Sarah Longwell, publisher of The Bulwark, is releasing her first book "How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time" tomorrow. Her book offers a game plan for Democrats to beat back the MAGA authoritarian threat by dominating the communications landscape and treating voters like adults. The number-one New York Times bestseller is currently a biography of Clarence Thomas written by Ted Cruz, which Longwell aims to dethrone with her own book's success. Longwell's book includes hundreds of focus groups and thousands of voter interviews over eight years.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-07,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Sarah Longwell, author of *How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time*, which comes out tomorrow, expresses her excitement about the book's release. She thanks The Bulwark community for their support in making this possible. Longwell mentions that she wrote the book with the intention of helping those who want to get involved and make a difference. The book is competing against Ted Cruz's biography of Clarence Thomas, which is currently the number-one New York Times bestseller. Longwell hopes her book will knock it out of the top spot, giving her a sense of satisfaction in countering the influence of those responsible for what she considers America's "authoritarian moment". The Republican Party is seen as vulnerable over the next three years, which is why Longwell believes her book matters.
Written for “Oprah's Book Club Selection” on 2026-09-07,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it +0.85, but every quote it verified points left, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
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Leaning score withheld for article 6687: score contradicts its own evidence · logged 2026-09-07
Hey guys, it’s Sarah.
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Tomorrow’s the day.
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Tomorrow → ’ → ?
My first book, How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time, is officially coming out.
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book → eat → Time
And I’m so excited to share it with the world.
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I → ’m → world
First and foremost: Thank you to everyone in The Bulwark community who made this possible.
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this → thank → community
As I say in the book, I wrote this for you guys—all the people who come up to us at live shows, asking how they can get involved, what they can do to help.
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they → say → what
Truly you helped get us here.
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you → get → us
Second: If you haven’t already, please order your copy today.
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you → order → copy
Unfortunately, the number-one New York Times bestseller right now is a biography of Clarence Thomas written by Ted Cruz.
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bestseller → write → Cruz
Guys—we need to knock them out of the number-one spot.
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we → need → spot
(And if you’ve already ordered your copy, thank you so much.)
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you → order → you
I’m going to be honest, trying to write a book while running a growing media company was a daunting prospect.
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trying → go → company
Tim told me not to, and JVL walked me through all the headaches of getting it to print.
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it → tell → headaches
I did it anyway.
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I → do → it
Because I think the Republican Party is uniquely vulnerable over the next three years and I want the pro-democracy coalition to capitalize on the opportunity to crush the MAGA movement and salt the earth with its ashes.
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coalition → think → ashes
Listening to American voters for eight years has taught me a lot about how we can do that.
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we → listen → that
As I talk about in the book, I was genuinely shocked by Donald Trump’s victory in 2016.
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I → talk → 2016
I started hosting focus groups to understand how Republican voters could have made such a catastrophic decision.
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voters → start → decision
What I learned over the course of the past decade was that I—like so many others in DC—had become totally disconnected from the id of the GOP base.
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I → learn → base
Hundreds of focus groups and thousands of voters later, I lay out in the book a game plan for how Democrats can beat back the MAGA authoritarian threat, and build a durable pro-democracy coalition that can win in 2026 and beyond.
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that → lie → 2026
I cover my early years coming up in Republican politics in the aughts, leaving all that behind to start The Bulwark, the things voters have told me over and over again about their fears, frustrations, and hopes, what Dems can do to win these people back—and so much more.
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Dems → cover → people
If that sounds like your jam, then get your copy of the book today.
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that → sound → book
If you’ve already preordered the book and want a signed bookplate, fill out this form, today—supplies are limited.
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supplies → preordere → form
I’ve spent this summer signing these myself and want to get them into your hands.
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St. Martin’s Press will mail you a signed bookplate, free of charge.
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Note: if you are coming to one of my book talks and purchased a ticket+book combo, I’ve signed these copies.
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I → note → copies
