On Sept. 16, hundreds of people crowded into Rosse Hall for a conversation with Sarah Longwell ’02 about her new book, How to Eat An Elephant: One Voter at a Time. Moderated by Professor of Political Science Pamela Camerra-Rowe, one of Longwell’s former professors, the discussion focused on why Longwell believes the Democratic Party should communicate with voters more directly about topics they care about.

Sponsored by the Center for the Study of American Democracy and the Office of Alumni and Parent Engagement, the event marked the penultimate stop of Longwell’s book tour. For the event, Rosse and Storer Halls were only accessible to people with a legal ID who passed a security checkpoint. Guarded by armed security, Rosse was only open to those who were attending the event or enrolled in a Wednesday night music ensemble.  The audience was packed not only with students, but also with people from across the county — including longtime fans of Longwell and her centrist news and opinion publication, The Bulwark. 

Longwell opened the talk by reflecting on her time studying political science at Kenyon, describing herself as a “pretty obnoxious” center-right, John McCain Republican from rural Pennsylvania. She told the audience that she “loved arguing with people,” and that she enjoyed Quest for Justice with Professor Emerita of Political Science Pam Jensen.

“The thing, though, that I love just generally about a liberal arts education is that it teaches you how to think, never what to think,” Longwell told the Collegian. “The political science department at Kenyon was just enormously formative for me in thinking about, ‘What does a life well lived mean? What does it mean to live?’ You know, ‘How does one create a better society?’”

In her talk, Longwell explained that she worked with various conservative groups after graduating from Kenyon, but she was always vehemently opposed to President Donald Trump’s policies and approach to politics. Following the 2016 Presidential Election, Longwell conducted hundreds of focus groups to better understand how American voters think and why they voted for Trump. When the conservative lesbian, gay and bisexual organization Log Cabin Republicans endorsed Trump in 2019, Longwell resigned from the board and committed herself full-time to publishing The Bulwark.

Longwell told the audience in Rosse that the Democratic Party must shift how it communicates with voters if it wants to remove MAGA politicians from positions of power. In her focus groups, Longwell found that voters primarily want two things: to feel safe and to have their material well-being considered.

“You want to know why Democrats are not winning these non-college, 55-year-old white votes? It’s because they stop talking about working-class material concerns. And it’s not like they don’t talk about it. It’s the amount of time,” Longwell said. “Every speech, 70% of it should be about ensuring people’s material well-being because that’s the number one thing voters care about.”

In Longwell’s opinion, the Democratic Party relies too heavily on mainstream media to reach voters, while conservative entities have built what Longwell calls their own “media ecosystems” that address the lived concerns of their voters. She explained that, because anyone can start a conservative political podcast or YouTube channel, these spaces are “algorithmically contained ecosystems,” determined by social media scrolling algorithms that prioritize engagement over accuracy.

“That neutrality that … professional journalists are supposed to have? Voters are losing trust in it,” Longwell told the audience. “But at the end of the day that’s going to default to benefiting the bad guys — the authoritarians — because [professional journalists] have to do some neutrality, and [they] can’t be like, ‘No, actually, this is what fascism looks like.’”

Of the moderate and progressive democratic voters that Longwell talked with, most expressed that they want the Democratic Party to be more aggressive — an opinion that Longwell agreed with. “Trump just decided norms don’t matter. You can just do things,” Longwell explained to the audience. “I would like Democrats to understand that they, too, can just do some things. They should follow the Constitution, but … should they be so inclined — if they win in 2028 — they can tear down the ballroom, for example.”

In an interview with the Collegian, Longwell explained that she believes the Democratic Party’s aggression should be directed at authoritarians. “Trump right now is in the process of banning the media from the White House. … Democrats should be all over that,” Longwell said. “But you know, there’s a difference between what the politicians need to do and what I think the broader [media] ecosystem needs to do, and I honestly think it’s like, ‘tell the truth’ is an easy baseline, right? Don’t make things up. Don’t lie to people the way that Trump and that media ecosystem [lie] to people.” 

In the same interview, Longwell emphasized the importance of political accountability. “A lot of people in our government are breaking the law and enriching themselves at the expense of the American people, at the expense of our trust. They’re selling us out to foreign entities,” Longwell said. “There should be accountability for that.”

Alongside how the Democratic Party talks to voters, Longwell argued that the Party must shift what they talk to voters about. In the talk, Longwell stated that, for some voters, the Democratic Party isn’t reflecting the urgency that voters feel about the current state of democracy. For other voters, Longwell explained, democracy, as a concept, is too abstract. “You’ve got to stop saying ‘democracy,’” she said. “You [instead] say, ‘In America, we do these things’; ‘I’m here to fight for America.’ [When] you say you’re fighting for democracy, that sounds global to [voters]. You could be a democracy anywhere. They want you to fight for America.”  

Throughout the talk, Longwell emphasized her belief that communication and community are crucial for the Democratic Party to rebuke Trump. “The big thing that I hope for [the Democrats] is that they figure out how to be their own community,” Longwell said. “Republicans have built a real “red solo cup” energy. Like, you put on the hat? You’re on the team. If you’re trans, you’re an immigrant — you put on that red hat and you can be on the team.”

For Longwell, part of that community-building effort relies on compromise from both Republicans and Democrats. In the final minutes of the event, Longwell explained that she believes community extends beyond politics. “[Community] solves one of the deepest problems not just in our politics, but in the human condition right now, which is that we are so goddamn lonely,” Longwell told the audience. “Everybody’s looking for community and looking for a place to thrive — go build those things! That’s my answer: All this stuff needs to be built anew and reimagined.” 

Longwell emphasized to the Collegian that she believes the future of politics isn’t about rebuilding — it’s about building something new. “I think that sometimes people think that their job is going to be like a restoration, but it’s not a restoration. It’s a reimagining,” Longwell said. “Like Trump is going to burn it all down, so whoever comes next has to have a vision for what they’re going to build in its place.” 

In both her talk and the interview, Longwell noted that Kenyon students are positioned to influence America’s political future. “To whom much is given, much is expected,” Longwell said. “I just think [Kenyon students are] given this incredible gift of a world-class education, and you know, people can do with it what they want.”

News Editor Tadhg Sahutske ’27 contributed to reporting.