Sarah Longwell, founder of The Bulwark and a former Republican strategist, released her debut book “How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time” on September 8, 2026, offering a playbook for Democrats to defeat MAGA-style politics and build a durable pro-democracy coalition capable of winning in 2026 and beyond.
The 336-page book, published by St. Martin’s Press, draws on eight years of voter research conducted through hundreds of focus groups. Longwell’s approach centers on treating voters as adults rather than relying on poll-tested messaging, and she argues that Democrats should dominate the communications landscape by building new messaging infrastructure.
In the book, Longwell details her political evolution from a Republican operative in the 2000s to founding The Bulwark, a pro-democracy news and opinion site. She describes being shocked by Donald Trump’s 2016 victory, which prompted her to begin hosting focus groups to understand how Republican voters could support him. Over a decade, those conversations with thousands of voters across the political spectrum shaped her strategic thinking about how to defeat authoritarian populism.
The book is structured as part memoir, part communications playbook, and part manifesto. Longwell explains that the Republican Party is uniquely vulnerable over the next three years and argues that the pro-democracy coalition must capitalize on the opportunity to defeat the MAGA movement. In media appearances promoting the book, she has emphasized that Democrats should talk directly about Trump’s corruption rather than avoiding the subject, and that messaging asymmetry—where one side controls the narrative while the other stays silent—has been a critical advantage for Republicans that Democrats must reverse.
Longwell is also president and CEO of Longwell Partners, a communications firm, and co-founder of Defending Democracy Together, an advocacy organization made up of Republicans dedicated to defending American democracy. She hosts The Focus Group podcast, where she shares insights from her voter research. Her work has made her one of the most visible Republican critics of Trump and a key voice in efforts to build a coalition that crosses traditional party lines.
In The Bulwark post announcing the release, Longwell expressed her ambition for the book to reach the top of the New York Times bestseller list, noting that displacing a biography of Clarence Thomas by Ted Cruz would be “no greater joy” to her. She acknowledged the difficulty of writing a book while running a growing media company, saying she did it anyway because she believes the moment demands action. The book’s tour schedule includes stops in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Gambier, and Chicago.
Sources
- St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan — book publication details and description
- The Bulwark — Longwell’s announcement of the book release and her strategic vision
- The New Yorker — Longwell’s podcast appearance discussing the book and her voter research methodology
- Amazon and other booksellers — publication date, page count, and audiobook details
- Aspen Ideas and TED Speakers — biographical information on Longwell’s background and organizations
