Sarah Longwell


Sarah Longwell is a Republican political strategist and publisher.

Early life and education

Longwell grew up in a Republican town in central Pennsylvania. Her family were also Republicans. She is a 2002 graduate of Kenyon College.

Career

After graduation from Kenyon College in 2002, Longwell worked for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a conservative group in Delaware. She went on a book promoting tour with Senator Rick Santorum after he published "It Takes a Family." She quit when she realized being a lesbian and working for "the most visibly anti-gay politician in the country" was untenable.
In 2005 Longwell moved to Washington, DC where she found a job with Richard Berman, a Republican lobbyist and later PR man. Over the 15 years she has worked for Berman she became senior vice-president and communications director at Berman and Company.
Longwell is publisher of The Bulwark. She is also the President and CEO of Longwell Partners, a Washington, DC communications firm.
Longwell is a prominent voice in the Never Trump movement. She heads Republicans for the Rule of Law, which advocated for the impeachment and removal of Trump in 2019.
Longwell was the first female member of the Board of the Log Cabin Republicans and, later, chairman of the board. Longwell was instrumental in persuading the Log Cabin Republicans to refrain from endorsing 2016 Republican presidential candidate Trump. In 2017 she was invited to participate in a session of the Meeting of the Concerned, a quasi-secret group of Republicans who are unhappy with the direction their party has 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 February 2018 she launched a nonprofit organization in response to President Trump's attacks on Robert Mueller, Defending Democracy Together which was the umbrella organization for Rule of Law.
In 2019 the group endorsed Trump for re-election and Longwell resigned as board chair.

Personal life

Longwell identifies as lesbian. She married her girlfriend in 2013. In 2016 Longwell and her wife had their first child.