This 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.
Part I. Congress in Transition.- Chapter 1: The 2020 Elections
Overview.- Part II. Congressional Campaign and Election Trends.- Chapter 2:
Voting by Mail.- Chapter 3: How COVID19 affects the election.- Chapter 4: Sex
and Social Media.
Chapter 5: Forecasting the 2020 elections.- Part III. U.S.
House of Representatives Case Studies.- Chapter 6: Southern Californias
Flipped Congressional Districts: Roads to Reelection.- Chapter 7: Floridas
27 Congressional Districts: Some names and faces change but party control
stays the same.- Chapter 8: New Yorks 22nd Congressional District.- Chapter
9: Oklahomas 5th Congressional District.- Chapter 10: Texas Congressional
Districts 22, 23, 24.- Chapter 11: Virginias 7th Congressional
District.- Part IV. U.S. Senate Case Studies.- Chapter 12: Alabama Senate
Campaign.- Chapter 13: Arizona Senate Campaign.- Chapter 14: Iowa Senate
Campaign.- Chapter 15: Kansas Senate and House Campaigns.- Chapter 16: Maine
Senate Campaign.- Chapter 17: North Carolina Senate Campaign.- Part V. Roads
Ahead.- Chapter 18: Lessons Learned from the 2020 Elections.
Sean D. Foreman is Professor of Political Science at Barry University, USA.
Marcia L. Godwin is Professor of Public Administration at the University of La Verne, USA.
Walter Clark Wilson is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at San Antonio, USA.
