Blue Wave

Larry J. Sabato is the Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia and director of its Center for Politics. He is the author or editor of more than twenty books on American politics and elections.Kyle Kondik is managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, the University of Virginia Center for Politics’ nonpartisan newsletter on American campaigns and elections. He is the author of The Bellwether: Why Ohio Picks the President (2016).

It is unusual for a collection of academic essays to flow as though written by a single author or pair of authors. The Blue Wave, edited by Larry Sabato and Kyle Kondik, does so. Any political scientist prepping courses on elections for next year, media pundits wanting to sound more knowledgeable, or political consultants seeking to give clients good advice must read this book. Its initial chapters provide an excellent, detailed retelling of the 2018 election. It moves on to “slice and dice” the role of different demographic constituencies in the outcome of the election. Lastly, the book does two things. First, it sets up how, if what was observed as widespread group behavior continues through 2020, the 2020 presidential election may be impacted. Second, it defines a wave election while simultaneously determining whether the 2018 election was a wave. Wave or not, the 2018 election was certainly significant, and Sabato and Kondik have assembled knowledgeable experts who write well and detail the election in a compelling way. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

• 1. The Blue Wave: Trump at Midterm, Larry J. Sabato2. The Trump Effect: The 2018 Midterm Election as a Referendum on a Polarizing President, Alan I. Abramowitz 3. The Primaries of 2018: Democrats Shine in the Era of Trump, Rhodes Cook 4. Humpty-Dumpty’s Fall: How Trump’s Winning Presidential Coalition Broke Down in 2018, David Byler 5. The House: Where the BlueWave Hit the Hardest, Kyle Kondik 6. How Republicans Picked up Senate Seats during a Blue Wave, James Hohmann7. The Governors: Democratic Wave Falls Short of a Wipeout, Madelaine Pisani 8. The Money Wars: Emerging Campaign Finance Trends and Their Impact on 2018 and Beyond, Michael E. Toner and Karen E. Trainer 9. Women Rule: 2018 Midterms Bring Surge of Women to Congress, Emily C. Singer 10. Hindsight in 2020: Black Voting Behavior and the Next Presidential Election, Theodore R. Johnson 11. The Brown Tide and the Blue Wave in 2018, Matt Barreto,Gary Segura, and Albert Morales12. Presidential Media and the Midterm Elections, Diana Owen 13. Foresight in 2020: New Features of the Democratic Delegate Selection Rules, Joshua T. Putnam 14. Was 2018 a Wave Election? Sean Trende Index About the Contributors