Caitlin E. Jewitt will deliver the 2020 Leslie G. Rude Memorial Lecture at Hartwick College on January 14. Jewitt, an assistant professor of political science at Virginia Tech, will discuss her research and offer insights into what is shaping up to be a hotly contested 2020 presidential nomination process.

“The presidential nomination system is complicated, characterized by a mix of primaries and caucuses happening between February and June,” she said. “The lengthy process also looks quite different across parties. This is especially true in 2020, with numerous Democrats competing for the nomination and the Democratic Party eager to heal the divisiveness caused by the 2016 Clinton/Sanders battle. On the Republican side, President Trump is only facing token opposition and many states are cancelling their primaries. This talk will discuss how the presidential nomination system works, focusing on some of the more controversial, complicated aspects, and will also cover the state of the 2020 nomination.”

Jewitt has recently published a book on the topic, The Primary Rules: Parties, Voters and Presidential Nominations (University of Michigan Press).