Beto O’Rourke and Tim Ryan could not win a United States Senate race, but maybe they can get a spot on the faculty senate.

The pair of former congressmen landed at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics after losing a handful of races in the past few years. Their fellowship at the IOP is part of a trend of failed Democratic politicians landing in higher ed to fulfill the maxim that “those who can’t do, teach.”

O’Rourke joined UChicago after losing a Senate race in 2018, the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, and the governor’s race in 2022. Ryan lost out in the Democratic presidential primaries before losing to J.D. Vance in the 2022 U.S. Senate race in Ohio.

Other prestigious universities have helped failed politicians get a paycheck after voters asked them kindly to leave their current positions.

Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot could not even make it out of her own party’s primary , despite being the incumbent. Now she will teach a course on public health policy and leadership. Lightfoot’s “public health” experience includes mandating vaccine passports to eat a burger inside a restaurant, explicitly saying that the goal was to make life “ inconvenient ” for people who declined to receive a COVID-19 shot.

When it comes to “leadership,” Lightfoot used the stage at a June 2022 LGBT event to scream , “F*** [Justice] Clarence Thomas.” She also explained why, after shutting down beaches and businesses in Chicago, it was fine for her to join a massive rally after Joe Biden won the presidency in November 2020.

The rules are different if you’re celebrating a victory for liberalism.

“Yes, there are times when we actually do need to have ... relief and come together, and I felt like that was one of those times,” she told the media. “That crowd was gathered whether I was there or not, but this has been a super hard year on everyone. Everyone feels traumatized.”

Crime also ran rampant in the city, something San Francisco voters know about; that is why they booted District Attorney Chesa Boudin out after just two years.

“Personally, I believe Boudin harms our party's goals on criminal justice reform, in part, because people have died and will continue to die as a result of his choices and his policies,” a Democratic official said to explain why she planned to vote to recall him. “We have to hold our own accountable.”

Those soft-on-crime policies will now be taught to a new generation of law students, thanks to his position at the University of California, Berkeley, running the Criminal Law & Justice Center.

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky said in a news release that Boudin “was chosen after a national search and has substantial experience across the criminal justice system. He has thought deeply about the system, and I cannot think of anyone better to create and direct this important center.”

There, he will work with students to “monitor implementation” of soft-on-crime policies.

“Too often, we celebrate legislative reform on issues like money bail without examining how and if these new laws are actually being implemented in California’s counties,” Boudin stated. “Whatever criminal justice outcome we desire, we have to be cognizant of where the rubber meets the road and what change should actually look like.”

Voters saw what change looked like in San Francisco. They saw what it looked like in Chicago, too.

But California leaders who are worried about implementing leftist policies and losing their jobs, as a result, can take solace: They can always find a job in higher ed.

Matt Lamb is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He is an associate editor for the College Fix and has previously worked for Students for Life of America and Turning Point USA.