Sarah Longwell and Jonathan V. Last in Conversation — How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time

Sarah Longwell wants to build a winning political coalition to defeat MAGA-style politics — and she’s ready to tell you how. Hear her in a conversation about her new book, How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time.

Longwell is the CEO and publisher of The Bulwark, one of the largest and fastest-growing independent media companies in the country. Her unlikely political journey from the Republican Party to the front lines of the anti-MAGA movement has brought her to the center of the debate about how to defeat Donald Trump — and Trumpism.

After Trump won the 2024 election, she did what she's done nearly every week for the past eight years: She sat down with voters to talk. She’s conducted hundreds of focus groups and listened to thousands of ordinary Americans ― Republicans, Democrats, and independents ― with the goal of understanding politics through the eyes of the people who will decide our country’s future.

In How to Eat an Elephant, Longwell lays out the playbook for building a coalition big enough, bold enough, and tough enough to defeat authoritarian populism for good. In a conversation that is equal parts pep talk and game plan, Longwell discusses how we got here and, more importantly, what we must build next ― all while drawing on what she’s learned from the most important political actors in the country: the voters themselves.

Every ticket that includes a book comes with a pre-signed copy of How to Eat an Elephant, published by St. Martins Press. Pre-signed copies of How to Eat an Elephant will be available for purchase at the event.