The Importance of Context: Local and National Explanations of Partisan Realignment

Abstract Partisan and electoral shifts and realignments have played a central role in political science research for many decades. But what was once dominated by a focus on local contexts and occurrences has over time become more and more nationalized in its approach. Stephanie Ternullo's important new book How the Heartland Went Red: Why Local Forces Matter in an Age of Nationalized Politics brings the importance of contexts back to the table with a convincing case study of three very similar and yet politically very distinct communities in the postindustrial heartland. Rather than attempting to replace the focus on national frames with a return to local contexts, the book attempts—and quite successfully—to show us a way to combine both, all while explaining why, when most predominantly White small towns across the Midwest shifted right, some of them resisted the trend successfully.