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American political strategist

Sarah Longwell
Born1980 (age 45–46)
Perry County, Pennsylvania, U.S.
EducationKenyon College (BA)
OccupationsPolitical consultant, writer
Known forFounder of The Bulwark and the Republican Accountability Project, association with Never Trump movement
Political party
Republican (before 2025)

Sarah Longwell is an American political consultant and publisher of news and opinion website The Bulwark. A former member of the Republican Party, she is the founder of the Republican Accountability Project and Republican Voters Against Trump, which spent millions of dollars to defeat then-President Donald Trump in 2020 and 2024.[2][3][4] According to The New Yorker Longwell was dedicated to "fighting Trump's takeover of her party" during his first term.[5] Since Trump's re-election, she has argued for defeating Republicans electorally to force the party to change from what she calls its authoritarian course.[6]

Longwell is a senior fellow at the Kettering Foundation, an American non-partisan research foundation.[7] She is also the author of the upcoming book, How to Eat an Elephant, scheduled for release in 2026. The book introduces "a grand unified theory of how to destroy Trump's Republican Party."[8]

Early life and education

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Longwell grew up in Dillsburg, a majority Republican town in central Pennsylvania.[9] She is a 2002 graduate of Kenyon College, where she studied political science.[10]

Early 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 PR executive and lobbyist Richard Berman.[11] 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.[12] Longwell also served as managing director of the American Beverage Institute.[13][14] According to Berman, "Sarah always had a knife in her teeth."[15]

Longwell became the first female national board chair of the Log Cabin Republicans.[16][17] Longwell was instrumental in persuading the Log Cabin Republicans to refrain from endorsing then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016.[5] In 2019, the Log Cabin Republicans endorsed President Trump for re-election and Longwell resigned as board chair.[5] That same year, Longwell left Berman and Company to start her own communications firm, Longwell Partners, headquartered in Washington, D.C.[18] Longwell also became publisher of The Bulwark, a pro-democracy news and opinion website which aims to be a community that "harnesses [post-partisan] energy to imagine a future that no longer includes reviving the Republican Party of the past."[19]

Longwell was a prominent voice in the Never Trump movement during his first term. More recently, she has argued for the need to move beyond "Never Trump" framing and inflict "sustained electoral defeat" on the Republican Party.[20] Longwell was instrumental in founding Defending Democracy Together, Republican Voters Against Trump, Republicans for the Rule of Law, and other anti-Trump projects.[21][22] Longwell advocated for the impeachment and removal of President Trump in 2019, and for his impeachment and conviction in 2021.[23]

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 Republicans for the Rule of Law.[5]

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.[24] 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.[25][26][27] 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."[28]

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.[29] 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.[30] 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."[31]

In 2022 and 2024, Longwell re-launched the Republican Voters Against Trump campaign as a project of Republican Accountability PAC.[32] The organization laid out a $50 million strategy to defeat Trump and Trump-aligned candidates down the ballot.[33] During both cycles, RVAT released hundreds of testimonials featuring former Trump voters supporting Democrats, also launching a bus tour of swing states like Michigan and Pennsylvania in October 2024.[34][35] The RVAT campaign for these cycles was focused on "attacking [Trump] through the voices of his backers."[36]

The Bulwark

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In 2018, Longwell launched The Bulwark, a pro-democracy news and opinion website, with the help of Kristol and others.[37] 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.[38] By 2019, The Bulwark had raised about $1 million to establish a "rational, non-Trumpist forum."[39] The publication's revenue comes from subscriptions, advertising, merchandise, and live events, growing into one of the country's largest independent media companies.[40][41]

The Bulwark has been called "one of the breakout media successes of the 2024 election" due to its growth on YouTube and other platforms.[42] CNN reported that the publication was in the midst of a "growth spurt" during the election.[43] In June 2026, the Wall Street Journal reported that The Bulwark has more than one million total subscribers and over 140,000 paid subscribers, emerging as one of the "digital-media properties that are attracting investors at premium valuations."[44]

As publisher of The Bulwark, Longwell guest-writes columns for the website, analyzing political news of the day and pushing back against the pro-Trump movement. In 2021, she lamented the role of certain Republicans in the Capitol riots, urging Americans to "never forget who the enemies of democracy were."[45] 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."[46][47]

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. 1 2 3 4 Glasser, Susan B. (March 20, 2020). "The Trials of a Never Trump Republican". The New Yorker. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Abortion, Trump and the 'Triangle of Doom': The GOP Brain Trust on Why the Party Lost So Big". POLITICO. November 8, 2023. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Senior Fellows". Kettering Foundation. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  7. ↑ Last, Jonathan V. "A Very Special Note from JVL". www.thebulwark.com. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  8. ↑ Glasser, Susan B. (March 23, 2020). "The Trials of a Never Trump Republican". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  9. ↑ "Republican Values: An Interview with Sarah Longwell '02". Kenyon Alumni Magazine. Spring 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  10. ↑ Levine, Sam (October 31, 2014). "Rick Berman Encouraged Energy Executives To Use These Nasty Tactics On Environmentalists". HuffPost. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Republican Values". Kenyon Alumni Magazine. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  12. ↑ 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.
  13. ↑ Romboy, Dennis (July 12, 2017). "National beverage group likens Utah's .05 DUI law to 'driving while old'". Deseret News. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  14. ↑ Glasser, Susan B. (March 23, 2020). "The Trials of a Never Trump Republican". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  15. ↑ Denizet-Lewis, Benoit (January 11, 2019). "For Gay Conservatives, the Trump Era is the Best and Worst of Times". The New York Times Magazine.
  16. ↑ Rubin, Jennifer (August 22, 2019). "Not all Republicans have lost their souls". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  17. Meyer, Theodoric. . .
  19. ↑ "Abortion, Trump and the 'Triangle of Doom': The GOP Brain Trust on Why the Party Lost So Big". POLITICO. November 8, 2023. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  20. ↑ 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.
  21. ↑ 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.
  22. ↑ "Never-Trump 'dark money' group to spend millions backing Republicans who impeached Trump". OpenSecrets. January 15, 2021.
  23. ↑ "Never-Trump group is 2020's top 'dark money' spender so far". OpenSecrets. October 7, 2020.
  24. ↑ "Defending Democracy Together Outside Spending | OpenSecrets". www.opensecrets.org. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  25. ↑ "Republican Voters Against Trump Outside Spending | OpenSecrets". www.opensecrets.org. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  26. ↑
  27. ↑ 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.
  28. ↑ Papenfuss, Mary (February 20, 2021). "Anti-Trump Group Launches $1 Million In Ads Hailing Republicans Who Voted To Impeach". HuffPost. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  29. ↑ Greenwood, Max (January 29, 2021). "GOP group launches billboard campaign urging Cruz, Hawley to resign". The Hill. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  30. ↑ Barrón-López, Laura. "Anti-Trump group launches $1M billboard campaign calling on Cruz, Hawley, McCarthy to resign". Politico. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  31. ↑ "Anti-Trump GOP group spends big to shrink his base". POLITICO. August 15, 2022. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  32. ↑ Epstein, Reid J. (March 12, 2024). "Anti-Trump Group of Republicans Lays Out $50 Million Plan of Attack". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  33. ↑ Evans, Nick (October 31, 2024). "Republican voters speak out against Trump even as Ohio's outcome seems pretty certain • Ohio Capital Journal". Ohio Capital Journal. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  34. ↑ "Republican Voters Against Trump expanding Pa. ad campaign, launching bus tour". PennLive. October 10, 2024.
  35. ↑ Epstein, Reid J. (March 12, 2024). "Anti-Trump Group of Republicans Lays Out $50 Million Plan of Attack". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  36. ↑ "From GOP strategist to Bulwark voice — Tim Miller's journey". Deseret News. October 11, 2025. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  37. ↑ Taibbi, Matt (January 14, 2019). "Return of the Neocons!". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  38. ↑ 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.
  39. ↑ Darcy, Oliver (January 26, 2024). "The Never Trump movement might be in its last throes, but a news publication it birthed is booming | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  40. ↑ Faris, James. "The Bulwark's top editor shares how the anti-Trump site tripled its subscriber base in a year — and why it's betting on YouTube". Business Insider. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  41. ↑ "How Tim Miller and The Bulwark became 2024's unlikely YouTube stars". Archived from the original on April 10, 2026. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  42. ↑ Darcy, Oliver (January 26, 2024). "The Never Trump movement might be in its last throes, but a news publication it birthed is booming | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  43. ↑ WSJ, Jessica Toonkel | Photography by Alex Kent for (June 13, 2026). "The Former GOP Operative Running a News Site for the 'Politically Homeless'". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  44. ↑ Longwell, Sarah (February 9, 2021). "Hold Them All Accountable". The Bulwark. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  45. ↑ Longwell, Sarah (November 3, 2020). "Hope Dies Last". The Bulwark. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  46. ↑ 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.
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