 82-15 to protect funding for the Bridge to Nowhere. 
 
 Second, hire conservative staff. The old saying "personnel is policy" is true. You don't need Beltway strategists and consultants running your office. Find people who share your values and believe in advancing the same policy reforms. Staff who are driven by conservative instincts can protect you from unwanted, outside influences when the pressure is on. 
 
 Third, beware of committees. Committee assignments can be used as bait to make senators compromise on other matters. Rookie senators are often told they must be a member of a particular committee to advance a certain piece of legislation. This may be true in the House, but a senator can legislate on any matter from the Senate floor. 
 
 Fourth, don't seek titles. The word "Senator" before your name carries plenty of clout. All senators have the power to object to bad legislation, speak on the floor and offer amendments, regardless of how they are ranked in party hierarchy. 
 
 Election Night at Opinion Journal Visit WSJ.com on Tuesday night for live commentary from The Wall Street Journal editorial board. 
 
 Lastly, don't let your re-election become more important than your job. You've campaigned long and hard for the opportunity to go to Washington and restore freedom in America. People will try to convince you to moderate conservative positions and break campaign promises, all in the name of winning the next race. Resist the temptation to do so. There are worse things than losing an election—like breaking your word to voters. 
 
 At your swearing-in ceremony, you will, as all senators do, take an oath to "support and defend the Constitution." Most will fail to keep their oath. Doing these five things will help you maintain a focus on national priorities and be one who does. 
 
 Congress will never fix entitlements, simplify the tax code or balance the budget as long as members are more concerned with their own narrow, parochial interests. Time spent securing earmarks and serving personal ambitions is time that should be spent working on big-picture reforms. 
 
 When you are in Washington, remember what the voters back home want—less government and more freedom. Millions of people are out of work, the government is going bankrupt and the country is trillions in debt. Americans have watched in disgust as billions of their tax dollars have been wasted on failed jobs plans, bailouts and takeovers. It's up to us to stop the spending spree and make sure we have a government that benefits America instead of being a burden to it. 
 
 Tea party Republicans were elected to go to Washington and save the country—not be co-opted by the club. So put on your boxing gloves. The fight begins today. 
 
 Mr. DeMint is a Republican senator from South Carolina. ||||| Getty Images Members of the Tea Party Patriots attended a rally Tuesday on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol. The group is planning a post-election summit. 
 
 BOWLING GREEN, Ky.—Tea-party leaders, cheering as some of their movement's most prominent figures won U.S. Senate seats in Kentucky and Florida, said Tuesday's elections were only the beginning of their quest to transform government. 
 
 "Things look good for tonight," said Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, an umbrella group that says it has 2,800 local affiliates around the country. "No one in this movement is stopping today. This is not an endgame. This is just a beginning." 
 
 Tea-party victors included Republican Rand Paul, who claimed the Senate seat in Kentucky, and the GOP's Marco Rubio, who defeated former Gov. Charlie Christ and Rep. Kendrick Meek in Florida's three-way race for Senate. 
 
 Movement losers included Christine O'Donnell, the Republican Senate candidate in Delaware, whose comments about witchcraft embarrassed some in the movement, and Republican Carl Paladino, who lost his bid for governor of New York. 
 
 Early results signaled that despite some losses, the movement was on its way to becoming a major force in Washington and on the national political landscape. Ahead is a chaotic period as the movement's factions compete to set the agenda and influence the ranks of new members of Congress. 
 
 Full Results by State Senate, House, governors' and other races at the state, district and county level More interactive graphics and photos 
 
 One of the most prominent national tea-party groups, Tea Party Patriots, announced plans for a summit of newly minted officials in two weeks while Mr. Paul said he would convene his own similar gathering as soon as possible. 
 
 In an op-ed article in Wednesday's editions of The Wall Street Journal, major tea-party figure Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) called on newly elected officials to hew to the movement's priorities as they decamp to Washington. "When you are in Washington, remember what the voters back home want—less government and more freedom," wrote Mr. DeMint. "Put on your boxing gloves. The fight begins today." 
 
 Ms. Martin said Tea Party Patriots is finalizing plans for a summit and "orientation" Nov. 14 in Washington for all freshman members of Congress. Newly elected officials will meet "face to face" with 200 or more local tea-party coordinators from around the country, she said. Her group is working on a legislative agenda to present then. The focus: Balance the federal budget; and repeal "100 percent repeal" of the health-care overhaul. 
 
 Enlarge Image Close Getty Images Tea Party Patriots co-founder, Mark Meckler, is hugged by his mother, Elaine Meckler, following a rally on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol on Election Day. 
 
 "We're going to talk to them about what we expect from them," she said, "and what they can expect from us if they don't uphold our core values." 
 
 Across the country, tea-party activists gathered in churches, living rooms, fraternal lodges and bars awaiting the results of more than a year of grass-roots organizing. Almost uniformly they said they remained wary of everyone in Washington—including their own candidates. 
 
 In LaGrange, Ga., 65 miles south of Atlanta, the local tea-party group already was organizing a post-election letter campaign to remind new officials to not cozy up to the Republican establishment. 
 
 "Come January," said Ellen Gilmore, a 69-year-old retired dental hygienist, "We'll be all over them like dew in the cotton fields." 
 
 In Kentucky, Mr. Paul, the son of libertarian icon Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas) led his Democratic opponent, Jack Conway, 56% to 44% with 97% of Kentucky precincts reporting, according to data provided by the Associated Press. 
 
 "There is a tea-party tidal wave coming to Washington," said Mr. Paul, a 47-year-old eye surgeon, after voting Tuesday morning at an elementary school. 
 
 "Both parties let us down," he said. He added that, if elected, his first objective would be to secure a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget. 
 
 Mr. Paul said Tuesday that he won't compromise his positions regarding the deficit once in Washington and plans to organize his own meeting of victorious tea-party candidates to plan the best way to achieve the movement's agenda. 
 
 In Nevada, leaders of the Tea Party Express, which poured more than $1 million into Republican Sharron Angle's bid to unseat Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, holed up in a "war room" in a suite at the Aria casino and hotel on the Las Vegas strip. 
 
 The group endorsed Ms. Angle in April when she was polling at 5% in the Republican primary and appeared to have no shot at her party's nomination. Tea Party Express, another prominent national tea-party group, spent heavily on advertising and assigned operatives to operate a separate campaign on Ms. Angle's behalf during the primary. 
 
 The race now is the marquee battle for the organization, which also heavily backed Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller in Alaska and Ms. O'Donnell in Delaware. 
 
 In late polls during the campaign, Ms. Angle had inched ahead. But in the final days, Mr. Reid was getting aid from Democrats across the country for a huge get-out-the-vote effort to mobilize loyal supporters. "There's no question this race is iconic and symbolic of the tea party movement versus the establishment," said Tea Party Express spokesman Levi Russell. " There will be many victories tonight. We just hope this will be one of those victories. The next election cycle starts tomorrow and we'll move over to that." 
 
 —Alexandra Berzon contributed to this article. 
 
 Write to Jennifer Levitz at jennifer.levitz@wsj.com
– Tea Party candidates may have rattled the Democrats, but it's the old-line Republicans who could be in for a shellacking now. The upstarts heading to DC are already eying targets painted on the backs of GOP legislators out of step with their small government policies—such as Utah's Orrin Hatch and Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas, notes Politico. Those friendly with the Tea Partiers, on the other hand, are enjoying a huge boost in popularity. "People in the Senate have been in touch with me to try to figure out ways in which we can have a better working relationship,” said Tea Party supporter Rep. Dick Armey. "All of a sudden, I'm a matchmaker." Tea Partiers are determined to avoid being seduced by pork-barrel strategies, according to leaders. "The establishment is much more likely to try to buy off your votes than to buy into your limited-government philosophy," warned fervent Tea Party supporter Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who cruised to reelection. But, he adds: "Tea Party Republicans were elected to save the country—not be co-opted by the club. So put on your boxing gloves. The fight begins today.”