ABOUT THIS BOOK

Given the news media’s focus on national issues and debates, voters might be expected to make decisions about state and local candidates based on their views of the national parties and presidential candidates. However, nationalization as a concept, and the process by which politics becomes nationalized, are not fully understood. Are All Politics Nationalized? addresses this knowledge gap by looking at the behavior of candidates and the factors that influence voters’ electoral choices.

The editors and contributors examine the 2020 elections in six Pennsylvania districts to explore the level of nationalization in campaigns for Congress and state legislature. They also question if politicians are encouraging nationalized behavior and straight ticket voting—especially with down-ballot races.

Are All Politics Nationalized? concludes that issues specific to particular districts—such as fracking and local union politics—still matter, and candidates are eager to connect with voters by highlighting their ties to the local community. National politics do trickle down to local races, but races up and down the ballot are still heavily localized.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Stephen K. Medvic is the Honorable and Mrs. John C. Kunkel Professor of Government, Director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs, and Co-Director of the Floyd Institute for Public Policy at Franklin & Marshall College. He is the author, most recently of Gerrymandering: The Politics of Redistricting in the United States and Campaigns and Elections: Players and Processes, Fourth Edition.
Matthew M. Schousen is Professor of Government at Franklin & Marshall College.
Berwood A. Yost is Co-Director of the Floyd Institute for Public Policy and the Director of the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College. He is also the Director of the Franklin & Marshall College Poll, which tracks public attitudes toward public policy issues and political campaigns in Pennsylvania. His scholarship is multidisciplinary and has appeared in journals in the fields of criminology, human rights, political science, psychology, and public health.

REVIEWS

“Nationalization seems to be a skeleton key explaining various aspects of contemporary American politics, but recent research has focused overwhelmingly on voters—not on political parties, politicians, or campaigns. This indispensable volume compiles detailed studies of 2020 campaigns in Pennsylvania to identify the limits of today’s nationalization. Even amidst a pitched presidential campaign in a pivotal state, local issues and appeals were central to many campaigns. With incisive studies of six congressional districts in the Keystone State, this book is an essential addition to our understanding of campaigns, elections, and nationalization.”—Daniel J. Hopkins, Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, and author of The Increasingly United States: How and Why American Political Behavior Nationalized

“Nationalization is a purported hallmark of contemporary American politics. In Are All Politics Nationalized? editors Stephen Medvic, Matthew Schousen, and Berwood Yost examine the extent of nationalization in the swing state of Pennsylvania. Research on nationalization emphasizes partisan fealty in mass voting behavior, but the editors take a different approach by considering the behavior of candidates on the campaign trail. By investigating select 2020 U.S. House races paired with two state house contests embedded in these congressional districts, the contributors assess the level of nationalization up and down the ballot in shared political contexts. This novel study will make you reconsider the degree to which the national ‘party line’ animates and shapes electoral politics.” —Seth C. McKee, Professor and American Government Coordinator in the Department of Political Science at Oklahoma State University, and coauthor of Rural Republican Realignment in the Modern South: The Untold Story

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction: Studying Nationalization | Stephen K. Medvic, Matthew M. Schousen, and Berwood A. Yost

2. Overview of the Pennsylvania Races in 2020 | Stephen K. Medvic, Matthew M. Schousen, and Berwood A. Yost

3. Campaigns in the First Congressional District: Fighting the Nationalized Campaign Currents along the Delaware River | Christopher Borick

4. Campaigns in the Fourth Congressional District: Running in Philadelphia’s Democratic Suburbs | J. Wesley Leckrone and Angela M. Corbo

5. Campaigns in the Eighth Congressional District: What Does It Mean to Be “One of Us”? | Benjamin T. Toll

6. Campaigns in the Tenth Congressional District: Competitiveness, Professionalism, and Asymmetric Nationalization | Sarah Niebler and Sophie Ackert

7. Campaigns in the Sixteenth Congressional District: How Partisan Incentives Shape Nationalization in Northwestern Pennsylvania | Andrew Bloeser and Tarah Williams

8. Campaigns in the Seventeenth Congressional District: Handling Pressure from National Eyes while Maintaining Local Ties | Kristen Coopie and Olivia O’Donnell

9. Conclusion: What Have We Learned about Nationalization? | Stephen K. Medvic, Matthew M. Schousen, and Berwood A. Yost

Contributors

Index

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