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Sarah Longwell

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Longwell in 2022

Sarah Longwell is an American political strategist and publisher of the conservative news and opinion website The Bulwark. A member of the Republican Party, she is the founder of Republican Accountability (originally named Republican Voters Against Trump), which spent millions of dollars to defeat then-President Donald Trump in 2020.[1][2][3] According to The New Yorker, Longwell has "dedicated her career to fighting Trump's takeover of her party".[4]

Early life and education

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Longwell grew up in a majority Republican town in central Pennsylvania.[4] She is a 2002 graduate of Kenyon College, where she studied political science.[5]

Career

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After graduation from Kenyon College in 2002, Longwell worked for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a conservative group in Delaware. In 2005, Longwell moved to Washington, D.C., where she found a job with Richard Berman, a Republican lobbyist and later PR expert who runs several industry-funded nonprofit lobbying and PR organizations.[6] Over the next 15 years she worked at Berman and Company and became senior vice president and communications director, leading media campaigns on a wide range of public policy issues.[7][5] Longwell also served as managing director of the American Beverage Institute,[8][9] a trade association set up by Berman[6] that lobbies on behalf of the alcohol industry, such as by arguing that the risks of drunk driving have been exaggerated and laws that have been adopted to reduce it are ineffective or inappropriate[10] and opposing the lowering of the blood alcohol concentration limit for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) in Utah.[9] According to Berman, "Sarah always had a knife in her teeth".[4]

Longwell became the first female national board chair of the Log Cabin Republicans.[11][12][13][14] Longwell was instrumental in persuading the Log Cabin Republicans to refrain from endorsing then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016.[4] In 2019, the Log Cabin Republicans endorsed President Trump for re-election and Longwell resigned as board chair.[4] That same year, Longwell left Berman and Company to start her own communications firm, Longwell Partners, headquartered in Washington, D.C.[15] She also became publisher of The Bulwark, a conservative website that opposes President Trump's agenda, bringing together a moderate coalition of traditional conservatives and libertarians.[16] Longwell is a prominent voice in the Never Trump movement.[12] She was instrumental in founding Defending Democracy Together, an umbrella organization for Republican Voters Against Trump, Republicans for the Rule of Law, and other anti-Trump projects.[17][18] Longwell advocated for the impeachment and removal of President Trump in 2019, and for his impeachment and conviction in 2021.[19]

Defending Democracy Together

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In 2017, Longwell was invited to participate in a session of the "Meeting of the Concerned," a quasi-secret group of Republicans who were unhappy with the direction their party had taken, where she met Bill Kristol. After the firing of FBI Director James Comey, which triggered the Mueller investigation, Kristol and Longwell formed Republicans for the Rule of Law. In 2018, she launched a nonprofit organization in response to President Donald Trump's attacks on Robert Mueller. The group, Defending Democracy Together, was the umbrella organization for Rule of Law.[4]

During the 2020 election, Defending Democracy Together also served as the umbrella organization for Republican Voters Against Trump, which collected testimonials from former Trump supporters and other Republicans who opposed the Trump presidency.[20] The group spent more than $35 million to oppose President Trump, promoting those testimonials via social media advertising, billboard campaigns, and other tactics in key battleground states.[21][22][23] In Longwell's words: “People want to be counted, people want to be on the record saying they, in this moment, stood up against Trump".[24]

After Trump's defeat in the 2020 election, Republican Voters Against Trump rebranded itself as the Republican Accountability Project, targeting Republicans who spread falsehoods about the integrity of the election.[25] In January 2021, the group launched a $1 million billboard campaign, calling on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), and others to resign for continuing to support Trump in the lead-up to the January 6th Capitol riots.[26] As Longwell put it, “The goal is to not allow these officials to memory-hole the fact that they pushed this lie, which incited the attack on the Capitol.”[27]

The Bulwark

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In 2018, Longwell launched The Bulwark, a conservative opinion website, with the help of Kristol and conservative radio host Charlie Sykes. Initially launching as a news aggregator with anti-Trump content, the website revamped into a news and opinion destination, using digital staffers from the now-defunct The Weekly Standard.[28][29] By 2019, The Bulwark had raised about $1 million to establish a "rational, non-Trumpist forum".[28]

As publisher of The Bulwark, Longwell often guest-writes columns for the website, analyzing political news of the day and pushing back against the pro-Trump movement. In February 2021, she lamented the role of certain Republicans in the Capitol riots, urging Americans to "never forget who the enemies of democracy were".[30] Longwell supports "principled conservatism", claiming "hope is not lost, people are mostly good (regardless of who they vote for), and that America is going to be okay".[31][32] Longwell also participates in podcasts sponsored by The Bulwark with assorted co-hosts such as Jonathan V. Last, Tim Miller, and George Conway.[33]

Personal life

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Longwell married in 2013.[34][14][4] In 2016, Longwell and her wife had their first child.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Brownstein, Ronald (August 27, 2020). "The Flight 93 Convention". The Atlantic.
  2. ^ Greenwood, Max (January 12, 2021). "Former officials, anti-Trump activists pledge $50M for Republicans who support impeachment". The Hill. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  3. ^ Michael Warren (May 28, 2020). "New GOP group launches $10 million campaign to get Republicans to vote for Biden over Trump". CNN. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Glasser, Susan B. (March 20, 2020). "The Trials of a Never Trump Republican". The New Yorker. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Republican Values: An Interview with Sarah Longwell '02". Kenyon Alumni Magazine. Spring 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Levine, Sam (October 31, 2014). "Rick Berman Encouraged Energy Executives To Use These Nasty Tactics On Environmentalists". HuffPost. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  7. ^ "Sarah Longwell". theaapc.org. Archived from the original on September 1, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  8. ^ Longwell, Sarah (April 6, 2017). "Sarah Longwell: One drink and you're drunk in Utah ... and maybe in a state near you soon". Tulsa World. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  9. ^ a b Romboy, Dennis (July 12, 2017). "National beverage group likens Utah's .05 DUI law to 'driving while old'". Deseret News. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  10. ^ Longwell, Sarah (July 22, 2008). "Phony drunken driving stats". philly.com, Philadelphia Daily News. Archived from the original on August 1, 2008. Retrieved July 22, 2008.
  11. ^ Denizet-Lewis, Benoit (January 11, 2019). "For Gay Conservatives, the Trump Era is the Best and Worst of Times". The New York Times Magazine.
  12. ^ a b Rubin, Jennifer (August 22, 2019). "Not all Republicans have lost their souls". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  13. ^ Rubin, Jennifer (April 11, 2018). "Just in time: A new Republican group seeks to protect Mueller". The Washington Post.
  14. ^ a b Wheaton, Sarah (November 25, 2012). "Republican and Lesbian, and Fighting for Acceptance of Both Identities". The New York Times.
  15. ^ Meyer, Theodoric. "'Apostate Republican' starts a communications shop". Politico. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
  16. ^ Beaujon, Andrew (March 3, 2021). "The Bulwark Was Founded to Oppose Trump. Now What?". Washingtonian. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
  17. ^ Nakamura, David. "Anti-Trump conservatives rally to back Vanita Gupta, Biden's pick for key Justice Dept. post". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
  18. ^ Michael Warren (May 28, 2020). "New GOP group launches $10 million campaign to get Republicans to vote for Biden over Trump". CNN. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
  19. ^ "Never-Trump 'dark money' group to spend millions backing Republicans who impeached Trump". OpenSecrets. January 15, 2021.
  20. ^ "Never-Trump group is 2020's top 'dark money' spender so far". OpenSecrets. October 7, 2020.
  21. ^ "Defending Democracy Together Outside Spending | OpenSecrets". www.opensecrets.org. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  22. ^ "Republican Voters Against Trump Outside Spending | OpenSecrets". www.opensecrets.org. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  23. ^ Niedzwiadek, Nick. "Anti-Trump group pledges $50 million effort to defend Republican impeachment supporters". Politico. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  24. ^ Karni, Annie (October 12, 2020). "The Crowded, Competitive World of Anti-Trump G.O.P. Groups". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  25. ^ Papenfuss, Mary (February 20, 2021). "Anti-Trump Group Launches $1 Million In Ads Hailing Republicans Who Voted To Impeach". HuffPost. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  26. ^ Greenwood, Max (January 29, 2021). "GOP group launches billboard campaign urging Cruz, Hawley to resign". The Hill. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  27. ^ Barrón-López, Laura. "Anti-Trump group launches $1M billboard campaign calling on Cruz, Hawley, McCarthy to resign". Politico. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  28. ^ a b Darcy, Oliver (January 4, 2019). "Former Weekly Standard staffers find new home at The Bulwark, a conservative site unafraid to take on Trump". CNN. Archived from the original on November 10, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  29. ^ Taibbi, Matt (January 14, 2019). "Return of the Neocons!". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  30. ^ Longwell, Sarah (February 9, 2021). "Hold Them All Accountable". The Bulwark. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  31. ^ Longwell, Sarah (November 3, 2020). "Hope Dies Last". The Bulwark. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  32. ^ Coppins, McKay (February 22, 2019). "Naming and Shaming the Pro-Trump Elite". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  33. ^ "Podcasts". The Bulwark. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  34. ^ Williams, Tucky (May 9, 2016). "An interview with lesbian feminist Republican Sarah Longwell". AfterEllen. Lesbian Nation. Archived from the original on May 10, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
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