Description
Book SynopsisThis book analyzes changes to campaigning and voting in the United States in 2020. The global pandemic caused by COVID-19 upended traditional campaign strategies, posed unprecedented challenges to candidates, and possessed the potential to fundamentally alter how campaigns think about running for office. At the same time, the Trump administration’s divisive handling of twin crises stemming from the pandemic and rising racial tensions loomed over congressional races as the most disruptive election cycle in living memory. The ramifications of the 2020 congressional elections for the direction of public policy in America—and perhaps for American democracy itself—cannot be overstated.
The Roads to Congress 2020 examines key House and Senate campaigns, candidates, and controversies in the 2020 election to reveal what accounts for the outcomes and point the way to America’s political future.
Table of ContentsPart I. Congress in Transition
Chapter 1: The 2020 Elections Overview
Sean D. Foreman
Part II. Congressional Campaign and Election Trends
Chapter 2: Voting by Mail
John D. Rackey and Tyler Godines Camarillo
Chapter 3: How COVID19 affects the election
Jennifer Lucas, Tauna Sisco, and Christopher Galdieri
Chapter 4: Sex and Social Media
Bryan T. Gervais, Heather K. Evans, and Annelise Russell
Chapter 5: Forecasting the 2020 elections
Rachel Bitecofer and Sam Epstein
Part III. U.S. House of Representatives Case Studies
Chapter 6: Southern California’s Flipped Congressional Districts: Roads to Reelection
Marcia L. Godwin
Chapter 7: Florida’s 27 Congressional Districts: Some names and faces change but party control stays the same
Sean D. Foreman
Chapter 8: New York’s 22nd Congressional District
Jeffrey Kraus
Chapter 9: Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional District
William Curtis Ellis
Chapter 10: Texas Congressional Districts 22, 23, 24
Walter Clark Wilson
Chapter 11: Virginia’s 7th Congressional District
Patrick T. Hickey
Part IV. U.S. Senate Case Studies
Chapter 12: Alabama Senate Campaign
Tom Lansford
Chapter 13: Arizona Senate Campaign
Gina Woodall
Chapter 14: Iowa Senate Campaign
Douglas M. Brattebo
Chapter 15: Kansas Senate and House Campaigns
Tom Ringenberg
Chapter 16: Maine Senate Campaign
William C. Binning
Chapter 17: North Carolina Senate Campaign
Josh Stockley
Part V. Roads AheadChapter 18: Lessons Learned from the 2020 Elections
Walter Clark Wilson
